jmn@power.berkeley.edu (J. Mark Noworolski) (03/01/91)
I have just recently installed tex3.0 and am now trying to install dvips547 as well as xdvi. Something that has always puzzled me about LaTeX, TeX is the huge array of fonts that are around!!! Just off the top of my head I can think of tfm, gf, pk, pxl, and vf (and afm- but I guess that's a printer thing). What are all these? Why so many? Also, there is a set of tfm fonts with TeX3.0 AND a set with dvips547... Which is correct? Are they the same? Can I replace one with the other? Can I get xdvi to generate the fonts it wants from tfm's? Maybe by using MakeTeXPK (from dvips547). In a nutshell I'm trying to comprehend what each type of font is for, and what the simplest configuration would be. Can somebody summarize? (I've never seen any of these answered here, and my confusion remains. Maybe this should go on FAQ? I'll collect replies and post a summary in any case). -- "There's a really fine line between clever and stupid" Nigel- Lead Guitar (Spinal Tap) jmn@united.berkeley.edu, or jmn@power.berkeley.edu
eijkhout@s41.csrd.uiuc.edu (Victor Eijkhout) (03/01/91)
jmn@power.berkeley.edu (J. Mark Noworolski) writes: >Just off the top of my head I can think of tfm, gf, pk, pxl, and vf >(and afm- but I guess that's a printer thing). What are all these? >Why so many? Two classes: the metrics and the bitmap class. Bitmaps: gf is delivered by Metafont pk is translation of gf to a packed format pxl is translation of gf to pure bitmap your previewer/printer driver understands one the pair pk/pxl, and it is best if that is pk, because those take less space. Metrics: afm stands for 'almost font metrics', very old version of tfm tfm stands for 'TeX font metrics', these files contain size data for the Computer Modern fonts, afm contains similar data for Almost Modern Fonts. afm also stands for Adobe Font Metrics, probably some proprietary format. The only thing you need to know is that there is a translation program to tfm, so that TeX can use the fonts described in them vf probably stands for 'virtual font', but I haven't toyed around with those. A virtual font appears as one tfm file, but it contains data from several tfms. Victor.
spqr@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Sebastian Rahtz) (03/01/91)
In article <jmn.667765696@power.Berkeley.EDU> jmn@power.berkeley.edu (J. Mark Noworolski) writes:
Just off the top of my head I can think of tfm, gf, pk, pxl, and vf
(and afm- but I guess that's a printer thing). What are all these?
ever used other systems? they have a plethora of fonts too. a good
many systems have the equivalent of
- printer fonts --> pk
- screen fonts --> some other pk
- font metrics --> tfm
- source for fonts --> mf
- source for metrics --> afm
TeX isn't particularly bad, except with the printer fonts, and of
course Real Men use PostScript anyway, so don't need to bother with
all that stuff...:-}
Also, there is a set of tfm fonts with TeX3.0 AND a set with dvips547...
Which is correct? Are they the same? Can I replace one with the other?
they are identical. if they are not you could get odd results!
Can I get xdvi to generate the fonts it wants from tfm's? Maybe by using
MakeTeXPK (from dvips547).
if you set up dvips correctly it generates PK files from .mf sources.
TFM contains only metrics.
to live life to the full you want to have available
- .mf sources for Metafont fonts
- .afm font metrics for PostScript fonts
- .tfm font metrics compiled for TeX
- .pk files for Metafont fonts, compiled for your printer
if TeX and dvips cannot locate all of those, you are missing out
sebastian
--
Sebastian Rahtz S.Rahtz@uk.ac.soton.ecs (JANET)
Computer Science S.Rahtz@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Bitnet)
Southampton S09 5NH, UK S.Rahtz@sot-ecs.uucp (uucp)maschler@VMS.HUJI.AC.IL (MICHAEL MASCHLER) (03/18/91)
In article <SPQR.91Mar1120254@cameron.ecs.soton.ac.uk>, spqr@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Sebastian Rahtz) writes... >In article <jmn.667765696@power.Berkeley.EDU> jmn@power.berkeley.edu (J. Mark Noworolski) writes: > >to live life to the full you want to have available > - .mf sources for Metafont fonts > - .afm font metrics for PostScript fonts > - .tfm font metrics compiled for TeX > - .pk files for Metafont fonts, compiled for your printer >if TeX and dvips cannot locate all of those, you are missing out > >sebastian >-- >Sebastian Rahtz S.Rahtz@uk.ac.soton.ecs (JANET) >Computer Science S.Rahtz@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Bitnet) >Southampton S09 5NH, UK S.Rahtz@sot-ecs.uucp (uucp) How do I retrieve .pk fonts *compiled for my printer*? When I look at places like ymir.claremont.edu, I find plenty of pk fonts, but it is not sepcified to which printer they are compiled. The reason I am asking is that I have a set of .pk fonts that were compiled correctly by dvihp, but when I try to compile them via dvips (latest version) the kerning comes out terrible. What am I missing? Michael
lee@sq.sq.com (Liam R. E. Quin) (03/20/91)
>Just off the top of my head I can think of tfm, gf, pk, pxl, and [mf] >(and afm- but I guess that's a printer thing). What are all these? tfm TeX Font Metrics this is where TeX stores information about the width of each character, kerning, and so forth. gf This is a simple graphis format that unfortunately is not very space-efficient. pxl for PiXeL fonts -- obsolete. Archive and delete. After a decade, delete the archive. After 10 years and 2 weeks, wish you hadn't :-) pk PacKed format -- like gf, but very space efficent. In fact, gftopk font10.300pk produces a smaller file than compress font10.300pk and has the added advantage that all of the TeX drivers these days understand pk fonts...! mf A .mf file is a program which, when interpreted by Metafont, will produce (if it is correct..., and if this is its intent...) a bitmap font in gf format. Metafont will also produce the tfm file. Turn the gf file into a pk file, and copy the pk file and the tfm file into your TeX fonts directory, updating "fontdesc" if you're using Chris Torek's "mctex" package. afm Adobe Font metrics -- for PostScript fonts only. Contains widths, encoding info and kerning. Keep these, since there are programs that will make a .tfm file from them. Moral: If you have metafont working, you should keep tfm, afm, pk and mf. Do not keep gf files lying around. Turn them into pk ones with "gftopk". If you don't have mefatont, you can archive the .mf files, but you still should not keep gf files around. >Can I get xdvi to generate the fonts it wants from tfm's? Maybe by using >MakeTeXPK (from dvips547). No, you need the .mf files, and then it can generate (if you have the latest version) the .pk and .tfm files from that. But TeX will need the .tfm file in order to create the dvi file... Hope this helps. Lee -- Liam R. E. Quin, lee@sq.com, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, +1 (416) 963-8337 `A wrong that cannot be repaired must be transcended' Ursula K. Le Guin, in _Tehanu_