[comp.sys.mac] Symbol-Bold for Apple LaserWriter

jmunkki@santra.UUCP (Juri Munkki) (08/03/88)

The Apple LaserWriter II NT[X] does not print the symbol font in bold type.
Is there an Adobe downloadable font for symbol-bold and symbol-italic
or are there any other solutions?

Juri Munkki
Helsinki University of Technology, Computing Centre, ...
jmunkki@santra.hut.fi
jmunkki@fingate.bitnet

isle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Ken Hancock) (08/05/88)

In article <15054@santra.UUCP> jmunkki@santra.UUCP (Juri Munkki) writes:
>The Apple LaserWriter II NT[X] does not print the symbol font in bold type.
>Is there an Adobe downloadable font for symbol-bold and symbol-italic
>or are there any other solutions?

Better be more specific on your System configuration, BUT I just tried
it on a Mac Plus, System 5.0, Microsoft Word 3.01, and you're right.
At least what it does print doesn't look bold.  Looks the same as plain
print except the spacing is quite messed up.  Anyone have a clue?

Ken


Ken Hancock  '90                   | BITNET/UUCP: isle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu
Personal Computing Ctr Consultant  | 
-----------------------------------+----------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER?  I don't get paid enough to worry about disclaimers.

ho@svax.cs.cornell.edu (Alex Ho) (08/05/88)

In article <9677@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> isle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Ken Hancock) writes:
>In article <15054@santra.UUCP> jmunkki@santra.UUCP (Juri Munkki) writes:
>>The Apple LaserWriter II NT[X] does not print the symbol font in bold type.
>>Is there an Adobe downloadable font for symbol-bold and symbol-italic
>>or are there any other solutions?
>
>Better be more specific on your System configuration, BUT I just tried
>it on a Mac Plus, System 5.0, Microsoft Word 3.01, and you're right.
>At least what it does print doesn't look bold.  Looks the same as plain
>print except the spacing is quite messed up.  Anyone have a clue?
>
>Ken
>
i seem to remember reading somewhere in adobe's literature that
bold, italic, or italic-bold variants of symbol just don't exist. i guess
that their logic is that people just don't need to embolden symbols. :-)

alex
---


alex ho
university of california, berkeley             ho@svax.cs.cornell.edu     
a lost eecs major (spending the summer at)     cornell university

cloos@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (James H. Cloos Jr.) (08/05/88)

In article <19972@cornell.UUCP> ho@svax.cs.cornell.edu (Alex Ho) writes:
|In article <9677@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> isle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Ken Hancock) writes:
|>In article <15054@santra.UUCP> jmunkki@santra.UUCP (Juri Munkki) writes:
|>>The Apple LaserWriter II NT[X] does not print the symbol font in bold type.
|>>Is there an Adobe downloadable font for symbol-bold and symbol-italic
|>>or are there any other solutions?
|>
|>Better be more specific on your System configuration, BUT I just tried
|>it on a Mac Plus, System 5.0, Microsoft Word 3.01, and you're right.
|>At least what it does print doesn't look bold.  Looks the same as plain
|>print except the spacing is quite messed up.  Anyone have a clue?
|>
|>Ken
|>
|i seem to remember reading somewhere in adobe's literature that
|bold, italic, or italic-bold variants of symbol just don't exist. i guess
|that their logic is that people just don't need to embolden symbols. :-)

It is true that Adobe does not have Bold, Italic and BoldItalic versions
of their symbol font, or at the vary least didn't when my font catalog
went to print :-), but it is possible the somebody, somewhere has them
for a Symbol-esque font.  Your other option, if Fontographer--or another
Postscript font editor--is not out of the question (financially, etc.) is
to create your own.  I would recommend that you use the Times family as a
guide, as Symbol seems to me to be based on Times more than any other
font.

-JimC
-- 
batcomputer!cloos@cornell.UUCP  |James H. Cloos, Jr.|#include <disclaimer.h>
cloos@batcomputer.tn.cornell.EDU|B7 Upson, Cornell U|#include <cute_stuff.h>
cloos@tcgould.tn.cornell.EDU    |Ithaca, NY 14853   |"Entropy isn't what
cloos@crnlthry.BITNET           |  +1 607 272 4519  | it used to be."

simon@alberta.UUCP (Simon Tortike) (08/05/88)

In article <19972@cornell.UUCP>, ho@svax.cs.cornell.edu (Alex Ho) writes:
> In article <9677@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> isle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Ken Hancock) writes:
> >In article <15054@santra.UUCP> jmunkki@santra.UUCP (Juri Munkki) writes:
> >>The Apple LaserWriter II NT[X] does not print the symbol font in bold type.
> >>Is there an Adobe downloadable font for symbol-bold and symbol-italic
> >>or are there any other solutions?
> 

As far as I know, there is no bold variant of the Symbols Set, as the 
symbol font is called.  Bold greek letters are necessary in mathematical
typesetting of vectors in Gibb's notation.  In TeX I get it using the
poor man's bold---repeated offsetting of the character to get a slightly
blurred but (dare I say it?) bolder character.  references to bold greek
an be found in the Chicago Manual of Style and the TeXbook.  I have never
yet seen reference to slanted greek characters.
  -------------------
Simon Tortike
Dept Min, Met &    UUCP:   alberta!simon
  Petroleum Engg   BITNET: stortike@ualtavm
Univ. of Alberta   AGT:    (403) 432-3338
Edmonton, AB
Canada T6G 2G6

briand@tekig4.TEK.COM (Brian Diehm) (08/05/88)

>In article <15054@santra.UUCP> jmunkki@santra.UUCP (Juri Munkki) writes:
>>The Apple LaserWriter II NT[X] does not print the symbol font in bold type.
>>Is there an Adobe downloadable font for symbol-bold and symbol-italic
>>or are there any other solutions?

