#GP Fax Users
38 messages in this thread
I would appreciate reports from users of GP Fax software, both satisfied
and not, as to ease of set-up, learning curve, ease of use once set up,
bugginess, etc. Also whether used with Supra modem or other.
. . . . JimDoc, on AutoPilot
Jim,
I use GPFax with the Supra modem. The software seems to work fairly well
but I have had occasional problems connecting with different fax machines.
The software is VERY easy to set up. It uses buttons just like AutoPilot.
If you can use AP then GPFax should be easy.
Norm
Jim,
I have a SupraFax modem v32bis which I use with the Supra version of
GPFax. It is relatively easy to setup. Be aware that there are now
several patches out to upgrade to 2.23. If you decide to get GPFax insist
on 2.23. Also, the Silent Answer mode in the Supra version is a nice
feature. This will take a bit to get working properly. Sending a fax is
reality simple in that you pull up a wordprocessor or DTP program. When
you print, you are "printing" a file with the GPFax print driver. The
file is labeled with a number as you are unable to "name" the "printed"
file.
I have send local and long distance Faxes with GPFax and had no problems.
The quality of copy is excellent. (Final Copy II was having some problems
"printing" with GPFax, but I understand that they now have an upgrade.)
Hope this helps!
Patrick White
"The Amiga non AB rated"
Just 2 words: "A Breeze."
I'm running version 2.24S (Supra Modem only) and have had no trouble with
it since day one. What can I say? It works.
// Brian — Cruising on AutoPilot…..
\X/
Jim,
There have been a couple of updates to GPFax from the one I recieved
with my Supra V.32bis which were a slight annoyance to install. The
initial installation was really simple, I really enjoyed the install
software. On top of that it works just fine.
-Sean
Jim,
Like the others, I using GPfax with a Supra 9600 faxmodem, and I did the
review on it for AmigaWorld. In a nutshell it works fine – I've had more
problems with the modem since I upgraded from the 2400+ – than with the
software. Finalcopy II works fine now, with a free upgrade from the first
version to a Nov. 92 version. Even if you received the 2.01 version, the
upgrade patches for gpfax are here on the forum, and easy to apply.
Finally, there IS a generic version for use with a fairly wide variety of
other modems…but as I said in the review, since Supra is the U.S.
publisher, don't expect a lot of support from them for other modems.
Good Luck!
Gary
Gary (and Norm, Patrick, Brian, and Sean) –
Thanks for your comments on GP Fax.
. . . . JimDoc, on AutoPilot
I just received my suprafax and bundled software in the mail Fri. I had no
problem receiving a fax, but I've had problems with the fax conversion routine,
using Professional Page and Wordperfect. In the case of PPage, when I have it
do a dot matrix print, I shows the GPFax driver. Everything acts as if its all
ok–yet when I check the finished product using gpfax, all I get is blank
pages– plus one page more than I created using PPage. In the case of wp, I
get a cable problem error. Finally, when I view a fax (it may also happen when
I print a fax–since I've only done it once, I can't remember), I get a CMD_ON
failed message at the end–although the whole fax does seem to print. Do any
of the patches cure these problems? Has anyone else experienced this?
PAW C C C
Pat:
Sounds like you have the old printer driver for GPFax. The original
driver did show problems similar to what you have stated. The updated
driver and other patches are on line here in the MODEMVENDOR forum Supra
section. Supra also has a BBS that you can dial into for the patches.
Norm.
Thanks for responding so quickly. I had also sent a message to Supra via
email. Mike (Tech Support) responded and suggested that I get the Supra223.LZH
file. He didn't say, but I assume that this fixes the Ppage problem. He did
say that for Wordperfect I would have to save the document as text only and
then convert it. Has anyone come up with printer driver changes for WP that
work for (with, I should say) GPfax?
PAW
There is no special printer driver for GPFax and WordPerfect. Just choose
the Amiga Printer in WP's printer drivers, this in turn will use the
printer drivers found in the Amiga Prefs. Do not choose the gpfax.driver
in the Amiga Prefs, just make sure you are runnning GPFax and have
Options/PRT driver selected before you print from WP. Keep in mind that
the GPFax.driver will use the font you selected in GPFax, this must be a
fixed font, like the one that came with GPFax. If you use a program like
Professional Page you can add graphics and a variety of fonts to dress up
your faxes since PPage outputs the document as a graphic not text,
therefore you will not be restricted with one font.
