From: tssnext!tss (Total System Software)
Subject: Re: Total Systems Software Fax software
Organization: Total System Software
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 22:47:20 GMT

In article <tlm.718647704@scl1.al.iastate.edu> tlm@iastate.edu (Dr. T.L.  
Marchioro II) writes:
> In <92299@netnews.upenn.edu> arzt@dccs.upenn.edu (Noam H. Arzt) writes:
> 
> >In article <1992Oct9.000557.700@cs.wisc.edu> roth@cs.wisc.edu (Bill Roth)  
> >writes:
> >> Has anyone bought Total Systems Software Fax software? If so, how do
> >> you like it?
> 
> >Total Systems has failed to ship yet after months of waiting. I am starting  
to 
> >lose faith...
> 
> I received a phone call (in response to E-mail) from one of the owners
> of Total Sys Soft who told me there had been some minor troubles getting
> the package to supercede the NeXT's getty process, but that this had
> been worked out and the software would ship "soon."  Unfortunately, 
> that was 2-3 weeks ago, so it's already past "soon" by my definition.
> I'll try contacting the company again to see if I can learn more.
> 
> Tom
> 
> 


Tom,
    Your patience is GREATLY appreciated. There are two things we are still  
refining.  One, is compensation for transmission errors on received faxes,  
because MANY OTHER FACSIMILE products on the market will REFUSE to resync,  
retrain and retransmit.  (DFax WILL NOW retrain and retransmit (on sending  
faxes), so long as the Supra or distant equipment does not drop the  
connection).

    The second thing, deliberately reserved for the last, is freezing the  
installation and configuration (Interface Builder) application.  IF we receive  
our ``J'' ROMs prior to packaging, it will be double checked with them.  The  
voluminous documentation is indexed to the Digital Librarian, which may be  
requested directly from within the .app (in addition to the standard services  
option), and as it now stands, a single menu option is the ``standard  
installation' procedure, so long as your modem is connected and powered on when  
you launch the installation application.
  
    Several things have delayed us from past projections.  We suffered loss of  
a hard drive on the primary development machine.  This was a hardware failure,  
but recovery was a major undertaking.  We had a defective ``F'' ROM equipped  
Supra with which we were testing.  Unable to obtain detailed information from  
Supra, beyond what has been made available to the general public on their BBS,  
and various posts in these newsgroups, we wasted quite a bit of time on *that*  
problem.  Early-on, we noted the problems in smoothly interfacing with the NeXT  
standard getty, and the *fact* that certain conditions must be met for  
post-login utilities such as ``talk'' to work correctly.  These difficulties  
have been overcome.
  
    We found, in testing, that many (a quite large percentage of the test  
machines we have utilized) fax machines and especially fax-modem software  
packages on other platforms will REFUSE to retrain, and, in addition, will  
attempt to force connection at their maximum programmed speed.  Some  
stand-alone machines are quite slow, requiring significant padding on-the-fly.    
Frankly, I'd prefer not to state everything we have attended to, in the  
interest of retaining the lead we have attained, DESPITE not being the ``first  
to ship'' in 3rd party NeXT FaxWare.
  
    Some of these things have taken weeks to overcome.  Others, hours.  Most  
have little or no documentation in popular or generally available reports or  
data sheets.
  
    It bears restating, that the owners of a QUALITY platform such as the NeXT  
- DESERVE - QUALITY software to run on it.  That remains our commitment.   
Rather than giving a specific day, which *COULD* be missed again, I will merely  
ask that you bear with us just a bit longer.
  
 --
Bruce Gingery
Total System Software

tss@TotSysSoft.com  or
bruce@TotSysSoft.com
-- 
Bruce Gingery
Total System Software

tss@TotSysSoft.com  or