Ralph Shumaker wrote:
DJA wrote:
OK, here's the part where someone threw me for a loop. How does this
"built in software which knows about email" send email to ..., say...,
anywhere outside the AIO? You drafted this explanation to answer
something I wrote above.
<repeating myself>
I just don't know how this *email* (or image)...
It's not an '...or...' proposition. The image is the payload of the
email. The image is sent in the form of email. It's not one or the other.
...is supposed to get from
the all-in-one to the PC, whether via phone line...
It can't get to your PC via the phone line. Any phone line involved is
connected to the phone network. If the AIO has its own FAX modem, then
it will be connected to the phone network. If the AIO does not contain a
modem, then it's presumed the PC has a FAX modem which is connected to
the phone network (if you want to use the AIO as part of a FAX machine).
Anything going to and from the AIO and the PC is sent via the USB cable
connecting them.
...from the fax portion of
the all-in-one to my ISP then back to my PC (again via phone line),...
You're not going to receive a FAX via email (in fact, you really can't
/send/ a FAX via email, because then, well...then it's not a FAX
anymore, it's email). But if we're assuming that the AIO has built-in
FAX capability, then it's going to send the FAX directly, without
intervention from the PC.
...or via USB...
USB is what connects the AIO to the PC. Period.
...(or ethernet, or wireless)...
Which is how local computer networks are physically connected.
...directly to some email server that I
probably have to set up on my PC,...
You'll certainly have to set up something somewhere one way or the other.
To tell you the truth, I have never used or looked at how All-in-one
printer-scanner-copier-fax machines work. I know the
printer-scanner-copier part is a no-brainer.
I'm taking it on faith that what others in this discussion have
described of the capabilities of some AIO's is correct. That, that a
machine with integral FAX functionality can directly send a FAX via the
normal phone network, or via email (which again, no longer makes it a
FAX in my book).
For the normal Send-the-FAX-over-the-phone-network situation, the AIO
sends your FAX just as with a dedicated FAX machine.
In order for the AIO to send email, obviously it needs to be connected
to the Internet like any other network device. That is, it plugs into
your existing LAN, connecting through something which routes over the
Internet (router, cable modem, DSL modem, phone modem, etc.).
As for telling it the destination email address, I can conceive of an
AIO being smart enough to have a the ability to send email. My
firewall/router sends me email, so why can't a FAX machine? In fact, my
firewall/router has a built-in Web server for configuration purposes. So
why can't a FAX machine have the same capability? You'd need the ability
to type in the email address on a front panel somewhere of course - or
use your Web browser to connect to the AIO.
...or via pixie dust, or via magical
incantations. From what has been explained to me so far, I'm betting on
one of the latter two. (Seriously.)
Now you're just being silly. Seriously.
You're going to have to tell the machine the destination email address -
or phone number. That can all be done from a front LCD panel and keypad
(or through a built-in Web server). Again, no magic involved.
If the AIO has no FAX capability, software on the PC side would be
needed for that function. The PC software would:
1a) receive the image from the scanner portion of AIO to a file,
2a) prompt the user for a destination (phone number or email address),
3a) send the file to destination (call modem or route to LAN or WAN).
To receive a FAX with a FAX-less AIO:
1a) FAX-modem in PC answers call, causing the listening PC software to
2a) save the incoming FAX image to a file, and/or
3a) send the file to the printer portion of AIO, and/or
4a) send the file via email to a preselected user (you).
And thank you for explaining the path of
the image. It cleared up a few things for me.)
You're welcome. Hopefully this clears up most of the rest.
7) Outgoing Fax from PC file: Who-knows-how file comes from PC,
dials, and sends.
Source document is scanned by scanner component of All-in-one (AIO).
Image is sent to PC via USB or Ethernet. PC dials modem and sends file
or sends file to appropriate network address. Or AIO is smart enough
to send image itself over phone or Ethernet. Also source document may
already be in a file format so scanning step can be skipped.
You did well with the previous six items. But on this one, you lost the
perspective that the fax is in the AIO, not the PC.
I covered both cases above: FAX modem in AIO, and FAX-less AIO requiring
FAX modem in PC.
Item #7 here has a
file on the PC going to the AIO (with fax built in) which somehow knows
that it is supposed to send it somewhere.
Say I have a document to send. If I have a FAX machine connected to my
PC, then I don't necessarily need to require the FAX machine to scan a
paper document itself in order to send a FAX. Why not just send a file
containing the document directly to the FAX machine? No different than
sending a file to a printer:
Send file to a box that prints
or
Send file to a box that FAXes.
The "somewhere" part is up to you. You'll have to tell any FAX machine
where to send the file whatever protocol is used for getting it there.
No transfer between the photo card and the PC?
If you want, I'm sure that's technically possible. It's a requirement
on Kodak's EasyShare printer-docks: you can't get the picture from the
camera to the PC without the printer-dock. But other than the silly
Kodak exception, if you wanted to read a camera's memory card (e.g. to
edit) on your PC, why would you want to do it from the printer?
Why would you want to have a separate reader if the printer can read it?
The printer will only print what's in memory. Good, bad, or blank. What
if you need to edit the picture? You can't do that on the printer. If
you want a quick and dirty print of a couple of pics, as is, then just
print directly from the camera or its memory. If you need to manipulate
the pics first, you'll need a PC with its own card reader.
I don't know if the printer can send the data to the PC. Most desktop
PC's don't have card readers, so having them on the printer does kill
two birds with one stone. If I were building printers, I'd make that a
feature.
The point of the the memory slots on the printer is so you can print a
limited number of sizes of pictures directly from the camera (so to
speak). Hopefully your pictures don't need any pre-printing surgery.
Thereby giving you a good reason to get it from the printer memory card
reader to the PC.
You shouldn't *need* a printer in order get a camera's images to the PC
for editing. The point of card readers on printers is to be able to
print without the need of PC software. It saves a step.
Basic functions of all-in-one attached to PC with fax/modem:
4) Incoming Fax to hard copy: Phone rings, PC answers, receives
image and .
Yes.
Whatever step #1 was. You clipped that. But I guess I can pull up the
email I sent with it intact.
Basic functions of all-in-one attached to PC with fax/modem:
4) Incoming Fax to hard copy: Phone rings, PC answers, receives
image and sends file to printer portion of AIO.
--
Best Regards,
~DJA.
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