In our current efforts to reduce the amount of clutter and “stuff” we have in our house, we recently traded in our old laser printer and scanner for a Multi-Function Copier (MFC for short). You know, one of those machines that does it all: copy, print, scan, fax, etc.
After some research and figuring out what I needed versus what I wanted, I found and bought the Brother MFC-7820N. Not only did it have (almost) all the features I wanted, but it was completely functional in Linux – a do or die criteria.
I have to say, I am impressed. I’m able to not only print to this network printer, but anyone on my network can use it to scan, copy, print, and fax. That’s right, I said scan and fax. I walk up to the unit, specify what computer I want to send the scanned document to, and scan away. It shows up on the computer via the network. How freaking cool is that for a consumer-grade machine?!
I’m downright delighted with this machine – and that’s not something easily done. So bravo Brother! And give that support center fellow in Japan that I’m emailing back and forth with a little something from this Canuck – he’s doing a bang-up job.
For my reference, here are some resources I found useful when setting up the fax:
- Test your fax’s sending ability for free – this site allows anyone to fax them something, and it will appear on the main page within a few minutes. So I could fax something to them and verify they received it.
- Test your fax’s receiving ability for free – this site allows you to upload a document (up to 3 pages, twice a day) and they’ll fax it for you anywhere in the US and Canada. The free service pops a cover page on the fax with advertising, but for personal use who cares? And they offer a premium service that removes the ads. Just a really neat service. I used it to fax myself something, to make sure I could receive faxes on my new fax number.
This was prompted by the fact that I just finished tonight setting up the fax capability after activating a distinctive ring on our phone line. We have a fax number if you ever want to borrow it to send out a fax or if you want to send us something.
I’ve got to ask, who actually uses the fax these days? I find it more useful to scan and email a pdf. That way I always have a copy on my computer and if I need to send it again it’s a piece of cake. Also, this way, if you are sending a personal or sensitive document you know that it’s not sitting around the office fax for anyone to look at. Faxes are for the dinosaurs.
Hey, there are some dinosaur readers here, you insensitive clod!
More seriously, there are some things in this world that shouldn’t be digitized due to privacy and security reasons. Fax is a point-to-point communication that does not result in anything other than a paper copy – which is easily shredded.
So I think spies and ninjas will use faxes for a long time to come – sheesh.