[asterisk-users] Digium Fax for Asterisk questions

[Steve Underwood]

Michael wrote:
> 1. What is the difference between Asterisk v1.6 RXfax/TXfax and Digium Fax for 
> Asterisk?
>
> 2. Is Free Fax for Asterisk identical to Fax for Asterisk nonwithstanding the 
> 1 channel limitation?
>
> 3. Can any purchase of Fax for Asterisk count as channel 2+, when used in 
> conjunction with Free Fax for Asterisk?
>
> 4. When (If ever) is colour support likely?
>   
I wonder how much demand there is for colour FAXing. My impression has 
been that the demand for colour is small, and so I have never bothered 
about adding support to my FAX engine. It actually requires some real 
work, and is not just a matter of linking to libjpeg. The colour space 
for a JPEG FAX image is different from the colour space used for most PC 
and camera JPEG images. That creates some real messiness. HylaFAX+ has 
partial support for colour, but I think the colour spaces hassles mean 
it was never completed (I think it just works in one direction).

The 2 other key things missing from the free FAX solutions are due to 
patents. V.34 will still require patent licencing for several years. The 
patents on JBIG compression expire next February, and I intend to add 
JBIG support to my software then.

Steve