lee@sq.sq.com (Liam R. E. Quin) (06/18/90)
This is the first posting of my list of fonts in Metafont Format. In the
future I shall not include comp.text in the list of Newsgroups.
Please let me know as soon as possible if you see ny errors or omissions.
Lee
Summary of Metafont Fonts Available (Approximate Digest Format)
This list includes all known fonts available in metafont format, whether
public domain or not. Archive sites for ftp are listed where known.
There is also a BITNET archive at LISTSERV@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU.
This list is formatted as a sort-of-digest so you can skip through
it easily (e.g. use control-G in rn).
I also included some notes on how to use the fonts, in the (probably vain)
hope of avoiding a deluge of questions on the net. Note that I cannot
give instructions for specific packages, and I cannot answer questions
about specific printers. I have included some information about TeX and
troff, but I can't go into more much more detail over the net (i.e. I am
not offering to provide detailed technical support).
Contents:
About Metafont
What you need in order to use the fonts
How to use Metafont fonts with TeX
How to use Metafont fonts with Troff
Where to get bitmap versions of the fonts
Fonts:
Fonts: AMS (see under Euler)
Fonts: APL (A Programming Language)
Fonts: Babel -- language support
Fonts: Bar Code
Fonts: Committee
Fonts: Computer Modern
Fonts: Concrete
Fonts: Cyrillic
Fonts: Dingbats
Fonts: Euler
Fonts: Godel
Fonts: Greek
Fonts: Hebrew
Fonts: Hershey
Fonts: Helvetica
Fonts: International Phonetic Alphabet
Fonts: Music
Fonts: OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
Fonts: Pandora
Fonts: Pointing Hands
Fonts: Punk
Fonts: Sauter
Fonts: Tengwar
Subject: About Metafont
Metafont is a programming language for describing fonts. It was written
by Donald Knuth and is documented in
Computers & Typesetting/C: The METAFONTbook
Knuth, Donald E.
Addison Wesley, 1986
ISBN 0-201-13445-4, or 0-201-13444-6 (soft cover)
Library access: Z250.8.M46K58, or 686.2'24, or 85-28675.
A font written in Metafont is actually a computer program which, when run,
will generate a bitmap (`raster') for a given typeface at a given size,
for some particular device.
Subject: What you need in order to use the fonts
You cannot print the metafont fonts directly (unless you want a listing of
the program, that is). Instead, you must generate a bitmap font and use
that to print something. If you have TeX or troff, the process for doing
this is outlined below. This is not meant to be compete documentation,
though, but simply enough to get you started.
If you want to use a font generated by metafont on an HP LaserJet, for
example, you must follow this general procedure:
* Generate the bitmap font with Metafont.
This will produce a file called (for example) "myfont10.300gf".
* Convert this to a pk format file -- the pk format is much more compact,
and is used by most software in preference to gf files. You can use
gftopk (which comes with metafont, or in a package called mfware).
$ gftopk myfont10.300gf
$
This produces myfont10.300pk
* Convert the pk-format font into one suitable for your printer. For an
HP, there are several utilities -- the one I use is called pk2sfp:
$ pk2sfp myfont10.300pk > myfont10.300sfp
You will have to find this program. If you are using TeX yuo do not need
it, though -- see below.
* Download the font to the printer. You will need to do more than simply
send the file to the printer. For example, on the HP you must send an
escape sequence like ESC*c100D to tell the printer there's a font coming,
and that it's going to be font number 100. You then send the font, and
then in the rest of the job say something like ESC*c100ESC*c4FESC(100X
to tell the printer you've finished, and to start using the font. (ESC
in these examples stands for the ASCII Escape, chracter 033 octal, 27 in
decimal). All of this must be in the same print job.
Doing this without going insane involves setting up macros or shell-scripts
to automate it for you.
Subject: How to use Metafont fonts with TeX
In addition to generating a `gf' file, metafont will also generate a '.tfm'
file. You will need to put the tfm file into your TeX font directory --
for example, /usr/local/tex/fonts. You will need to put either the gf or
the pk file there too -- probably the pk file. Some dvi drivers need the
font to be listed in a description file, too -- the name and location of
this seems to vary wildly from site to site, but FONTDESC is not unlikely.
