Hi oncdoc and welcome to AC,
As everyone is saying Leslie, et. al, you can fax directly from your desktop if you have the proper software and print drivers. The best is to purchase a fax machine that can be networked and has Fax to PC and PC to fax capabilities such as the ones Benjamin and Leslie are referring to.
I used to use the Muratec, but the French let me down with its quality so I finally went with the Xerox 4150. It's a bit pricey as Leslie let me know. I became frustrated with the GUI of its PC to Fax software (which is why Toshiba was not an option -- I definitely need to find out what their engineers were drinking when they designed their GUI; it must be very good stuff). So, I purchased Captaris' fax server (I am obsessed with PC to fax). With the Captaris/Castelle you don't even need a fax machine. It's basically a self-contained fax server. It's interface and PC software is a bit over the top.
But, the key words there are fax server. Any networked fax machine such as the Brothers, etc. basically contain a fax server which makes it rather simple to fax in and out.
HTH. My guess is it is more confusing than anything.
