laser-lovers@uw-beaver (04/28/85)
From: ihnp4!utzoo!henry@uw-beaver.arpa > I'd also be interested in hearing what the limitations are of the > troff LaserJet software that Henry uses. I've also seen the sample > sheets from Textware's Tplus and they are indeed nice. However, I > have the strong impression that if, for example, I wanted to increase > the size of the body type by just a little bit, I'd be in trouble. > After all, there are only a limited number of point sizes available in > the LaserJet's font cartridge and it isn't possible to print more than > a quarter page at full resolution in bit map mode. The stuff we're using is indeed Textware's Tplus; we've contemplated doing our own -- Textware sells only binaries, and we put a high value on having sources -- but haven't done anything about it yet. The basic limitation of any software along these lines, including Tplus, is that most of the characters on each page have to be from the ROM fonts. This means that you get very little choice about the body type: 10-point Tms Rmn is about it, although if you're not using much bold or italic you can try 8-point Tms Rmn. (We've had people do that for special purposes, like squeezing big tables onto one page.) Other sizes and styles of type can be used only for more limited purposes, like headers and equations. The 10-point Tms Rmn is very good-looking. As I've mentioned before, HP has done a very good job on its letter forms, although the default spacing leaves a lot to be desired. (Tplus ends up doing explicit positioning most of the time.) There are many worse things than being forced to live with one good-looking style and size of body type. But the lack of flexibility is indeed annoying, and might present serious problems for some applications. Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry