PMPFax review
By John Faithful
Copyright (c) 1997 Apple Users' Group, Sydney
Republished from Applecations, a publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia.
Last July I decided to phone EGO Systems in America to order PMPFax. Less than 2 weeks later, and US$87.95 poorer, it arrived. (If anyone wishes to buy stuff from America I have found that EGO are very prompt and reliable).
Opening the envelope the contents consisted of 2 disks and a manual with registration card.
The disks, of course, had to be copied, they are both unprotected. Installing on a hard disk was straight forward using the installer provided, the manual states that you require 1.5MB of free RAM and at least 5MB of disk space for faxes, however it is possible to install PMPFax on 3.5" disk. The manual also strongly recommends an accelerator. I run at 7Mhz and find it sometimes a bit slow in operating. In the August IIGS meeting I demonstrated PMPFax it on an Apple IIgs running at 10Mhz and found a vast improvement. So the faster the merrier.
PMPFax is installed as an NDA. Accessing it brings up a box where all functions of PMPFax are at hand. There are 3 choices, Options, Setup, and Cover Sheets.
Options is where you tell the NDA when you want to send a fax, how you want to receive a fax (whether you wish to print it immediately or store it as a file), and where phone books are defined. Phone Books are where phone numbers are stored. PMPFax also allows you to fax groups of people at the same time.
Setup, is where you tell the program who and what you are, where the modem is (only external modems are supported), how you want outgoing and incoming faxes handled and lastly if you want any extra information on the faxes you send, such as times, dates, names and so-forth.
PMPFax has the facility to add 'cover sheets' to your faxes which contain standard information, like your name, address, and telephone numbers. You can even have graphics on them.
PMPFax can only send and receive faxes from within a GS/OS desktop program such as GraphicWriter III or AppleWorks GS. ProDOS 8 software, such as AppleWorks 5.1, cannot use PMPFax directly.
After creating what you want to fax, pressing the Option key and 'P' key together will bring up the PMPFax dialogue box which prompts for where to send the fax and when. I find on my machine I have to hold the keys down for a few seconds, before the dialogue box pops up.
When sending, the program has to translate your fax into something that can be sent, this can take a while and this is where the accelerator really helps.
PMPFax can be configured to receive a fax manually or automatically, however it cannot distinguish between voice and fax. When the NDA detects a fax coming in, it takes over the system until it has finished receiving. Again, you have to be in a desktop program.
I have sent and received faxes satisfactorily, but have had mixed results with receiving automated faxes from Hewlett Packard and Healthy Wealthy and Wise. I find PMPFax says "Received OK" but then HP's fax appears all condensed and the HW&W fax simply doesn't exist. This I think is something to do with the Fax Class, PMPFax automatically detects what Class the sending Fax Machine is and adjusts for it. PMPFax supports Class 1, Class 2, and Class 2.0. You can preset what classes you wish to receive.
In conclusion I feel quite happy about it. My only gripe is that running at 7Mhz it is a bit slow in translating to and from fax's. Basically I think if you have a Fax Machine don't buy this. Otherwise I leave it up to you.
PMPFax is available from directly from EGO Systems for US$84.95. Airmail shipping is an additional US$3.
EGO Systems
7918 Cove Ridge Rd
Hixson TN 37343-1808 USA
+1-423-843-1775 phone
+1-423-843-0661 fax
diz@chattanooga.net
http://www.hypermall.com/ego/index.html

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