There simply IS no version of Symbol (or of Zapf Dingbats, for that matter)
in anything but plain roman.  The PostScript definitions simply do not exist,
nobody has ever made them.  Therefore, they are not included in your LW+ or
equivalent.

In PostScriptLand (somewhere in Silicon Valley), as in the LW, each variant of
a typeface (bold, italic, etc.) is a separate "font", which is why the LW+
is sometimes noted as having 23 or so built-in fonts.  When you specify a font
and a variant, the Mac translates this to a specific font in PostScript that
has the correct variants.

Note that PostScript can support many more variants in this way than can the
Mac, at least easily.  For example, many Adobe typefaces have three weights,
not just the roman and bold, but a semibold version as well.  And then some
Adobe faces don't have the full complement of weights, such as Carta, Benguiat,
and others.  Symbol is definitely one of these latter.

In bit-map land (somewhere inside your Mac) a roman copy of a font is usually
kept, and it is modified mathematically to simulate style variations.  You
CAN install variant bitmap fonts as well, and doing so will make your screen
more accurate and will make Word output more accurate typographically.  The
penalty is that you suddenly are dealing with dozens of extra names of fonts
in the font menu.  The Mac is smart enough to use variant bitmap fonts if they
are installed; if you select the roman version of a font and bold it, then the
Mac automatically substitutes the bold version of the bitmap font for screen
display.

You can purchase the full set of bitmap equivalents for the LaserWriter Plus
from Adobe for the mere price of $50.  I believe that Adobe considers this a
minimal "duplication overhead fee" for the three disks.  Either Adobe is the
only one who understands hidden costs and this truly represents duplication
overhead, or everyone else is right and Adobe is way out of line.


-- 
-Brian Diehm     (SDA - Standard Disclaimers Apply)
Tektronix, Inc.
briand@tekig4.TEK.COM   or  {decvax,cae780,uw-beaver}!tektronix!tekig4!briand  

jln@eecs.nwu.edu (John Norstad) (08/06/88)

> The Apple LaserWriter II NT[X] does not print the symbol font in bold type.
> Is there an Adobe downloadable font for symbol-bold and symbol-italic
> or are there any other solutions?

I just encountered the same problem last week, and discovered the following
solution:

1. Use ResEdit to copy the Symbol FONT resources from your System file to
   some other new file.  DON'T copy the Symbol FOND resource.
2. Use FONT/DA mover to copy these fonts to a new suitcase file.  This
   will build a new FOND resource.  Don't forget to hold down the OPTION
   key when you open the file.
3. Use ResEdit to change the name of the new FOND resource to Sym (or
   whatever you wish, just change the name to something other than Symbol).
4. Use FONT/DA mover again to copy the new Sym font into your System file.

You now have a new font called Sym.  It looks just like Symbol on
your screen, and prints bold properly on LaserWriters.

I'm not an expert on fonts and LaserWriters, and I don't completely
understand why this works, but it does.  It is important that you build
a new FOND.  I tried just making an exact copy of Symbol and renaming it,
but this didn't work.

What's happening here is that we're fooling the LaserWriter into thinking
that it doesn't have a built-in copy of the font, so it gets a bit-mapped
copy from the Mac.  This makes bolding work.

John Norstad
Academic Computing and Network Services
Northwestern University

jln@nuacc.acns.nwu.edu

phssra@emory.uucp (Scott R. Anderson) (08/08/88)

In article <1509@pembina.UUCP> simon@alberta.UUCP (Simon Tortike) writes:
>In article <15054@santra.UUCP> jmunkki@santra.UUCP (Juri Munkki) writes:
>>The Apple LaserWriter II NT[X] does not print the symbol font in bold type.
>>Is there an Adobe downloadable font for symbol-bold and symbol-italic
>>or are there any other solutions?
>
>Bold greek letters are necessary in mathematical
>typesetting of vectors in Gibb's notation.

Italic symbols are also de rigueur in mathematical typesetting.  I've often
wondered why they weren't included with the LaserWriter, and assumed that they
could be obtained by slanting the roman (as is done for bitmap fonts); but a
recent perusal of the PostScript Language Reference Manual did not reveal any
way to do this.  Any suggestions?

By the way, in Word (and, I assume, in other Mac word processors) you can set
the style for the symbol font to be bold and/or italic; this seems to print out
just fine on the LaserWriter, although it may actually be downloading the
bitmap as someone else suggested.

*                                     Scott Robert Anderson
  *      **                           gatech!emoryu1!phssra
   *   *    *    **                   phssra@emoryu1.{bitnet,csnet}
    * *      * *    * **
     *        *      *  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

jns+@andrew.cmu.edu (Judith N. Sherwood) (08/25/88)

> Italic symbols are also de rigueur in mathematical typesetting.  I've often
>wondered why they weren't included with the LaserWriter, and assumed that they
>could be obtained by slanting the roman (as is done for bitmap fonts); but a
>recent perusal of the PostScript Language Reference Manual did not reveal any
>way to do this.

[12 0 6.93 12 0 0] makefont

"The third element in a transformation matrix affects the angle by which the
font is obliqued."
PS Language Tutorial (my book is blue) p 97.   Is that what you need?  Real
italics letters are more curly than merely obliqued ones, but the obliqued ones
don't look bad.