Re: flexfax: FW: Hylafax - faxq unable to exec faxsend

[Mike Brodbelt <m.brodbelt@acu.ac.uk>]

> I'd just like to clear this up a bit more . . . of all the downloads from the
> ftp.hylafax.org, the linux RPMs are top of the list. People are using them a
> lot, and I hear from these people occasionally. For the most part, they're
> very happy with the RPM, and with the way HylaFAX performs on linux in
> general. You should bear in mind that linux will always suffer from the
> "newbie syndrome", since it draws people into the UNIX world who until now
> have been dealing with pre-installed software with idiot-proof GUIs.
> Installing and configuring HylaFAX for these people, RPM or not, is fraught
> with misadventure - HylaFAX is a very powerful package, but is also pretty
> complex as a consequence.

I'd just like to chime in here as a RH Linux user who recently installed
Hylafax on a server at work. Installation was pretty smooth (apart from
one glitch, which someone on the list fixed for me), all things
considered. I agree entirely with your contention that a Linux user
fresh from Windows would have some trouble. Im my experience most decent
size packages on Unix systems require that one actually sit down and
*read* the docs before attempting to install them. This is an attitude
foreign to many Windows users, who are used to the idea that they just
need to click "setup", and that's it. They're also used to rebooting
their servers, and reinstalling their operating system.....

On thing I would mention about the RPM. I downloaded the thing, which
tlod me that it wanted a certain ghostscript RPM in place before it
would install. I couldn't find this package anywhere, so I installed it
with --nodeps, and then read the README, which gave a website from which
I could download the ghostscript RPM's. I downloaded them with netscape,
but they were corrupt - I eventually got a clean copy (from the same
site) by using wget instead of Netscape. After that it was simple, but I
think that it would be nice if the documenation on the Hylafax site
mentioned the dependencies, and linked to the appropriate ghostscript
RPM's.

My 2p worth,

Mike.