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Asterisk says “Hello” to Fax

Malcolm Davenport April 6th, 2009

If you ask Google about faxing for Asterisk, with the search keywords asterisk and fax, and you ask Google to omit similar entries, you’ll end up with 52 pages of results.

If you ask Google how many times fax has been mentioned on an Asterisk mailing list, by setting the site parameter to lists.digium.com, then Google tells you there are 1120 utterances.

Yesterday, if you asked Digium for help in faxing documents through Asterisk, we’d have apologized and said that we didn’t offer a fax solution for Asterisk.

That was yesterday.

Today, Digium is pleased to announce Fax For Asterisk.

Fax For Asterisk is a commercial facsimile (Fax) termination and origination solution designed to enhance the capabilities of Open Source and commercial Asterisk as well as Switchvox. Fax For Asterisk bundles a suite of user-friendly Asterisk applications and a licensed version of the industry’s leading fax modem software from Commetrex. Fax For Asterisk provides low speed (14400bps) PSTN faxing via DAHDI-compatible telephony boards as well as VoIP faxing to T.38-compatible SIP endpoints and service providers. Licensed on a per-channel basis, Digium’s Fax For Asterisk provides a complete, cost-effective, commercial fax solution for Asterisk users.

Wait, I’ve forgotten something…okay, not really. There’s also Free Fax For Asterisk. Free Fax For Asterisk provides a single-channel only, per Asterisk, version of Fax For Asterisk, for free. Want to use Free Fax For Asterisk now? Visit the Digium webstore and get a license, free of charge.

• Digium
• Comments(22)

About the Author

Malcolm Davenport

Digium lifer, celebrator of 11 Digium birthdays, and Digium employee #4. "I like te-lephony and I cannot lie. You other vendors can't deny; When a call comes in with MOS so you can't hear and some echo in your ear you get angry!" - Sir Mix-a-Malcolm

22 Responses to “Asterisk says “Hello” to Fax”

1. # Tanner Ciganickon 06 Apr 2009 at 11:30 am

   Well done Digium! I just broadcast news of this across the social networking channels. Thank-you for continuing development.
2. # Michael Joneson 06 Apr 2009 at 4:19 pm

   Yes this is excellent news! Great job guys!
3. # Fax for Asterisk? | DailyAsteriskon 07 Apr 2009 at 2:13 am

   [...] ieri Digium ha pubblicato una news sul proprio sito dal titolo Asterisk says “Hello” to Fax nella quale spiega quanto interesse c’e’ da parte dei propri utenti verso il fax… [...]
4. # Rajon 07 Apr 2009 at 10:15 am

   from Digium Web Store i obtained a free copy for testing and later make purchase and followed all the instructions from README but when i tried *CLI> fax show stats i got No such command ‘fax show stats’ (type ‘help fax show’ for other possible commands) so is there any other prerequisites for Fax Application provided by Digium? if so why there is no mention of prerequisites? please provide us the Step by Step Guide for Faxing………..we have been waiting for it since long time….!
   another question would be included in Asterisk GUI? i hope.

   Thank you.
5. # Malcolm Davenporton 07 Apr 2009 at 10:53 am

   Hello Raj,

   That means that the Astersisk fax resource modules were not loaded. From the Asterisk CLI, perform:

   module load res_fax.so
   module load res_fax_digium.so

   And return the output.
6. # Rajon 07 Apr 2009 at 11:12 am

   Hello Malcolm,

   Thank you for the response, i tried that after reading in fax_for_asterisk_admin_manual but still the same No such command ‘fax show stats’ (type ‘help fax show’ for other possible commands) im running AsteriskNow 1.5.
7. # Malcolm Davenporton 07 Apr 2009 at 2:45 pm

   Howdy,

   And what was the CLI output after running, from the Asterisk CLI:
   module load res_fax.so
   module load res_fax_digium.so
   ?
8. # Rajon 08 Apr 2009 at 1:57 am

   Malcolm,

   When i tried that module load

   Output is here:

   module load res_fax.so
   module load res_fax_digium.so

   nothing happens upon issueing above commands.

   and from CLI> fax show stats

   “No such command ‘fax show stats’ (type ‘help fax show’ for other possible commands)”

   as its not recognizing any fax commands and when i tried “show applications” fax is not there.
9. # Malcolm Davenporton 08 Apr 2009 at 7:33 am

   Howdy,

   Nothing happens? That’s not very likely. Even trying to load a non-existant module reports that the object could not be found.

   The res_fax and res_fax_digium modules should be loaded automatically by Asterisk when it starts, if they’re present in the /usr/lib/asterisk/modules directory. If they’re not loading automatically, then Asterisk would continue to load, but you’d want to try to manually load the modules to see if an error message is thrown.

