From: Wayne Howard
    To: B.J. Guillot
Thread: (1/2) BGFAX %& Winfossil  (1/2)
  Date: 28-Jun-97, 0:43am  (Ref# 5465)

-> > Would it not be prudent for anyone running in rear end mode to put
-> this optio
-> > in??  Almost every mailer that I know requires a fossil.  At least
-> it should
-> > part of the command line documented in FD-USR.TXT
->
-> No.  Absolutely not.  As I said before, FOSSIL's were not designed
-> with fax in mind.  And, every time I e-mail a FOSSIL author asking
-> if they would be willing to help get some things straightned out,
-> they usually either don't respond or say there's no point in
-> spending the effort to get them fixed.

B.J.,  I read this post several times and do not understand.  I've run
Intermail, XOO 1.50, and BGFAX for about a year without difficulty 0
without the fossil switch. I think the point being made here is that
most Frontends require a fossil present or they won't run at all. I know
that's true with Front Door and Intermail. I'm not doing anything
special other than what is said in IM229C.DOC. Your software indicates
that the DTR is being dropped. Please clarify.

Thanks, Wayne

--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
 * Origin: Enviro-Link BBS  (1:2613/208.0)



  From: B.J. Guillot
    To: Wayne Howard
Thread: (1/2) BGFAX %& Winfossil  (2/2)
  Date: 28-Jun-97, 4:07pm  (Ref# 5467)

> -> > Would it not be prudent for anyone running in rear end mode to put
> -> this optio
> -> > in??  Almost every mailer that I know requires a fossil.  At least
> -> it should
> -> > part of the command line documented in FD-USR.TXT
> -> No.  Absolutely not.  As I said before, FOSSIL's were not designed
> -> with fax in mind.  And, every time I e-mail a FOSSIL author asking
> -> if they would be willing to help get some things straightned out,
> -> they usually either don't respond or say there's no point in
> -> spending the effort to get them fixed.
> B.J.,  I read this post several times and do not understand.  I've run
> Intermail, XOO 1.50, and BGFAX for about a year without difficulty 0
> without the fossil switch. I think the point being made here is that
> most Frontends require a fossil present or they won't run at all. I know
> that's true with Front Door and Intermail. I'm not doing anything
> special other than what is said in IM229C.DOC. Your software indicates
> that the DTR is being dropped. Please clarify.
 
Someone asked me why don't I tell people to use the "F1" option on the
BGFAX command line instead of the "1" option (i.e., use FOSSIL-COM1
instead of direct-COM1).  They said that I should tell them to specify the 
FOSSIL in my help files for the various mailers out there that use FOSSIL
drivers.
 
I replied that it was not a good idea to tell BGFAX to use the FOSSIL,
because BGFAX looses a bunch of its "control" over the port.  i.e., BGFAX
cannot correctly identify what the DTE speed is currently set to, and in
most cases, BGFAX will be unable to change the DTE speed because the
FOSSIL driver will have the port locked.  BGFAX needs to be able to do
both of those things to work, and when you tell BGFAX to use the FOSSIL
driver, you usually have to also tell it the current DTE speed (via the
/DTE:nnnnn switch since it will not be able to automatically determine in),
and if you have a modem that requires a DTE shift on fax mode, you'll also 
have to use a utility program that physically unlocks the FOSSIL.
 
I was talking about DTE, not DTR.  DTR can be controlled with the FOSSIL.
 
BGFAX talks directly to the port by default, unless you specify the "F" in 
front of the port number.  I don't recommend doing this unless you HAVE to 
(i.e., using some weird serial card like the RocketPort that uses it's own 
FOSSIL driver, or if you are using WinFOSSIL.)
 
Regards,
bgfax author