I tend to write in WP and inport the text to PPage and dressit up!
Joe Maulucci >>> AP ENGAGED
I finally was able to get the most current updated to gpfax (the one on this
system seems to be a slightly older version)–if it works, I'll upload it to
this forum. Mike, from Supra technical support, thought that it wasn't
possible to print from WP–instead he suggested that I save the file as text,
and then convert it. Let's see if it'll work for me!
PAW
Joe
Thanks for the info on WP. I updated my GPFax, and now can create faxes by
printing from WP (what margins do you use, when you use their 18 font?).
Unfortunately, I still can't print a fax from PPage. I've left Mike, from
Supra, email on this–I also passed on your WP tip, along with your name, since
he had originally told me that you couldn't do a direct print from WP.
PAW
PAW
I guess you'll have to play around with them to get it right, keep in mind
that the margins in GPFax will effect the page too.
Like I said before I have been using PPage [importing WP text here for
more fonts and graphics 🙂 ]for some time. I print through the
dot-matrix. Remember to start GPFax and have the GPFax/Options/PTR Driver
selected. Do not choose the GPFax driver in the Amiga Prefs. When you
call up the dot-matrix output from PPage, the printer driver should read
GPFax.driver. I select a high density level for the high resolution fax.
I don't recall what problems you are having so I you want please brring me
up to date.
Joe Maulucci >>> AP ENGAGED
Joe–
My problem is that PPage acts as if it's printing, but after the print job,
when I go back to GPFax, I have new pages in the FAX_Out directory, but they
are all blank. You had mentioned the PTR option before, but I didn't know with
which program it was associated. I can't remember setting that choice in
GPFax, so when I hang up from CIS, I'll try that. What's been your experience
with the quality of the PPage faxes, both at your end (creating) and the
receiving end? I assume that there is some degradation. I do a newsletter
(complete with digitized pictures) which I routinely mail to the printer. I
assume there's too much loss of quality to fax such a thing to a printer.
Thanks for your help–I'll keep you posted.
PAW
Pat:
I believe that WP uses its own printer drivers not preference printer
drivers. Thus what Mike told you is correct. In order for it to work you
would have to write your own GPFAX printer driver in the form that the
Work Perfect program is looking for. In other words, WP broke the rules
with the program by not using the built in preference printer drivers.
Norm
I do hope this will work–it would make life easier–now I'll have to look
through my messy computer room to find the original WP disk with printer
drivers. Does anyone else have an organization problem?
PAW
Norm
I updated my GPFax, and tried Joe's suggestion for printing from Wordperfect.
It works! I still can't print from PPage, but I'm still hoping that Supra (or
you guys???) can give me some more hints. By the way, is the latest version of
the patch on this system the one that updates to 2.3, or is it a lower version?
PAW D Do
Norm:
Doesn't WP give you the option of using the preferences printer? I was
under the impression that you could, but that you'd loose some of the more
advanced features WP can do when using it's own drivers. As you can tell,
I don't own WP, and only know 3rd hand info about it.
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
That is correct Mike (using preferences printer driver with WP).
-bill
Hi, Patricia!
I use WordPerfect Amiga and GPFax, too. If you wish to use the
Preferences printer, you need to make "Amiga Printer" one of your
selected printers. I never did meet with much satisfaction, though,
in using the Preferences driver with GPFax: Pagination was off and
stuff that should have been printed on the right side of the page
ended up all by itself on the left.
I've had better luck printing to the DOS Text Printer, then importing that
file to GPFax. Of course, before you do that you need to search and
replace special text attributes (italics, bold, underline) with \U, \u,
and so on. Wish it could be done with a macro, but WP can't be relied
upon to look for a [U] rather than a [u] from a macro; gotta be set up
manually. I do have a macro that sets margins, page length, and top
margin so GPFax likes them.
At any rate, this all works quite well, except for a problem I still
haven't figured out when working with a parallel-two-column video script
(the first line in each block of text in the right-hand column was four
spaces to the left of where it should have been).
