Someone please explain why this can't be done

I have an external HP 4215 all-in-one printer. I use it for sending and
receiving faxes. I have other printers for photos and text. What I want to
do, is have the incoming fax sent to my pc to be saved and/or edited instead
of having it printed out by the machine. I don't care if it does print out a
hard copy but I definitely want it to xfer the incoming image or message to
my pc for viewing. The reason is, I have had incoming faxes destroyed by a
clunking mechanical paper feeder. The transmission was fine, but the output
is unacceptable. Why can't the incoming message/image be sent to the pc as a
PDF or TIFF or some other image format so I can read the message at my
leisure. I know there are third party programs that will do this, BUT ONLY
for TAPI modems(waaaay to old fashioned). They keep looking for a dial-up
modem on my pc and I haven't had those 56k things in my system for ages. I
also know that faxes are still analog. But why in the hell can't they be
converted to digital and sent to the pc. It doesn't seem to be that big of a
deal technologically speaking that is. The fax machine is connected to my pc
via USB. Now, I know you can setup Win apps to send material to your fax
machine to be broadcast or sent, but never the reverse. WHY?? This is really
frustrating. I've tried setting the fax printer's port to PDF(Adobe) and
virtual USB and Local port, and even "Print to File" port, hoping that when
the printer starts after transmission, it will also send a copy to the
computer. But this isn't working either. I can't believe no one else has
ever wondered this. Faxes can be sent to the pc, but only if you use
outdated hardware. Go figure. Any thoughts?

Ron

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote in message
...
In article , "Ron"
wrote:

I have an external HP 4215 all-in-one printer. I use it for sending and
receiving faxes. I have other printers for photos and text. What I want
to
do, is have the incoming fax sent to my pc to be saved and/or edited
instead
of having it printed out by the machine. I don't care if it does print
out a
hard copy but I definitely want it to xfer the incoming image or message
to
my pc for viewing.

Just put a faxmodem in your PC and run fax software, and have your
inbound fax line go to that.


Can't. All slots taken. Besides, I wouldn't put 10 year old tech back into
my system. And, my mobo doesn't even have EISA slots.

"J. A. Mc." wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 19:32:04 -0500, "Ron" found these
unused words floating about:


"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote in message
...
In article , "Ron"
wrote:

I have an external HP 4215 all-in-one printer. I use it for sending
and
receiving faxes. I have other printers for photos and text. What I
want
to
do, is have the incoming fax sent to my pc to be saved and/or edited
instead
of having it printed out by the machine. I don't care if it does
print
out a
hard copy but I definitely want it to xfer the incoming image or
message
to
my pc for viewing.

Just put a faxmodem in your PC and run fax software, and have your
inbound fax line go to that.


Can't. All slots taken. Besides, I wouldn't put 10 year old tech back
into
my system. And, my mobo doesn't even have EISA slots.

... besides ... how would you 'edit' it?
A fax is an image of the document NOT and OCR'd copy.


Well, it doesn't have to be OCR'd to edit, if you include graphic editing in
the definition of the term. I could circle emphasized areas or edit the
image via a paint program. But I also have an OCR prog as well. The thing
is, everything nowadays is digital. But for the life of me, I can't
understand why faxes are still analog. I mainly use the fax for sending and
receiving forms and applications. It's be nice if everyone had a PDF
document maker. Then they could scan in their form, convert it to PDF, and
then send via email. Faxes would then be obsolete. Everything could be
viewed and printed out on the receiver's pc. No need for telephone lines.

On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 19:32:04 -0500, "Ron" wrote:


"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote in message
...
In article , "Ron"
wrote:

I have an external HP 4215 all-in-one printer. I use it for sending and
receiving faxes. I have other printers for photos and text. What I want
to
do, is have the incoming fax sent to my pc to be saved and/or edited
instead
of having it printed out by the machine. I don't care if it does print
out a
hard copy but I definitely want it to xfer the incoming image or message
to
my pc for viewing.

Just put a faxmodem in your PC and run fax software, and have your
inbound fax line go to that.


Can't. All slots taken. Besides, I wouldn't put 10 year old tech back into
my system. And, my mobo doesn't even have EISA slots.

Buy an external voice/fax modem. They're cheap and do the job, and you
can attach them to a USB port.

--

Hecate - The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Buy an external voice/fax modem. They're cheap and do the job, and you
can attach them to a USB port.

--

Hecate - The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Then why did I buy this HP Fax machine? No, I need a solution to make THIS
fax work. But from what I'm getting in response, it seems it can't be done.
Oh well, thanks to all for the ideas.

Ron

yes, but what backup do you have if your cable modem goes out or your HP is
down? I use my fax modem as a backup for just that reason. It also allowed me
to buy the 3 in 1 Epson printer, whose other features far outweigh the lack of
a fax function (e.g.,a high resolution 35 mm slide scanner, built in).

Sherwin D.

Ron wrote:

Buy an external voice/fax modem. They're cheap and do the job, and you
can attach them to a USB port.

--

Hecate - The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Then why did I buy this HP Fax machine? No, I need a solution to make THIS
fax work. But from what I'm getting in response, it seems it can't be done.
Oh well, thanks to all for the ideas.

Ron

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote in message
...
In article , "Ron"
wrote:

Then why did I buy this HP Fax machine? No, I need a solution to make
THIS
fax work.

