oplinger@minerva.crd.ge.com (B. S. Oplinger) (09/26/89)
Rather long description of problem.
I have a problem and only have the TeXbook to work from. I have
TeX, initTeX, and virTeX. I have tons of .pk files. I have
bunches of .sty files and .tex files. I have plain.fmt and
lplain.fmt. I have a directory structure that looks like:
d:\fonts
d:\fonts\cmr10
d:\fonts\cmr7
...
d:\tex
d:\tex\inputs
d:\tex\format
d:\tex\dvi
I can print things, I can review things on screen, and I can
sorta TeX things. But I want to be able to really TeX things. So,
this is exactly my problem (on an Atari):
input line (in a macro):
\bigtenrm=cmr10 scaled\magstep2
and the error:
Font \bigtenrm=cmr10 scaled 1440 not loadable: Metric (TFM) file
not found.
<to be read again>
What I would like is: the missing TFM (.tfm?) files I need. If an
Atari type has them please uuc/uud and mail. Others please give
me directions on how to make them. I seem to guess I requires
using initex and plain.tex, but I'm lost as what to do. If I get
enough answers to make a general 'How to startup TeX' posting I will.
Brian
oplinger@ge.crd.com
<#include disclaimer>cczdao@clan.clan.nott.ac.uk (David Osborne) (09/27/89)
In article <2538@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> oplinger@crd.ge.com (B. S. Oplinger) writes: > [...] >this is exactly my problem (on an Atari): >\bigtenrm=cmr10 scaled\magstep2 > >and the error: > >Font \bigtenrm=cmr10 scaled 1440 not loadable: Metric (TFM) file >not found. > [...] >What I would like is: the missing TFM (.tfm?) files I need. > [...] >I seem to guess I requires using initex and plain.tex, >but I'm lost as what to do. Brian says he only has the TeXbook to work from. if he were to have the METAFONTbook (also by Don Knuth, also publ. Addison-Wesley), all would be revealed. when TeX formats a document, it needs to know the dimensions of the characters it sets. these dimensions for each character in a font are held in a TFM (TeX Font Metric) file and you need one such TFM file for each font. TeX doesn't need the font files at all, since all it needs are the TFM's for each font you use in your document. this means you can format a document on a machine without any font files, then move the DVI file to another system with font files for printing, since they are read by the DVI driver programs. it also means that TeX can't set characters from a font for which it doesn't have the TFM file, since it doesn't know the sizes of the characters. however, the TFM file is generated, not by TeX, but by the companion program, METAFONT, which is used to build the font files. METAFONT reads a set of .mf files describing the characters in a font and writes a GF (Generic Font) file and a TFM file for the font (analogous to TeX reading a .tex file and writing a .dvi file). the GF contains the bitmaps of the characters and is usually translated into a PK ("packed") font file by a utility program called GFtoPK. if you have a set of PK files, you should have been supplied with the matching set of TFM's. if not, you'll need to get them from some other system, or run METAFONT to generate them. for the latter, you'll need the set of .mf files which describe the Computer Modern family of fonts which are usually used with TeX. there is a METAFONT for the Atari which is in the public domain. i think a copy will be held in the Atari archive on terminator.cc.umich.edu [35.1.33.8] for anonymous ftp, or ask in one of the Atari newsgroups. copies might also be available in various TeX archives worldwide, like the Aston archive here in the UK. (you might find a set of TFM files in the archives, which would save having to run METAFONT yourself). dave (Aston TeX archive maintainers group) -- David Osborne | JANET: d.osborne@uk.ac.nott.clan Cripps Computing Centre | BITNET: d.osborne%uk.ac.nott.clan@ukacrl.bitnet University of Nottingham |Internet: d.osborne%uk.ac.nott.clan@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK | (Phone: +44 602 484848 x2064) David Osborne
jbw@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Jingbai Wang) (10/03/89)
In article <8001@robin.cs.nott.ac.uk> cczdao@clan.UUCP (David Osborne) writes: >In article <2538@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> oplinger@crd.ge.com (B. S. Oplinger) writes: >> [...] >>this is exactly my problem (on an Atari): >>\bigtenrm=cmr10 scaled\magstep2 >> >>and the error: >> >>Font \bigtenrm=cmr10 scaled 1440 not loadable: Metric (TFM) file >>not found. >> [...] >>What I would like is: the missing TFM (.tfm?) files I need. >> [...] >>I seem to guess I requires using initex and plain.tex, >>but I'm lost as what to do. > >Brian says he only has the TeXbook to work from. if he were to have >the METAFONTbook (also by Don Knuth, also publ. Addison-Wesley), all >would be revealed. >... Wait a moment. How old are you guys? If you are 30 years old now, then you will be 45-50 years by the time you understand all TeX and MetaFont stuffs by reading Don Knuth 4 books, i.e., TeXbook, MetaFontbook, TeX programmer's book and MeTaFont Programmer's book. One thing is these books are all thick in Elian language and logicals, the other thing is that they do not tell you a thing about system setup's and details of GFtoPK and such. There is another quick solution, though, from june.cs.washington.edu under ~/tmp and ~/tex there is a TeX/LaTeX document package called TeXGuide.tar.Z of which I am the author. It tells you many things which can't be found all in a book elsewhere about TeX, LaTeX, MetaFont, PK, GF, PXL, DVI, PostScript and device drivers like dvi2ps. >>\bigtenrm=cmr10 scaled\magstep2 for this specific problem, you need nothing more than a file 'cmr10.tfm' in the directory which is defined by "TEXFONTS" environment variable in DOS and UNIX and TEX$FONTS logical name in VMS. JB Wang jbw@cisunx.UUCP jbw@pittvms.bitnet
cczdao@clan.clan.nott.ac.uk (David Osborne) (10/07/89)
In article <19816@unix.cis.pitt.edu> jbw@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Jingbai Wang) writes: >In article <8001@robin.cs.nott.ac.uk> cczdao@clan.UUCP (David Osborne) writes: >>Brian says he only has the TeXbook to work from. if he were to have >>the METAFONTbook (also by Don Knuth, also publ. Addison-Wesley), all >>would be revealed. >>... > >Wait a moment. How old are you guys? If you are 30 years old now, then you >will be 45-50 years by the time you understand all TeX and MetaFont stuffs >by reading Don Knuth 4 books, i.e., TeXbook, MetaFontbook, TeX programmer's >book and MeTaFont Programmer's book. ...you missed out Volume E, `Computer Modern Typefaces'! >One thing is these books are all thick >in Elian language and logicals, the other thing is that they do not tell you >a thing about system setup's and details of GFtoPK and such. the original question was about how to generate a TFM file, and the writer was wondering if he needed to use INITEX to do this. my point about mentioning the METAFONTbook is that its appendices describe TFM files and that you use METAFONT to generate them. whether or not you need to use GFtoPK does really depend on your device drivers: some can use METAFONT's GF files directly, others can't use PK format (though these are, admittedly, few). how to set up a TeX/METAFONT system will depend on the machine in question. >There is another quick solution, though, from june.cs.washington.edu under >~/tmp and ~/tex there is a TeX/LaTeX document package called TeXGuide.tar.Z >of which I am the author. your guide does sound useful, though... i'll certainly get hold of a copy (and put it in the UK's Aston archive, if it's not there already). dave osborne -- David Osborne | JANET: d.osborne@uk.ac.nott.clan Cripps Computing Centre | BITNET: d.osborne%uk.ac.nott.clan@ukacrl.bitnet University of Nottingham |Internet: d.osborne%uk.ac.nott.clan@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK | (Phone: +44 602 484848 x2064) -- David Osborne