pretty print FAX w/ linux

[jrv at mbunix.mitre.org (Jim Van Zandt)]

In message <199411072055.PAA16764 at smectic.elsie.brandeis.edu> you write:
>
>Does any know of a ``one call does it all''
>program to send ASCII text out over the FAX machine? 
>
>-- 
>robert j luoma     <luoma at binah.cc.brandeis.edu>

If there's a suitable server in the receiver's area, you can send a fax
without even making a long distance telephone call:

    To: remote-printer.Arlington_Hewes/Room_403 at 0.1.5.2.8.6.9.5.1.4.1.tpc.int

This will get automatically routed to a remote printer server, which
will transmit a facsimile to the recipient.  When the transmission
completes, a message will be sent back to you.

Let's look at the strings on either side of the '@'-sign.

The left-hand part identifies the kind of access (remote-printer) along
with the identity of the recipient (Arlington_Hewes/Room_403).

Because some mailers have difficulty dealing with addresses that
contain spaces, etc., you should be very careful as to what characters
you use to identify the recipient.  It safest to use upper and lower
case letters, digits, and two special characters ('_' and '/').

When a cover sheet is generated, the '_' will turn into a space and the
'/' will turn into an end-of-line sequence.  So, given the address
above, the cover sheet might start with

    Please deliver this facsimile to:

	Arlington Hewes
	Room 403

The right-hand part identifies the telephone number of the
remote-printer.  It must be an international telephone number.
Telephone numbers are usually written like this:

    +code-number

where "code" identifies the country and "number" is the telephone
number within the country, e.g.,

    +1-415 968 2510

For those interested in telephonic trivia, the maximum number of digits
is 15. In order to get the Internet e-mail infrastructure to
automatically route messages, the punctuation characters are stripped
out, e.g.,

    14159682510

and then the string is inverted and turned into an Internet domain
name, e.g.,

    0.1.5.2.8.6.9.5.1.4.1.tpc.int

(Note that the telephone number should not include any international
access codes.)

This approach allows us to map from the Internet naming scheme onto the
entire international telephone network.  

For more info, send mail to tpc-faq at town.hall.org.

                     - Jim Van Zandt