That's like saying "gee, I'd really love to start doing landscape work;
I need my Honda Civic to tow a large trailer. Why can't it do this?
Why did I buy this car if it can't do what I want?"

Yeah, just like that.


You knew what the HP did when you bought it. Why are you crying about
it now?

Nope. Didn't know that. That's the reason for the original post. Not crying
about it either. But now you're getting tweaked because you have nothing
meaningful to add so you throw it back on me. It's typical of would-be
resident officianados who, if they can't be the savior du jour, cry "you're
an idiot".


I understand if you say, "There should be a machine out there to do
this." When you turn it into "why did I buy this machine if it can't do
something like this," that's between you and yourself.

Yes there should be one. Haven't found it yet. Thought this one would.
That's why I bought it. All the separate fax machines I saw(Brothers mostly)
do not connect to your pc. The question was to emphasize the absurdity of
the suggestion that I simply use a faxmodem rather than this new printer
that I ALREADY have and my unwillingness to plug ten year old tech back into
my computer. Apparently the poster, who suggested that I simply ignore my
new purchase and put in an old EISA fax modem, thought that was a rational
suggestion( like that's what anyone would do). I thought that perhaps
someone would have a workaround or a way of monitoring printer output and
logging that output so it could be replicated on your pc via a viewer or
something like that.


It's a great question, actually, that the rest of us would love to know
the answer to: why DID you buy it if it didn't meet your needs?

The "rest of us"? Are you the mouthpiece for this group now?


More importantly, why are you coming here to bitch if you bought the
wrong machine for your needs? You aren't blaming the MACHINE, are you?


*yawn* see above

Really, it's ok if you can't help. No need to get irate.

"Ron" wrote in message ...
Can't. All slots taken. Besides, I wouldn't put 10 year old tech back
into
my system. And, my mobo doesn't even have EISA slots.

Faxes are at least 30-year-old technology. You want to be compatible
with them, ...


... besides ... how would you 'edit' it?
A fax is an image of the document NOT and OCR'd copy.


Well, it doesn't have to be OCR'd to edit, if you include graphic editing in
the definition of the term. I could circle emphasized areas or edit the
image via a paint program. But I also have an OCR prog as well. The thing
is, everything nowadays is digital. But for the life of me, I can't
understand why faxes are still analog.

Are they really analog? Regardless, it's a standard. Like telephones,
you can't obsolete old equipment by changing the format.


Get an external 56k modem; people are throwing them away now.
Alternatively, you can use a fax-to-email service. I use
http://www.efax.com/ which is free, if you accept some spam, or you
can pay for more messages and no spam. I only need to use it about
once a month so the free service is fine for me. They email an image
file of any faxes sent to the number they give you.

On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 21:56:59 -0500, "Ron" wrote:

Buy an external voice/fax modem. They're cheap and do the job, and you
can attach them to a USB port.

--

Hecate - The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Then why did I buy this HP Fax machine?

Actually, that's the real question ;-)

--

Hecate - The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

10 year old technology. What's wrong with that? You are a PC salesman's dream
who runs out and upgrades their machine, just to have the 'latest' technology.
You
already have a 3 in 1 machine. You are probably anxiously awaiting the 4 in 1
so you
can see how many functions you can cram into one device. I use my cable modem
to
get high speed Internet, but I don't need that high speed for faxes. It's
called adapting
to the available technology. Some of us gave you, what I thought was a
reasonable
work around, but you appear to be a technology snob who wouldn't want to violate

their machine by plugging in that ten year old stuff. I commend you trying to
protect
your PC. By the way, if you have a mouse, you better get rid of that old
technology
and update to voice actuated input, just to be consistent.

Sherwin D.

Ron wrote:

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote in message
...
In article , "Ron"
wrote:

Then why did I buy this HP Fax machine? No, I need a solution to make
THIS
fax work.

That's like saying "gee, I'd really love to start doing landscape work;
I need my Honda Civic to tow a large trailer. Why can't it do this?
Why did I buy this car if it can't do what I want?"

Yeah, just like that.


You knew what the HP did when you bought it. Why are you crying about
it now?

Nope. Didn't know that. That's the reason for the original post. Not crying
about it either. But now you're getting tweaked because you have nothing
meaningful to add so you throw it back on me. It's typical of would-be
resident officianados who, if they can't be the savior du jour, cry "you're
an idiot".


I understand if you say, "There should be a machine out there to do
this." When you turn it into "why did I buy this machine if it can't do
something like this," that's between you and yourself.

Yes there should be one. Haven't found it yet. Thought this one would.
That's why I bought it. All the separate fax machines I saw(Brothers mostly)
do not connect to your pc. The question was to emphasize the absurdity of
the suggestion that I simply use a faxmodem rather than this new printer
that I ALREADY have and my unwillingness to plug ten year old tech back into
my computer. Apparently the poster, who suggested that I simply ignore my
new purchase and put in an old EISA fax modem, thought that was a rational
suggestion( like that's what anyone would do). I thought that perhaps
someone would have a workaround or a way of monitoring printer output and
logging that output so it could be replicated on your pc via a viewer or
something like that.


It's a great question, actually, that the rest of us would love to know
the answer to: why DID you buy it if it didn't meet your needs?

The "rest of us"? Are you the mouthpiece for this group now?


More importantly, why are you coming here to bitch if you bought the
wrong machine for your needs? You aren't blaming the MACHINE, are you?


*yawn* see above

Really, it's ok if you can't help. No need to get irate.