Mike Church of Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital writes:

<<snip>>
>Just mentioned Pitney Bowes machine as an option....
>BTW, the limitations that the Pitney Bowes has :
>
>     1) Can not do a true forms overlay.
>       You are limited to scanned 'blocks',
>        like a header or signature block that spans
>        the width of the document. The text must then
>        follow below and/or above pre-scanned blocks.
>
>     2) There is no way to send a status of the fax back to
>        the system (if the fax fails, it prints a notice
>        on the fax machine and the e3k doesn't know that
>        the fax transmission failed).
>
>     3) There is no way to check the status of the
>        fax machine itself.  Some one unplugged the
>        power cord, and the user did not notice. We had
>        to reprocess the faxes. The fax machine uses
>       xon/xoff flow control only and does not pass
>        a true printer status.

Capability and functionality are key items to consider when selecting an
external device to connect to the HP3000.  Time to implement is certainly
another.

Unfortunately, nearly all of the fax machines with serial interfaces mimic a
printer.  Therefore, the data transfer is only one way, i.e., out to the
device.  As you mention, the HP e3000 user is helpless to resolve the
situation.  Even worse, you aren't even notified of a logical disconnection
between the HP e3000 and the device.

For these reasons and more, we selected other types of equipment to be far
more effective and efficient.  Again, there is always more than one way to
solve a problem.  The differentiators tend to often be reduced to simply
time and money.  Whomever is responsible for the time and the money is what
usually influences the ultimate decision.

Ben

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ben Bruno * STR SOFTWARE COMPANY * President

11505 Allecingie Parkway * Richmond, Virginia  23235
P: 804.897.1600, x100 * F: 804.897.1638
E: [log in to unmask]

Come visit us on the World Wide Web: http://www.strsoftware.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~