lemon@adobe.com (David Lemon) (05/25/90)
In article 824, Dan Sears notes that some of the AFM files recently posted on ps-file-server@adobe.com differ from previous versions, and gives the exmple of a slight change in the bounding box of the Times-Roman "T". Other changes include modifications to the composites (accent placement) and kerning pairs. He asks: >what happens when the information in an AFM file gets out of sync with the >information in the font itself? This would cause applications which use the AFM information to produce inappropriate results. It is clearly advisable to use the AFM file that corresponds to the version of the font being used. >How are changes in an Adobe AFM file accounted for in an Adobe Font? Are >there updates to the font itself? In a word, yes. The changes in the AFM files are simply reflections of changes in the font with the corresponding version number. >Is the Times-Roman font in a Texas Instruments OmniLaser 2108 bought today >(different|better) than the Times-Roman in an Apple LaserWriter bought in >1985? What about downloadable fonts? Adobe is revising a number of fonts for various reasons, most of which will have neglible impact on normal users, but all of which we clearly considered necessary. In the case of ROM fonts, the currently shipping, revised versions of Times, Helvetica, Courier and Palatino have been put into printer ROMs, but I don't think any of the printers with these new ROMs are shipping yet. As Dan seems to have guessed, it would be best to use the downloadable version in such a case. This is easily done by manually downloading the font to the printer; PostScript will check fonts in RAM before using fonts in ROM. Hope this helps. - David Lemon
dbs@dungeon.pa.dec.com (dan sears) (05/26/90)
>>How are changes in an Adobe AFM file accounted for in an Adobe Font? Are >>there updates to the font itself? >In a word, yes. The changes in the AFM files are simply reflections of >changes in the font with the corresponding version number. PostScript fonts and the printers they run on are not cheap. Downloadable fonts usually cost more than $100 each and Adobe PostScript printers sell at a premium of well over $1000 to non-PostScript printers that use identical marking engines. Having invested large sums of money in PostScript fonts and printers, it seems reasonable that a customer can expect a font upgrade option that is at least slightly cheaper than repurchasing the font *for each printer*. The vendors of popular software packages like WordPerfect, Lotus 123 and Adobe Illustrator-88 have such policies. Is there such an upgrade policy for Adobe fonts? >As Dan seems to have guessed, it would be best to use the downloadable >version in such a case. This is easily done by manually downloading the font >to the printer; PostScript will check fonts in RAM before using fonts in ROM. In a small configuration of a single computer and a single printer, this is a straightforward task. But in a large network of several printers and computers this quickly becomes a big system management problem. Do you have any advice on how to deal with this problem other than to upgrade every printer in lock step?