mcdonald@fornax.UUCP (Ken Mcdonald) (05/30/90)
I'd like to make use of many of the symbols available to TeX/LaTeX users, but do NOT want to use any of the Mac variations of LaTeX. So, what I need to do is convert the LaTeX fonts into PostScript, make up a matching bitmap font, and use those with my favorite word processor. There are a number of questions this brings up, and I'd appreciate it if anyone out there in netland could help me out: 1) How do I do this? Since OzTex (the freeware version of LaTex for the Mac) prints on PostScript printers, I assume it actually issues PS code for its characters at some point. I'd like to intercept this code and put it into a PS font file, but haven't a clue as to how to go about this. 2) What are the copyrights on TeX fonts? Since TeX and variants are available freely, and include the font files, I've been assuming the fonts are either public domain or at least freely distributable. Obviously, after I get this project done, I'd like to make the font files available, and so I want to make sure no one will hit me with a lawsuit. 3) Do I need to register the fonts with Apple? Will they even let me register the fonts? Thanks for any advice. Please e-mail any replies. If I manage to figure out how to do this, look for the results on comp.sys.mac.binaries somewhere between two and six weeks from now, plus time needed for the moderators to check out the results. Ken McDonald mcdonald@cs.sfu.ca
simon@alberta.uucp (Simon Tortike) (06/01/90)
In article <759@fornax.UUCP> mcdonald@fornax.UUCP (Ken Mcdonald) writes: >I'd like to make use of many of the symbols available to TeX/LaTeX users, >but do NOT want to use any of the Mac variations of LaTeX. So, what I >need to do is convert the LaTeX fonts into PostScript, make up a matching >bitmap font, and use those with my favorite word processor. There are a >number of questions this brings up, and I'd appreciate it if anyone out >there in netland could help me out: > This does not answer your particular questions on making the fonts yourself, but FTL (Toronto) had an implementation of the Computer Modern (CM) math fonts as outlines when their MacTeX was around. I was not much impressed with it. BlueSky Research (TeXtures) have a beta version of the *full* set of CM fonts in Post- Script for sale (Adobe type 1, I believe), but they have not yet distributed samples that I have seen. There should be no reason why you cannot use these with any Mac application. On the balance of using WYSIWYG word processing vs. TeX, I still find the latter much more flexible for handling the larger documents, not to mention having better looking output than the desktop publishing products. I refer to technical docs. containing equations in particular. I used mail merging for reference numbers in docs in Word 1.0 in 1985---that was one of the reasons I was driven to learn TeX. Now, if there was only a way of helping people learn TeX without much effort...just like staying fit...or remembering things (isn't applied intuition the phrase?). The items being raised---references, symbols, equation numbering and references,chapter, section, etc, numbering---eventually all require a level of programming, which in part, is what TeX is: a programming language. Raising the level of complexity required means more effort to produce the results. There is no free lunch (yet). Perhaps a click-and-point TeX until the user knows all the short cuts. I can type equations about 5 times faster in TeX than in MathType or Expressionist, even faster if it is going to be a multiline equation. This includes time to run the typeset command in TeX and pasting in the equations in the WYSIWIG documents. If revisions and wholesale scavenging of docs are included, the difference is even greater. TeX lets you concentrate on the content of the document much more than the look of it: WYSIWYG tends to invert that aspect. Of course, this is a generalisation, all of us can get carried away at times. For short docs. it always seems easier to use one or other of the word processors. Of course, it depends whether the contents or the sight are meant to impress the reader. One hopes both. Ugly documents have come out of both TeX and the WYSIWIG programs. ------------------- W. Simon Tortike, | tel : 403/492-3338 Dept of Mining, Metallurgical | fax : 403/492-7219 and Petroleum Engineering, | CA*net : simon@cs.UAlberta.CA University of Alberta, | uucp : simon@alberta.uucp Edmonton, AB, CANADA T6G 2G6. |