README

hamfax
******

Copyright (C) 2001, 2011
Christof Schmitt, DH1CS <cschmitt@users.sourceforge.net>

hamfax is a Qt application for sending and receiving facsimiles. It is licensed
under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2 or newer, see the file
COPYING for the complete text.

If you have questions or comments please send them to the hamfax-devel mailing
list: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hamfax-devel

Feedback and contributions are always welcome.

New versions of this program and some related information can be found
at http://hamfax.sourceforge.net/

Requirements
************

Hardware:
 - computer (of course)
 - transceiver
 - a working sound card and/or a SCS-PTC (http://www.scs-ptc.com/)

Software:
 - Linux (Other Unix-like operating systems may work, too. Please
          report success or failures.)
 - X11
 - Qt v4 or newer (http://www.trolltech.com/)
 - Audiofile (http://www.68k.org./~michael/audiofile/)
 - Support for the Open Sound System (OSS) or ALSA
 - optional: hamlib (http://hamlib.sourceforge.net/)

Note: They are standard packages in most recent Linux distributions.

Notes / Features
****************

 - All image formats supported by Qt can be used.
 
 - Facsimiles written to a AU-file have a sample rate of 8000Hz and
   16Bit/sample. This is the same format used for reading from and
   writing to the sound interface.

 - The data rate between the SCS-PTC and the computer can be set
   to 38400bit/s, 57600bit/s or 115200bit/s. With the start of
   transmission or reception the PTC is expected to be in the
   main menu. If hamfax does not put the PTC in fax mode, just
   turn it off and on, and it should work. ;-)

 - While doing frequency modulation (used on shortwave), the PTC
   mode JVCOMM is used which does hardware handshaking on the
   serial line. With amplitude modulation (used on transmissions
   from satellites) the mode AMFAX is used, which does no
   handshake at all, so data might get lost.
 
 - Transmitting:
    - Check the options menu and adjust everything as you need
    - Load the desired image with File->Open
    - Set the transmission parameters
    - Use Image->'Scale to ICO' to adjust the image size to the
      desired index of cooperation (IOC).
    - Select the desired mode in the transmit menu
 - Reception:
    - Set the parameters (note: the apt and phasing length are ignored)
    - Select the desired mode in the receive menu

See the file TODO for information on missing features and ideas for future
development.

Installation
************

hamfax uses automake and autoconf for the build process.  For building
from a tar ball you don't need them, only if you grab the code from
the CVS.  The easy way is (after untaring and changing the directory):

./configure
make
make install

If you are not compiling from a tar ball, the autotools scripts have to be
generated first: Check that autotool-dev is installed on your system, then
run:

autoreconf -f -i
./configure
make
make install

Check the documentation in INSTALL for questions on build options.