anita@utastro.UUCP (01/28/87)
I have what may seem like a dumb question but I have begun to wonder due
to the discussion on TeX vs. TROFF. We use TeX with an apple laserwriter.
We have all of the normal fonts. I was told that it is irrelevant
what fonts you use with TeX since that only effects the dvi file and
its concept of the interletter/interword spacing. Thus, the metrics
(whatever those are) are used but since the laserwriter has hard-loaded
fonts (4 I believe) that those fonts, in a variety of sizes, is all
you can really get. Now people are talking about using their own fonts
and downloading them. What really does happen? Does TeX use the hardwired
fonts, its own, some combination of each, what? If it helps the discussion
any, we use dvi2ps to spool the stuff off to the laserwriter.
How about a (limited amount of a) generalized discussion of TeX and fonts
and how they are used by different devices. Since I am sure there are
others out there who don't understand this stuff, why don't you post
your answers to the net, but try not to duplicate one another.
Thanks in advance for the discussion.
--
Anita Cochran uucp: {noao, ut-sally, ut-ngp}!utastro!anita
arpa: anita@astro.as.utexas.edu
snail: Astronomy Dept., The Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX, 78712
at&t: (512) 471-1471steve@umnd-cs.UUCP (01/29/87)
In article <1551@utastro.UUCP>, anita@utastro.UUCP (Anita Cochran) writes: ... I use the Laserwriter with builtin > fonts (4 I believe) that those fonts, in a variety of sizes, is all > you can really get. Now people are talking about using their own fonts > and downloading them. What really does happen? Does TeX use the hardwired > fonts, its own, some combination of each, what? If it helps the discussion > any, we use dvi2ps to spool the stuff off to the laserwriter. You were misinformed. Compare the output of dvi2ps with output from the Laserwriter using it's builtin font's (Use Adobe's Enscript or equiv, write your own postscript, or put the printer in Diablo 630 mode) You'll notice that dvi2ps's output is generally not quite as sharp as output using the Laser-writer's output. Dvi2ps is downloading it's own fonts and using them. Dvi2ps in fact currently doesn't use the builtin fonts (anyone working on this?) ArborText's dvips does have the capability to use the builtin fonts and the output is sharper, especially with very large characters. The current problem with the builtin fonts is that kerning etc, doesn't seem as precise as when you download a font. Dvips is a much nice program than dvi2ps and a lot more expensive. If you can afford to spend $500, it's well worth it. But, dvips isn't provided for that many machines (vax{vms,unix},sun,apollo,etc) and we're forced to use dvi2ps on some of our machines. We keep running into dvi2ps output occasionally trashing our Laserwriter+'s. The same output will trash the printer one time and work fine the next. (weird) We get %[Error Offending command: Limitcheck]% (something like that anyhow) Has anyone run into this and fixed it? -Steve -- Spoken: Steven M. Miller UUCP: umnd-cs!steve CSNET: steve%umn-duluth.csnet ARPA: steve%umnd-cs-gw.ARPA@umn-rei-uc.ARPA USNail: Computer Science Dept, University of Minnesota at Duluth 10 University Drive, Duluth, MN 55812
zwicky@osu-eddie.UUCP (01/30/87)
In article <1551@utastro.UUCP> anita@utastro.UUCP (Anita Cochran) writes: >I have what may seem like a dumb question but I have begun to wonder due >to the discussion on TeX vs. TROFF. We use TeX with an apple laserwriter. >We have all of the normal fonts. I was told that it is irrelevant >what fonts you use with TeX since that only effects the dvi file and >its concept of the interletter/interword spacing. Thus, the metrics >(whatever those are) are used but since the laserwriter has hard-loaded >fonts (4 I believe) that those fonts, in a variety of sizes, is all >you can really get. Now people are talking about using their own fonts >and downloading them. What really does happen? Does TeX use the hardwired >fonts, its own, some combination of each, what? If it helps the discussion >any, we use dvi2ps to spool the stuff off to the laserwriter. > > Anita Cochran uucp: {noao, ut-sally, ut-ngp}!utastro!anita It's like this: TeX really truly doesn't care as long as it has all the tables it wants. You give it tfm files with the right names, and tell it to load the fonts, and it will trustingly create a dvi file that uses those fonts. What does care is the dvi filter. It has to tell the printer how to get to the fonts. Using the version of MacTeX we have, that means you have to download weird fonts before you begin, since it just trustingly assumes that if you use a font you must have made the LaserWriter able to find it. I don't know what dvi2ps does, although I would suspect it does the same thing. A truly wise dvi filter might know what fonts the LaserWriter had, and download any others you use itself, in the process of sending the document. The difficult point about getting TeX to use the fonts is getting the tfm files, and loading them. TeX ordinarily loads some fonts before it begins, and changing these requires being willing to do icky internal administrator-type things. Ordinary mortals can get new fonts, but they have to laod and specify them by hand. If your TeX uses the hardwired LaserWriter fonts, somebody at your site told it to do so. We run two TeXs under different names, one that uses cmr fonts, and one that uses Bookman. Soon we may run more, because the two other people on staff who usually use TeX don't like Bookman; one wants Palatino, and the other Times.
pedz@bobkat.UUCP (01/30/87)
There is a set of file referred to as tfm files. Many of these are
preloaded into TeX when it is built so it may be possible not to
actually have them on the system when you run TeX. In either case,
these files inform TeX what each character size is and some other
information for a particular font. There is a tfm file for each
design size for a font (like cmr10.tfm) but not for each scaled size.
See the TeX book for what the difference between design size and
scaled size.
TeX produces the dvi file without knowing what printer it is going to.
Thus it does not know or care if the fonts are actually hardwired into
the printer or downloaded. This is where the dvi to ``insert favorite
printer name'' driver comes in. In the dvi file, there is basically a
command which says, "Put character n from font f scaled by m at x and
y." The driver must know where font f is, if it must be downloaded,
how to down load it, and where to find it on the machine. I think you
can get a little more insight by looking at the output of dvitype.
Thats basically it.
--
Perry Smith
pedz@bobkat
{ti-csl,infotel}!pollux!bobkat!pedz