Hyla Fax Server For Linux: Am I Too Dumb, Too Impatient, To Get This Running?

[OldChinaHam]

Hi,

HylaFAX is a great fax server for free, IF you can get it setup right.

I have tried in the past, maybe 10 years ago, then 5 years ago, then 1 year ago.

Each time I get halfway through and lose patience with lack of easy progress during the installation.

I have seen that some guys offer to set this up on your server for a fee, by remote installation.

I'm guessing these guys are from India or some place.

But is there a better installation solution, maybe some sort of 1-Click for HylaFAX which will just setup a default install on your desktop.

HylaFAX is great software with more than enough services for any business or even home environment. I just wish it was not so hard to set up the server end.

The Fax Client for HylaFAX, as I recall, was easy to install. But this is useless without the Fax Server being setup properly.

GREAT SOFTWARE!

If you can use it.

So do any of you egg heads have any pointers or ways I can finally get this software working?

The only halfway decent fax software that I know of is available for Windows, but I don't want that.

Even if you setup a Windows installation on a virtual machine, then sometimes the windows fax software still won't work because, I don't know, maybe the VM will not let the Tappi connections through to the phone lines, or maybe some other reason.

It would be great to get this working, too, because I think that this can set up almost unlimited fax lines on voip lines.

The other alternative to having a dedicated faxserver would then be to pay for a faxserver set up by some company for about 8.00 USD per line, but much more for international faxes.

There must be a way to streamline the installation process,

Right?

[OldChinaHam]

Hylafax Fax Server Installation & Configuration

MARCH 27, 2012 LEAVE A COMMENT

It’s 2012 and many people still rely on faxes and faxing. I recently had need for a system that would allow faxes to be broadcast from users’ desktops. There are several solutions on the market, including web based internet faxing. But, I was shocked to see the pricing especially for the in-house fax servers. Fortunately, there is a free alternative called Hylafax that is very good.

Hylafax is a free and open source fax server that runs on Linux. From the fairly extensive documentation, setting up a Hylafax server may seem like a daunting task, but it is quite straightforward.

In this example, I’m using an Ubuntu Linux server, but most of the major Linux distributions include Hylafax in their repositories, so you can use any flavor of Linux that you choose. Naturally, you’ll need a modem so be sure to check the Hylafax site for supported models, although most fax modems are fully supported. Do make sure that it is a fax modem, regular data modems might not work.

After the modem is connected and working, installing Hylafax on Ubuntu is typically Ubuntu/Debian easy.

sudo apt-get install hylafax-server

Once the installation is complete, we must configure Hylafax to run when the server is started. To do this run the setup wizard:

faxsetup

============================================

It is easy and simple to install the software and reach this point.

But after that, unless you know what you are doing, and have done it a few times, then it can become kind of a sticky situation.

So is there a good 1-Click type solution?

Compared to HylaFAX setup, the HP Printserver setup on Linux is simple as pie.

HylaFAX is not simple as pie.

[OldChinaHam]

One other point in HylaFAX's favor is that it is free.

So it has a price that most of us can accept.

And all faxes can be stored on HD which means that you can sort through faxes at high speed from onsite storage which is not available using any cloud based web fax service.

Web fax services are also costly and are not secure.

[Gregory Morozov]

We used to setup HylaFax servers for some of our customers here, but kind of gave up. 3 problems:

1. PC modems sometimes hang and there is no easy way to reset them automatically. Proper fax boards are insanely expensive.

2. Many fax machines in Thailand are on the manual mode and you have to talk with a person first to send a fax.

3. Most PC fax modems are limited to 14k speeds vs 33k speeds for standalone fax machines.

You can also explore the software fax feature in Asterisk. Setup complexity is on par with HylaFax.

How much your time is worth? Is this one-off task for you? If so, pay the Indians already!

[OldChinaHam]

We used to setup HylaFax servers for some of our customers here, but kind of gave up. 3 problems:

1. PC modems sometimes hang and there is no easy way to reset them automatically. Proper fax boards are insanely expensive.

2. Many fax machines in Thailand are on the manual mode and you have to talk with a person first to send a fax.

3. Most PC fax modems are limited to 14k speeds vs 33k speeds for standalone fax machines.

You can also explore the software fax feature in Asterisk. Setup complexity is on par with HylaFax.