   You can’t perform “fax show stats” because the module that provides that capability is not loaded. The commands:

   module load res_fax.so
   module load res_fax_digium.so

   Are manual commands so that we can see the output to see why Asterisk isn’t automatically able to load them.

   Cheers.
10. # Rajon 08 Apr 2009 at 9:18 am

    Malcolm,

    Since i cant paste screen shot in here i will type what i see on my ssh screen,

    [root@account4 ~]# asterisk -rx “module load res_fax.so”
    [root@account4 ~]# asterisk -rx “module load res_fax_digium.so”
    [root@account4 ~]# locate res_fax.so
    /root/res_fax-1.4_1.0.8-x86_32/res_fax.so
    /usr/lib/asterisk/modules/res_fax.so
    [root@account4 ~]#

    and from CLI>Connected to Asterisk 1.4.24.1 currently running on account4 (pid = 2869)
    Verbosity is at least 13
    account4*CLI> module load res_fax.so
    account4*CLI> module load res_fax_digium.so
    account4*CLI>

    thats a copy paste of SSH Session. i dont know where im making mistake i followed exactly what i read on Readme and Administrator Manual available on Digium website but still.

    Thank you for your help Malcolm.
11. # Malcolm Davenporton 08 Apr 2009 at 12:42 pm

    Howdy,

    Let’s pick this up on the Free Fax For Asterisk forums at:
    http://forums.digium.com/viewforum.php?f=28

    Cheers.
12. # Disruptive Telephonyon 09 Apr 2009 at 12:25 pm

    Digium takes on the “fax issue” with Fax For Asterisk……

    I can’t stand fax. I can’t. It’s a technology that I just wish would go away. It kills me that fax is one of the main reasons I didn’t drop my landline in my move. Yet the reality is that……
13. # cgi.neton 16 Apr 2009 at 12:49 am

    I do it, That’s great and working fine! it’s simple to use and DOC also ^_^
14. # Shyju Kanaprathon 23 Apr 2009 at 5:24 am

    Hi,
    All the guys are talking about the FAX facility in Switchvox..
    Any body know any incoming FAX facility is there in it..?
    How to configure it..
15. # Malcolm Davenporton 27 Apr 2009 at 1:11 pm

    Howdy,

    Switchvox detects incoming faxes across Digium PSTN interfaces or via T.38-enabled service providers. In the event that a fax is detected, then Switchvox will render the call into a PDF that gets dropped into an e-mail account associated with the DID that was dialed – or into a named extension defined for incoming calls across a particular trunk.

    Configuration requires claiming your complimentary Fax key (visit the Digium Addons page and the “Switchvox Addons” link there) and installation of the Fax addon package (follow the instructions after your registered your Fax key).

    Configuration is automated; if you require specific configuration tweaks, options are available in in the Fax Settings section of the Provider or Hardware setup. For more information, please refer to the Switchvox administrator’s manual or contact your reseller.

    Cheers.
16. # JasonJMPon 29 Apr 2009 at 4:05 pm

    We have been having trouble getting to http://www.switchvox.com anyone else?
17. # cougarmasteron 25 Jul 2009 at 2:29 pm

    Hi
    cant get res_fax.so or res_fax_digium.so to load it always says failed. I tried all versions of it and it wont load. I am using Asterisk 1.6.0.9
18. # Fax for Asterisk? « Asterweb Blog: Asterisk, VoIP and more …on 02 Aug 2009 at 3:45 pm

    [...] for Asterisk? Proprio ieri Digium ha pubblicato una news sul proprio sito dal titolo Asterisk says “Hello” to Fax nella quale spiega quanto interesse c’e’ da parte dei propri utenti verso il fax… cosi hanno [...]
19. # saxon 15 Sep 2011 at 5:48 am

    Good morning.
    I tried to install freefax. When i tried that module load

    module load res_fax.so
    module load res_fax_digium.so

    I obtain:
    Unable to load module res_fax.so
    Command ‘module load res_fax.so’ failed.

    I need help
20. # Malcolm Davenporton 15 Sep 2011 at 12:08 pm

    Howdy,

    Free Fax for Asterisk does not come with technical support (it’s free). You’re welcome to ask other users on the forum here for their insight.

    Cheers.
21. # saxon 16 Sep 2011 at 1:34 am

    Hi, when I edit: fax show stats ,
    I obtain the following output:
    No such command ‘fax show stats’ (type ‘help fax show’ for other possible commands).

    Can you help me to solve this problem?

    Thanks
22. # Malcolm Davenporton 22 Sep 2011 at 3:06 pm

    Howdy,

    As mentioned, Free Fax for Asterisk does not come with technical support (it’s free). You’re welcome to ask other users of Free Fax for Asterisk on the forum here for help.

    Cheers.

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