Troubleshooting FAXstf X

Regarding the recently released FAXstf X (see previous coverage):

Another work-around for performance problems? Steven Gilmore writes: "If you are suffering from massive performance problems (I was, at first), my experience is that you've either got a bad install or an incomplete/incorrect/corrupted configuration. To check for configuration problems -- beyond the obvious sign of responsiveness slowing down to a crawl -- launch 'Modem Center' and look at the entries in its primary window. The 'Name', 'Kind', and 'Status' columns should read something like <your user name>, 'FAXstf', 'Idle'; if 'Name' and/or 'Kind' are blank, or 'Status' says 'Communicating', then you have a problem which can only be solved by reinstalling the software for this user and then reconfiguring it per the .pdf instructions. You may want to delete the 'fax...', 'smsi' and 'modem center' files out of your ~/Library, and delete the Login items first, just to be safe."

Login Items alternative Mike Cohen writes: "FAXstf was nearly unusable at first. I tried sending 3 test faxes and only one was successful. The others failed with an error saying that my modem isn't responding correctly. I'm using a G4/500 with an Apple internal modem. I discovered a work-around: I removed the two helper apps from my Login Items folder and instead created and used the following two scripts, which can be run from the Scripts menu:

Start Fax Software:
#!/bin/csh
open "/Library/Application Support/SmithMicro/FAXstf X/Startup/Fax Assistant.app"
open "/Library/Application Support/SmithMicro/FAXstf X/Startup/Fax Server.app"

Stop Fax Software:
#!/bin/csh
ps ax -opid,command | grep SmithMicro | head -2 | awk '{ print $1}' | xargs -n 1 kill

Installer does not ask for password Several users point out that the FAXstf Installer offers no option to enter a administrator password. So you must be using an admin account to do an install.

Customize cover page Karsten Krüger writes: "Users can customize FAXstf's cover page and page headers. Both are standard PDF files located at: /Library/Printers/SmithMicro/Fax.plugin/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/. To access this, you need to select Show Package Contents contextual menu for /Library/Printers/SmithMicro/."

Busy phone line fix Karsten Krüger writes: "I found the solution of for busy phone lines when trying to use FAXstf X: Don't use special characters like slashes, dots, plus signs, blanks or brackets in your fax phone number fields. FAXstf does not filter them out and the internal modem does not understand them. Faxing out is no problem any longer!"