From: earle@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov (Greg Earle - Gainfully Unemployed)
Subject: A Telebit FAX upgrade FLAME (Was: "Re: WB Fax Upgrade")
Followup-To: comp.dcom.modems
Summary: Documentation?  What documentation?
Keywords: Telebit  FAX  documentation
Reply-To: isolar!earle@elroy.JPL.NASA.GOV
Organization: Gainfully unemployed
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 10:06:23 GMT

In article <1993Jan6.052942.582@smoke.marlboro.vt.us> jhood@smoke.marlboro.vt.us (Lord Yertle) writes:
>In article <1993Jan5.160347.12669@ups.com> kevinc@ups.com (Kevin C.
>Castner) writes:
>>As a matter of fact, when I received my WB, I got a T3000 manual with a
>>WB addendum.
>
>And I hope that Telebit sends a single, complete manual with the fax
>upgrade.  Things are bad enough already with the current two manual situation.

Sorry, no such luck.  You get an installation manual for the chips, and
Yet Another Addendum manual - "Facsimile and V.25bis Addendum for Telebit
T3000 and WorldBlazer Modems".

>It's not so bad when the addendum is just about new, additional
>features (I have another modem with one like this), but it's quite
>annoying when it covers changes to the modem as well.  Neither the
>T3000 manual nor the Addendum can be relied on by itself; you always
>have to check the other one to see what's different.

Hah!  Have I got news for you ...

Not only does the new Addendum contain more changes and additions to the
AT Commands and S Register settings (yes, you may now consult *3* manuals
to see what the actual behavior is), but it gets even better than that:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Telebit:

I just received my FAX upgrade for my WorldBlazer modem.  I paid $99 of my
hard-earned money for this upgrade, primarily for the FAX capability (the
bugfixes for the 5.00 PROM problems are more than welcome, of course).

I have just read the "Facsimile and V.25bis Addendum for Telebit T3000 and
WorldBlazer Modems".  I searched in vain for information on how to use the
FAX capability for which I paid my hard-earned $99.  I found NONE.  I found
a single page (2-1) that says

	Your WorldBlazer or T3000 modem can send and receive facsimiles.
	The Telecommunications Industry Association is creating a standard for
	facsimile modems.  This emerging standard is called SP-2388, and the
	August 1990 draft of SP-2388 has become a de facto industry standard.
	The modem conforms to this de facto standard for Class 2 facsimile
	functionality.

	In order to use your modem's facsimile capabilities, you need
	application software on your computer.  The type of computer you use
	determines the particular software you need.

	[ List of software for computers I don't have deleted.  Listing for ]
	[ UNIX FAX software that costs $625/$900+ deleted as well.  Sheesh! ]

	Load the software recommended for your computer environment and follow
	the software's directions for using facsimile.

	These software packages may not be the only products that are fully
	compatible with Telebit facsimile functionality.  We advise you to
	check with individual software vendors for information on whether their
	products are fully compatible with the SP-2388 standard or Class 2
	facsimile functionality.

	If you have problems when using the facsimile function, contact your
	facsimile software vendor.

Yes, sports fans, that's the ENTIRE in-toto documentation on your T3000/WB FAX
capabilities!

<< FLAME MODE ON >>

READ MY LIPS:

When I pay $99 for a FAX upgrade, I presume that I will get PROMs that contain
commands to put the modem into FAX receive/transmit mode.  I ALSO PRESUME THAT
I WILL GET DOCUMENTATION ON WHAT THE HELL THOSE COMMANDS ARE, comprende'?  And
if I am told that the modem "conforms to this de facto standard for Class 2
facsimile functionality, SP-2388", then if YOU WON'T TELL ME WHAT NEW COMMANDS
THE MODEM HAS, THEN WHERE THE HELL IS MY COPY OF THE SP-2388 STANDARD so that
I can figure it out for my damn self?!?

I ALSO PRESUME THAT I WILL NOT BE TOLD THAT I HAVE TO BUY A $625 PROPRIETARY
FAX PRODUCT THAT (A) I CAN'T AFFORD and (B) MIGHT NOT BE COMPATIBLE WITH MY O/S,
EITHER NOW OR IN THE FUTURE.  If I want to try and port GNU NetFax 3.2.1, which
is FREE (and therefore what I *can* afford), I NEED DOCUMENTATION ON THE FAX
COMMANDS so that I can do this.  Is this so hard to figure out?!?

The T3000->WorldBlazer upgrade was handled very well (especially for me, since
I only needed the PROM swap version).  This upgrade, on the other hand, is
horrific.  If there are TWO addendums, isn't it time to issue a new version of
the main "Telebit T3000 Reference Manual", so we don't have to look in 3 places
at once?!?

I was once an extremely pleased Telebit customer.  I'm now a disgrunted Telebit
customer.  This stuff should have been *inherently obvious* to even the most
casual of observers.  Without documentation, this "upgrade" is nothing more
than an expensive $99 bugfix PROM upgrade, as far as I'm concerned.  If it
weren't for the (presumed) bugfixes for the 3 serious problems with the 5.00
PROMs, I probably would have shipped this back by now and demanded my money.

In the future, I would appreciate it if Telebit would take into consideration
the fact that a customer who pays Real Money for a PROM upgrade which contains
new features deserves to have every one of those new features documented *fully
and completely*, and does NOT deserve to have proprietary software solutions
pushed upon him/her from vendors who apparently have been provided with this
information.  The customer deserves the right to have sufficient information
provided to him/her in order to pursue their own software solution, be it free
or otherwise.

Sincerely,

	- Greg Earle
	  Formerly happy Telebit customer

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would really like to see an official response from Marty Likier or some other
Telebit representative regarding this situation.  I am incredulous that no one
at Telebit could realize a priori that some people might actually get upset
at the notion that they get no documentation on the FAX capabilities, no copy
of the standard it supports, and are only told that they have to purchase a
proprietary & costly software product in order to gain access to these same
capabilities.  Unbelievable.

Yes, I am not in a good mood as I post this.  It's late and I'm cranky (-:

--
	- Greg Earle				| DISCLAIMER: These are MY
	  Itinerant Sun Consultant		| opinions ONLY, and do NOT
	  isolar!earle@elroy.JPL.NASA.GOV	| reflect the opinions of JPL!
	  (818) 353-8695			| They let me post via them.