How much your time is worth? Is this one-off task for you? If so, pay the Indians already!

Yes, this seems to be the problem, it is a "one-off task" that needs to be repeated several times before one gets skilled in setting it up. I will only do it once every few years.

Maybe I will try the Indians, however I was originally worried about having someone I do not know have access to the server to remote install the software.

[jpinx]

In debian stable it is listed as...

p hylafax-client - Flexible client/server fax software - client utilities
p hylafax-client-dbg - Flexible client/server fax software - client utilities
p hylafax-server - Flexible client/server fax software - server daemons
p hylafax-server-dbg - Debug symbols for the hylafax server

Apt-get install <the one you want> and follow the instructions.

It seems that most problems are nothing to do with Hylafax but are to do with how your system connects. In other words - all fax software will be a buggy bugger to use

[OldChinaHam]

In debian stable it is listed as...

p hylafax-client - Flexible client/server fax software - client utilities

p hylafax-client-dbg - Flexible client/server fax software - client utilities

p hylafax-server - Flexible client/server fax software - server daemons

p hylafax-server-dbg - Debug symbols for the hylafax server

Apt-get install <the one you want> and follow the instructions.

It seems that most problems are nothing to do with Hylafax but are to do with how your system connects. In other words - all fax software will be a buggy bugger to use

Yes, correct that the software is easily installed on the server.

It is the SETUP of the installed software which drives men mad. Every time I have tried it, I just give up before I have everything working properly. Then to test it you must start calling in sending test faxes. The Windows based fax servers are much easier to install. Normally most Linux software is also very easy to install and configure. But HylaFAX, to my way of thinking, is not.

I think that if faxing were much more popular these days, then someone would streamline the configuration process by now, but there is not much call for this other than major enterprise users or maybe call centers or something.

As mentioned above though, if most fax machines are not connected to a dedicated fax line in Thailand, then sending to these machines is not often an automated procedure.

[Gregory Morozov]

You can also take a look at MyFax 150 appliance, if I remember correct the price was about 15000 THB.

[OldChinaHam]

You can also take a look at MyFax 150 appliance, if I remember correct the price was about 15000 THB.

Yes, thank you. I do recall that some time ago while looking around for a solution which would be easier to setup I did see something like that. I believe it is just very streamlined and easy to install and get working.

But I was trying to avoid paying a lot for software.

Do you remember Computer Associates Intl, Inc? I bought one of their fax servers when I ran it on NT around 1998 (thereabouts). This was also a very good program and not easy to setup on NT!

I am sure MyFax must be easier if you pay to be able to use it on Linux.

[OldChinaHam]

Also, the really nice thing about a faxserver is being able to scroll through pages and pages of incoming faxes viewed on a monitor much faster than even going from page to page in a book.

On just a standalone desktop used as a fax machine with WinFax for something, the page scrolling is not nearly as quick.

[innerspace]

An easy alternative would be pamfax - runs via skype although I don't think you need skype to use it.

It is probably a bit expensive if you need to send lots of local faxes, but certainly cheaper if you are sending lots of international faxes.

I have only ever used it for sending faxes to the odd customer who insists on them, but they do have an option to have a dedicated fax number to receive on too (not sure if Thai number available or not..)

[OldChinaHam]

An easy alternative would be pamfax - runs via skype although I don't think you need skype to use it.

It is probably a bit expensive if you need to send lots of local faxes, but certainly cheaper if you are sending lots of international faxes.

I have only ever used it for sending faxes to the odd customer who insists on them, but they do have an option to have a dedicated fax number to receive on too (not sure if Thai number available or not..)

This is a good idea, and I use a similar Cloud based fax service. I just send faxes to be sent via email to a server in the US and this company faxes them out across the US at no charge (other than your monthly fee).. They provide you with a dedicated US fax number which is a toll free number for those sending faxes to you.

But using this service to send local faxes to Thailand is very expensive. And also if you have your own faxserver it is much more convenient to have all documents in your office, easily and quickly searchable.

A faxserver, other than HylaFAX is really quite expensive. I searched around in the past on two separate occasions.