Do you happen to remember what your various margin, page length, etc. settings
are in the macro? I finally managed printing from WP, with Joe Maulucci's
help, and had the same alignment problem with you. The bain of my existence
right now is that I can't get Ppage to work with GPFax. I'm hoping that it's
just something I'm doing wrong–but I don't think so, since I've set up the
programs the way I'm supposed to. Is there an update in my future?
PAW
I'm sending stuff from PPage 3.0 to GPFax and it sends as faxes
beautifully, using outline fonts. What version of GPFax do you have?
Therein may lie my problem. My version of Ppage is 2.???. I did get the Genie
version (was that 3.0), but at the time didn't have ARexx yet, so I didn't load
it into my hard drive. Now I have ARexx but haven't loaded it in. I've got
2.3 (latest version) of GPFax– from the patch that I got from the Supra
bulletin board. is 3.0 of Ppage a post Genie version?
Pat
Patricia —
The settings I use to format a WordPerfect document before printing it to
disk are:
Margins —
Left: 10
Right: 70
Page Length —
Form Length: 63
Text Lines: 51
Top Margin: 0
As I said earlier, I then take the text file that results from the
print-to-disk operation and have GPFax convert it to fax. One client
complained that the faxes he gets from me are still longer than 11 inches
— closer to 12 or 12.5, he says — but I think that has to do with
GPFax's bias toward A4 paper.
I've uploaded the WordPerfect macro outlined above to AmigaUser, so it'll
be available to everyone as soon as the SysOps clear it.
Bill–
The Download seems to have worked. Thanks. Now I'll be able to use this for
more than just receiving.
Pat
Bill;
I haven't messed with WP macros for a long time now but there is a macro
editor for WP macros that should do what you want I believe.
-bill
Not sure I was looking for it, Bill. 🙂 Been using it for years!
(Thanks for jumping in anyway!)
I also have a problem in printing the faxes that I receive using
postscript in th 2.23 version. If I change to dot matrix and change my
printer to HPIII it will print ok. I had to go back to 2.04 a least it
worked there!
Paul
Paul,
The Postscript printing problem is to do with Commodores driver not GPFax.
Greg Perry has told C= about it….I hope they fix it soon, its a real
pain !
Andrew.
I assume the versions refer to PPage (I'm at the version pre-Genie– whichever
that is). I use an HP inkjet, so I've been trying my printing as a dot matrix.
Today I updated my GPFax to 2.23, and Ppage is still not printing. Thanks to
Je Maulucci, Wordperfect is. So close, yet so far….
PAW
Yer Welcome…
// Brian — Cruising on AutoPilot…..
\X/
JimDoc,
I have been using GP Fax and the Supra modem for a few months now. No
problems establishing a link with Fax machines except when the receivin
party fails to turn their machine on. As to the learning curve, a bit
steep. It is all in the documentation, but I usually read that stuff to
fall asleep so the amount actually adsorbed is around 10%.
I generate faxes in both word perfect <yawn> and PageStream <yeah>. WP is
a bit tricky, you must be careful about how you set up margins and such.
With PageStream it is simple to set a user defined page that will match a
standard fax.
Would I purchase the package if I new of all the trials and tribulations?
Absolutely. The best part has been Supra. They have been very helpful in
answering questions, providing ROM updates and general support.
Now, if I could only find where I put the documentation on Silent Answer.
Probably under the bed.
<<Now, if I could only find where I put the documentation on Silent
Answer.>>
If you find yours let me know. I can't find mine either! <g>
-Sean
Well, the GPFAX readme mentions it. Also, I think it's in the ROM update
Addemdum to the SupraFAXModem.
// Brian — Cruising on AutoPilot…..
\X/
Thanks, I'll go and have a look.
-Sean
I use both GPFax and Supra. First time I tried them, I installed, mucked
around with the gadgets to see what they did and used them with no
problems. This was with a text editor and using the GPFax conversion
facility – had to fiddle with the margins a little after looking at the
result with GPFax preview.
I had a problem with sending faxes from WPs and DTP. The problem was
solved by Tech support pointing out that I probably hadn't updated my
driver when I updated the program. The other problem I worked out was
that from PageStream I hadn't selected `preferences' printer. Since then
I use PageStream/GPFax combination without any problems…so far 🙂
regards, Lu on AutoPilot downunder