Changes between BGFAX 1.40 and BGFAX 1.36 SUN 1 JAN 95 ========================================= ============= NOTE: Tranquility Base (BGFAX support BBS) is now on the Internet! You can TELNET/FTP/VMODEM to IP address 199.3.234.248 to logon. ARJ SECURITY ENVELOPE: The BGFAX140.ARJ file is now protected using a ARJ Security Envelope. AUSTRALIA: Users of BGFAX in OZ who do not have access to a credit card can now register by cheque or money order. See the REGISTER.AUS file included with this archive for more information. <<< BRIEF SUMMARY OF MAJOR NEW FEATURES >>> a. OS/2 executables now included b. EXAR based fax modem related bugs in BGFAX addressed c. VIEW now supports VESA SVGA display modes for viewing faxes d. VIEW now supports printing in PCL mode (LaserJet, DeskJet) e. CALLER ID info in /HOST mode is now saved to DOBBS.BAT files <<< Detailed summary of changes and new features >>> OS/2 EXECUTABLES NOW INCLUDED! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BGFAX2.EXE and MAKEFAX2.EXE are included with this release! You can use BGFAX2.EXE for sending faxes under OS/2. For receiving faxes with BGFAX2.EXE under OS/2, you must be using a BBS software or Fido mailer software that is OS/2 native (i.e., Lora/2 or MAINDOOR/2). If your BBS or Fido mailer software is DOS native (i.e., FrontDoor or InterMail) you still must use BGFAX/DOS. If you are using BGFAX/2 in /HOST or /SEND mode, a small change in the BGFAX.CNF file will be required. Instead of using "po=1" to represent COM1, for example, you will need to use "p2=1". Where "po=" is the port used in BGFAX/DOS and "p2=" is the port used in BGFAX/2. Why this change? Say, under DOS you have "po=2e8x5", but under OS/2, you have SIO set up to map $2e8, IRQ5 to COM4, therefore "p2=4". BGFAX/DOS creates *.BAT files (DOBBS.BAT, DOPRINT.BAT). BGFAX/2 will instead create *.CMD files (DOBBS.CMD, DOPRINT.CMD). Please report any TRAP errors to me. I tried my best to make sure I squashed all TRAP related bugs, but just a few days ago, someone said they got a TRAP error in /HOST mode. Bugs fixed ~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Many USR and PPI owners often came home from work to find BGFAX sitting there on the screen after several hours. This big, bad bug is now fixed. BGFAX will now timeout correctly after 40 seconds of no activity. 2. BGFAX was not correctly logging some hangup status codes on Class 2.0 modems. (Such as the +FHS:A2 code, which the string-to-integer unit was reporting as "0", now it should report "A2", etc.) 3. Numerous VIEW.EXE problems have been touched. EGA graphics mode now appears to work on EGA-only systems. New stuff ~~~~~~~~~ 1. VIEW now supports VESA SVGA resolution modes of 800x600 and 1024x768. If VIEW detects a functioning VESA adapter, it will use a default resolution of 800x600. If you want to use 1024x768, you will have to force VIEW into that mode by using the /1024 command line switch. Your VESA card must support use 64K banks for 1024x768 mode to work. If something goes wrong, VGA mode can always be forced with /VGA switch. I have tested both of the new high res modes on my Farenheight 1280 and Trident SVGA cards. (1024x768 mode was very slow, even on my 486DX4/100 machine, that's why I default VESA mode to 800x600). Please note that many SVGA cards are _not_ VESA compatible. Sometimes, these non-standard cards come with VESA-drivers for DOS. 2. VIEW.EXE now supports printing using the PCL command set (i.e., you can now print faxes on LaserJet and DeskJet printers!) To tell BGFAX to use PCL mode, start VIEW with the /P40 command line parameter. 3. Before VIEW would always use "LPT1" when printing. Now, you can tell VIEW which port (or file) to use, i.e.: VIEW /P24 <-- means use 24-pin printer on LPT1 VIEW /P26:LPT2 <-- means use Bubble Jet on LPT2 VIEW /P40:LPT3 <-- means use Laser Jet on LPT3 VIEW /P24:DUMP.PRN <-- means 24-pin printer output saved to file [ Send DUMP.PRN to printer doing "COPY DUMP.PRN PRN" at DOS prompt ] 4. Caller ID information is now logged in the DOBBS.BAT files in /HOST mode. (BGFAX presently supports Rockwell Caller ID, ZyXEL Caller ID will probably be added in the future.) To demonstrate, here's the data from the modem (DEBUG.LOG): 12-03-94 17:21:58 f=[RING] 12-03-94 17:21:59 f=[DATE = 1203] 12-03-94 17:21:59 f=[TIME = 1727] 12-03-94 17:21:59 f=[NMBR = 7138939124] 12-03-94 17:21:59 f=[NAME = GUILLOT B J ] 12-03-94 17:22:04 f=[RING] 12-03-94 17:22:05 f=[ata] 12-03-94 17:22:17 f=[CARRIER 28800] 12-03-94 17:22:17 f=[PROTOCOL: LAP-M] 12-03-94 17:22:17 f=[COMPRESSION: V.42BIS] 12-03-94 17:22:17 f=[CONNECT 28800/ARQ] Here's the data from the BGFAX.LOG: 12-03-94 17:22:04 caller id [1203 1727 7138939124 GUILLOT_B_J] 12-03-94 17:22:04 answering phone 12-03-94 17:22:17 extra id [PROTOCOL: LAP-M] 12-03-94 17:22:17 extra id [COMPRESSION: V.42BIS] 12-03-94 17:22:17 data inbound [CONNECT 28800/ARQ] 12-03-94 17:22:18 reliable connection And, here's what DOBBS.BAT ends up looking like: C:\BGFAX\EXEBBS.BAT 28800 3E8X3 819 /ARQ 1203 1727 7138939124 GUILLOT_B_J If no caller ID was detected, DOBBS.BAT would look like this: C:\BGFAX\EXEBBS.BAT 28800 3E8X3 819 /ARQ N/A 5. One user reported problems with MSDOS 5.0 not letting BGFAX/DOS use commas in the fax number when /SENDing. i.e., bgfax /send output.fax 555.1212 actually uses "555,1212" EXAR based fax modems supported correctly ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ People with EXAR based fax modems (a few non-USA users) can now correct the dreaded DLE/error, bad scan line problem by putting a /EX at the end of the BGFAX command line. This seems to reduce nearly all bad scan lines. DO NOT USE /EX ON A NON-EXAR MODEM. If you try using the /EX switch on a Rockwell, USR, or Sierra based fax modem, your faxes will become garbled. Important change for multinode users of BGFAX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BGFAX before offered a syntax of "BGFAX /FAX path c x p" where 'c' is the com port, 'x' is Q or Z, and 'p' was a PID number. The 'p' syntax was also available with the /PID:ppp switch. Now, the old syntax for using a PID number on the command line is removed. So, if you are running BGFAX in a multi-node environment, you now must use "BGFAX /FAX c x /PID:p" I think it is more readable this way. BGFAX /FAX C:\BGFAX 1 Z /PID:5 ...would mean BGFAX5.LOG would be created instead of BGFAX.LOG. ##############################################################################