Gammafax PC fax card
date: label: date made
content: 1985
name: label: maker
content: GammaLink Graphics Communications
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: GammaFax card used to allow a personal computer to print directly to a facsimile machine, 1985.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The donor reported: "This card, Serial #1004, was one of the earliest GammaFax cards made. It was number 4 of the first batch of ten hand-assembled units that we put together to test and check the GammaFax product. The unit was put together and soldered by myself [H. S. Magnuski] and/or Tomasz Koperwas, the engineer who did much of the hardware design for the card. This unit is still fully functional and was tested and sent a fax today [18 September 1992] with both the early release and current release software.
label: Description (Brief)
content: "Also included in this package is a copy of the original GammaFax Manual, software disks and some press clippings describing the launch of the PC-Fax product. I've even included a copy of the very first test chart sent by me to our Xerox Telecopier. The chart is dated June 6th, 1985, and shows various streaks and errors introduced in the transmission due to a buggy program. Nevertheless, it dates my original attempts to get a PC talking to fax machines via a PC modem/fax card.
label: Description (Brief)
content: "The origins of this product stem from several sources. GammaLink had been using the Rockwell modem/fax chip set in a 9600 bps plug-in card for the PC which we announced in April of 1984. This product was the first 9600 plug-in modem for the IBM PC and was used for micro-to-mainframe communications.
label: Description (Brief)
content: "One of our customers, John Brooks of University Microfilms, Inc., knew that the chipset was capable of fax service with the addition of an IBM SDLC card and some Group 3 protocol software. John contracted with us to write the required G3 software and we delivered some working fax software in August of 1985. After additional development work we announced a two-board PC/Fax solution in December of 1985, and some of the press clippings you now have refer to that product. Many system integrators were very interested in the concept, and we decided to put additional engineering effort into making a cheaper, one-board solution for the market. After redesigning the card, we were able to announce the GammaFax product in June of 1986, and that card would really mark the first entrant into what we know as the computer based fax or PC/Fax industry. By the end of 1986 other cards began to show up in the market (the FIT Fax, the Panasonic, JT Fax and others), and there has been a steady increase in the number of companies and number of products ever since."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from GammaLink, Graphics Communications
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1992.0469.01
label: accession number
content: 1992.0469
label: catalog number
content: 1992.0469.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: computer card
label: Object Name
content: facsimile component
label: Object Name
content: facsimile
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 3/4 in x 4 1/4 in x 9 3/4 in; 1.905 cm x 10.795 cm x 24.765 cm