Ok... so it's a bit OT, but I was e-mailed a form from the
Specialty Coffee Association of America (of which I'm a
member) with a subject starting with URGENT:
I needed to make changes to the e-mail and FAX it back
ASAP. (You've gotta wonder why they require you to fax
back something they e-mailed you, but anyway...)
I didn't have a modem on my machine. I didn't have any
fax software installed, yet I sent a fax within minutes
of deciding to do so.
1) Find the 100K efax software at rpmfind.net (30 seconds),
and download <efax.src.rpm> (2 seconds)
2) Grab the external 33.6 modem off my wife's machine
and plug it into the other serial port on mine.
(camera is already on the first) (20 seconds)
3) Build the package (5 seconds)
(rpm --rebuild --target i686 <efax.package.src>)
4) Install the package (rpm -ivh <efax.package.rpm>
(2 second)
5) make a symlink from /dev/fax to /dev/modem
(which is already a symlink to /dev/ttyS1
(5 seconds)
6) glance at man page
(20 seconds)
7) "fax send 123-456-7890 /home/steve/scaa_directory.txt"
(OOps! Wrong number. Forgot the 1 for long distance)
(30 seconds)
8) "fax send 1-123-456-7890 /home/steve/scaa_directory.txt"
(1 minute : 20 seconds)
efax: 40:25 header:[2003/05/30 12:39 +0 000 000 0000 from a Red Hat Linux system
p. 1/2]
efax: 40:59 sent 20+2156 lines, 34611+21860 bytes, 34 s 13287 bps
efax: 41:02 sent -> /home/steve/scaa_directory.txt.001
efax: 41:03 header:[2003/05/30 12:39 +0 000 000 0000 from a Red Hat Linux system
p. 2/2]
efax: 41:34 sent 20+2156 lines, 20241+28292 bytes, 31 s 12524 bps
efax: 41:39 sent -> /home/steve/scaa_directory.txt.002
efax: 41:40 done, returning 0 (success)
Bam! Simple, streamlined, elegant, no need for mouse or
even Xwindows... all in barely over 5 minutes.
Part of the reason this seems so remarkable to me is that
I remember once *trying* to send a fax from my wife's old
Windows'95 machine. What a pain!!! I must have wasted a
good 45 minutes on it, and never did get that fax sent!
It's actually taken me longer to write this e-mail than
the whole fax process.
Yeah... I love the simplicity and power that is Linux.
... and when is Arachne 2 due out anyway???
--
Steve Ackman
http://twoloonscoffee.com (Need green beans?)
http://twovoyagers.com (glass, linux & other stuff)
