sichermn@beach.csulb.edu (Jeff Sicherman) (12/03/90)
I am confused about which of the several font managers now coming on the market to get. I am aware of the reviews in the two recent PC Magazine issues but that hasnt helped with the decision despite the information. Our hardware is an AST 286 Premium with 2 meg of memory, mostly mapped as expanded now but will be converting most to extended for windows soon. HP Laserjet II printer, *no* LJ III upgrade and no Postscript cartridge currently. We might get either a cartridge or a Laserjet III. (I know there is a *big* price difference but there are other issues than print quality/technology ... volume and convenience = number of machines.) We are using MS Windows 3.0, MS Excel for Windows, MS Word for Windows and are getting new Formworx for Windows. (plus a few other minor but rarely used and not print-critical programs). We still are an intensive user of MS Word for DOS and will probably continue to do so because of speed considerations with our hardware (both processor and printer). Have ordered upgrade to 5.5 . Do not use cartridge fonts, have a somewhat extensive library of soft fonts, including some from Softcraft and their Laserfonts program. We also have their WYSIFONT program which made fonts for previous versions of MS Windows (bitmapped) and have received an upgrade notice for the MSW 3.0 compatible version - hence the decision point. Also have the Bitstream package that was offered with MS Word (DOS) last upgrade: the generator program plus Times and Helv outlines. Where do we go from here that will preserve our investment somewhat, not *require* hardware investment now to be usable, provide the option to upgrade the hardware later without losing font investment (not so much the current as any new outline sets we get), provide the most font selection for the buck (does the adobe cartridge plus ATM become a factor here over multiple Bitstream Soft fonts later ?). Minor diffs in font quality are not that important to us and we're really not into extensive postscript graphics, or many graphics at all for that matter. I suppose one option is to temporize and get the WYSIFONT upgrade for $35 and see which way we are going with hardware and what the world says about Facelift, ATM, HP's offering (name?), etc. However, the initial prices are not that different so that's not the criterion, it's the long-term cost and effects of committing to a particular one that are the main concern. Please comment on all the above named (unnamed) packages. Thanks very much. Jeff Sicherman up the net without a .sig
fritsch@picasso.cs.unc.edu (Dan Fritsch) (12/04/90)
In article <1990Dec2.180307.24168@beach.csulb.edu>, sichermn@beach.csulb.edu (Jeff Sicherman) writes: > > I am confused about which of the several font managers now coming on > the market to get. I am aware of the reviews in the two recent PC Magazine > issues but that hasnt helped with the decision despite the information. > Zeonographics has just announced an upgrade to their Superprint Font Manager that supports on-the-fly screen and printer scaling for HP printers (Laserjets and Deskjets), IBM and Epson compatibles, and Canon LBJ printers. I have been using a previous release that creates bitmapped fonts stored on disk and can't wait for the new release. Zenographics claims that their screen font rasterizer uses less memory than either Facelift or ATM. I don't know how they will compare in terms of speed. Superprint's biggest plus is that it uses almost anyones fonts! SP uses licensed rasterizers from Adobe (ATM), Bitstream (SPEEDO and Fontware), Agfa Compugraphic (Intellifont), The Company (Nimbus Q), and HP softfonts. It won't, however, let you use cartridge-based fonts. SP will be able to create screen and printer fonts from any of the outline formats listed above. This covers just about every vendor's format. SP also speeds up graphics output to supported printers and dramatically decreases the time you must wait for printer output to be spooled by directly interpreting GDI commands. I have been extremely satisfied with SuperPrint thus far. I am now using fonts from Bitstream, Adobe, Agfa Compugraphic and Nimbus Q all on the same page! None of the other font engines can accomplish this feat. Thus, you're not locked in to one specific vendor's font products. Dan Fritsch (fritsch@cs.unc.edu) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
rspangle@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Froot Loop) (12/04/90)
I've got SuperPrint right now. It's an older version, that doesn't support on-the-fly font generation. The bitmap font generation is less than perfect, however. It fares pretty badly with font sizes smaller than 18 point on my 72dpi screen - capital letters have different heights, vertical strokes have inconsistant widths. However, it's pretty good for making the 180dpi fonts for my Epson LQ compatible. Before buying any new font generation package (Bitstream, ATM, whatever), I'd advise looking at its quality for the small font sizes. That's where hinting comes into play (and is why Times and Script and Modern look so miserable at under 18 point). I know ATM for the Mac (Oh, I said the M-word) appears to have no problems in the 8-12 point range on the 72dpi Mac screen; can anyone comment on ATM for Windows? -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Randy Spangler | Get your mind out of the gutter | | rspangle@jarthur.claremont.edu | you're blocking my periscope | --------------------------------------------------------------------------
a499@mindlink.UUCP (Robert Salesas) (12/04/90)
ATM on my system makes small fonts just fine. They look crisp, clean, and very even... I don't see any reason to buy anything but ATM... But that's just my opinion! 8-) Rob
s907396@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Miramar [Eugene Mok]) (06/21/91)
What's a good font manager? I've heard of Adobe and Facelift but
I don't know which to get. Any opinions? I would like to see my fonts
nicer and smoother than they are right now. And does it slow the system
down much? I'm running Win3 on a 386-33c with 4 megs of RAM.
Also is there any way to change the fonts used when running a DOS app
in a window?
Thanks very much...
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| o o | Eugene Mok s907396@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Melbourne OZ)
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