Internal Modem

[JerryF]

Hi,

I'm the office administrator at a very small church. Every so often, people in need come to us for help. Sometimes, it's just to fax some paperwork to the government.

I know that I can use services such as faxzero, etc. but those are limited in the amount I can fax. My office desktop doesn't have a fax modem card, but my home laptop does.

I'm hoping that I can get the laptop's internal fax working. I have the modem checked off as available in BIOS.

Here's some basic information:

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inxi -Fxxz
System:    Host: HP-EliteBook-8460p Kernel: 4.4.0-119-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) dm: lightdm Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: Hewlett-Packard (portable) product: HP EliteBook 8460p v: A0001D02 Chassis: type: 10
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 161C v: KBC Version 97.4E
           Bios: Hewlett-Packard v: 68SCF Ver. F.65 date: 04/06/2017
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-2520M (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9978
           clock speeds: min/max: 800/3200 MHz 1: 1588 MHz 2: 1776 MHz 3: 1824 MHz 4: 1852 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0126
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1600x900@59.90hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.4 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:1c20
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-119-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection
           driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: 4060 bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:1502
           IF: enp0s25 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak]
           driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 24:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:0085
           IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (44.3% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: Hitachi_HTS72323 size: 320.1GB serial: E3834563C69TVM
Partition: ID-1: / size: 20G used: 13G (65%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: /home size: 266G used: 113G (45%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 8.59GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda2
RAID:      System: supported: N/A
           No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
           Unused Devices: none
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 51.0C mobo: 0.0C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 233 Uptime: 57 min Memory: 2433.9/7893.0MB
           Init: systemd v: 229 runlevel: 5 default: 2 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481 running in gnome-terminal-) inxi: 2.2.35 

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sudo dmesg | grep tty
[sudo] password for jerry:     
[    0.000000] console [tty0] enabled
[    1.414097] 0000:00:16.3: ttyS4 at I/O 0x4090 (irq = 17, base_baud = 115200) is a 16550A

[jimallyn]

I haven't sent a fax in years, but I used to do that using efax and efax-gtk. Can't tell you any more than that, like I said, it's been years.

[JerryF]

Hi Jim, yeah me too. Haven't needed a physical fax machine or modem for a long time. As I mentioned, I use online fax services when needed.

I installed efax and efax-gtk prior to posting. It doesn't recognize the internal fax modem.

[marcia]

Hello,

I used efax and efax-gtk very many years ago as well. It worked well. I do remember there are some packages that
may need to be installed such as wvdial and maybe some serial packages. It just has been so long. I vaguely remember I had
to use a simple program to setup baud rate possibly. Just do not remember what program it was but wvdial comes to mind.
Too long ago to remember. Found gnome-ppp in synaptic which installs wvdial and a few other packages. I would
probably install minicom, statserial, socat, moserial, modemmanager,modem-manager-gui, mgetty, etc. I would check the docs for these programs as well. I have linuxmint cinnamon 17.3 so may be different with my system. If you do a search about using a fax modem in linux from your favorite search engine I believe there is still some valid info about this.

Good fortune,

Marcia

[JerryF]

marcia,

Thanks so much. I'll look into everything you've mentioned.

[pdc_2]

Hi Jerry I read your first post yesterday and found references to the efax and other programmes that Marcia very fluently points you to;

thinking I would be very rusty if I were to tackle such an issue, I looked around and here is a how-to https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... ce-637143/ where the guy says he was new to linux; and lays out what he did;

there are youtube clips on installing efax-gtk and I would have thought there would be configuration to do but (glib?) links like this https://www.linuxhelp.com/how-to-instal ... ntu-17-04/ say "Wasn't that an easy installation procedure? The efax-gtk has a socket interface to provide a virtual printer for sending faxes from word processors and similar programs. " and similarly http://smallbusiness.chron.com/send-fax ... 53374.html seem to say one sends from within libreoffice as "send to fax"

I see we have a Mint reference to it https://community.linuxmint.com/software/view/efax-gtk

some older links https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/ ... -gnu-linux help one roll up the sleeves and configure if that is needed

whilst Mint default is to be in the dip group; one may need to add oneself to the dialup group

I hope you make progress; it will be a very useful update for the community

[JerryF]

Thanks pdc_2.

I will look into what you've given me after:

This morning installed two PCIe wifi cards into two Dell computers. Not one problem. Instantly recognized and drivers installed.

Right now, I'm in the middle of updating one of those desktops to sell.

The big problem I'm having is my printing. Wasn't a problem except with some glitches with the wired networked computer. Now NONE of them will print.