Fax Boards, Fax Modems

Fax (short for facsimile - from Latin "fac simile", "make similar", i.e. "make a copy" - or telefacsimile) is a telecommunications technology used to transfer copies of (facsimiles) documents, especially using affordable devices operating over the telephone network. more...

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The words telecopy and telefax are also used as synonyms.

Overview

A fax machine is essentially an image scanner, a modem, and a computer printer combined into a highly specialized package. The scanner converts the content of a physical document into a digital image, the modem sends the image data over a phone line, and the printer at the other end makes a duplicate of the original document.

Fax machines with additional electronic features can connect to computers, can be used to scan documents into a computer, and to print documents from the computer. Such high-end devices are called multifunction printers and cost more than fax machines.

Although fax machines of some sort or another have existed since the mid-late 19th century (see "History" below), modern fax technology became feasible only in the mid-1970s as the sophistication and cost of the three underlying technologies dropped to a reasonable level. Fax machines first became popular in Japan, where they had a clear advantage over competing technologies like the teleprinter; at the time, before the development of easy-to-use input method editors, it was faster to handwrite kanji than to type the characters. Over time, faxing gradually became affordable, and by the mid-1980s, fax machines were very popular around the world.

However, although most businesses still maintain some kind of fax capability, the technology appears increasingly dated in the world of the Internet.

With advances in modern technology, some multifunction printers that include faxing capabilities can also internet fax in addition to printing, copying, scanning, and sending email.

Capabilities

There are several different indicators of fax capabilities: Group, class, data transmission rate, and conformance with ITU-T (formerly CCITT) recommendations.

Group

Group 1 faxes conform to the ITU-T Recommendation T.2. Group 1 faxes take six minutes to transmit a single page, with a vertical resolution of 98 scan lines per inch. Group 1 fax machines are obsolete and no longer manufactured.; Group 2 faxes conform to the ITU-T Recommendations T.30 and T.3. Group 2 faxes take three minutes to transmit a single page, with a vertical resolution of 100 scan lines per inch. Group 2 fax machines are almost obsolete, and not manufactured. Group 2 fax machines can interoperate with Group 3 fax machines.; Group 3 faxes conform to the ITU-T Recommendations T.30 and T.4. Group 3 faxes take between six and fifteen seconds to transmit a single page (not including the initial time for the fax machines to handshake and synchronise). The horizontal and vertical resolutions are allowed by the T.4 standard to vary among a set of fixed resolutions:

Horizontal: 100 scan lines per inch

Vertical: 100 scan lines per inch;

Read more at Wikipedia.org