Chris Torek's `mctex' package includes some drivers that need this.
For testing, you might be able to say something like
$ TEXFONTS="/users/lee/fonts:/usr/local/lib/tex/fonts"; export TEXFONTS
to get TeX to look in more than one directory -- see your local TeX guide.
When you have installed the font, you can use it from TeX directly in the
usual way. For most fonts, the filename is the same as the font name, so,
for example, ccr10.300pk contains the bitmaps for a font called ccr at size
10pt. You can look at the Metafont source for a given font to determine
the name of the font, and you might also be able to cheat by editing the
font description file FONTDESC.
Using other fonts with LaTeX generally requires more work.
Subject: How to use Metafont fonts with Troff
If, when you run troff, you get the message `typesetter busy', you have the
original Osanna-troff, also called otroff. Chris Lewis has a package which
will let you use TeX fonts with troff -- it's called thack, I believe, and
comes with documentation.
If, when you run troff, you get something like this:
x T 300
x res 300 1 1
you have ditroff. This is sometimes called titroff or psroff. In this
case, you will probably need to do the following:
1) convert the font to your printer's format
2) generate a width table for the font
3) add the font to the DESC file for the appropriate device
4) arrange for troff to download the font
5) tell troff about the font by running `makedev DESC' in the right place.
If, when you run troff, you get something like this:
X hp(SCM)(CM)(AF)(AD) 300 1 1
Y P default letter 2550 3300 0 0 90 90 2460 3210
you have sqtroff, change (4) onwards to:
4) put the font in the appropriate raster directory
5) tell sqtroff about the font by running `sqmakedev DESC' or `sqinstall'.
In each case, you should be able to get help from your vendor.
Subject: Where to get bitmap versions of the fonts
There are archives containing the bitmaps of many of these fonts at various
sizes and resolutions. The fonts must have been generated for the correct
print engine: e.g. write-white or write-black. The archives generally hold
only the sizes used by TeX. These are `magstep' sizes, and are not exact
point sizes. It is probably better to generate them from the Metafont
sources yourself if you can.
The best place to look for raster fonts is almost certainly
mims-iris.waterloo.edu (129.97.129.116)
This probably has all the HP fonts in the world.... some others are:
ctrsci.math.utah.edu (128.110.198.1)
science.utah.edu (128.110.192.2)
ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23)
The occasional posting of ftp sites to comp.misc and comp.archives lists
these and several other sites.
Subject: Fonts: AMS (see under Euler)
The American Mathematical Society has adopted TeX, and has had some fonts
designed especially by Herman Zapf. These are known as the Euler fonts,
and are described below. The Metafont sources are not available by
anonymous ftp, however.
Subject: Fonts: APL (A Programming Language)
[no archive site listed]
Subject: Fonts: Babel -- language support
The Babel archive at ymir.claremont.edu contains:
* Greek Fonts:
Brian Hamilton Kelly's cmgr family
Sylvio Levy's gr family [modern and classical]
Yannis Haramboulos' rgr family
* Hebrew fonts:
REDIS (a thin-looking sans serif)
* Icelandic
Icelandic Modern (this is Computer Modern with extensions)
* Russian (Cyrillic)
IFVE's cmc family
U Washington's wncyr family
* Turkish
Turkish Modern (this is Computer Modern with extensions)
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.babel]
Subject: Fonts: Bar Code
Dmitri Vulis's barcode font
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
Subject: Fonts: Committee
This was produced during a workshop tutorial given by Donald Knuth.
[no archive site listed]
Subject: Fonts: Computer Modern
Computer Modern is Donald Knuth's font family used for his later
`Art of Computer Programming' books. It contains
cmr -- computer modern roman
cmti [sic] -- computer modern italic
cmb -- computer modern bold
cmss -- computer modern sans serif
cmtt -- computer modern typewriter
cmvt -- computer modern variable-spaced typewriter
and several variations on each of the above (e.g. bold extended...).
There are also some experimental fonts, such as cmff, a `funny' font, and
cmf, a font based on Fibonacci numbers.
These are all included in a standard TeX distribution, although I only know
of one site archiving the metafont files seperately.
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
Many TeX ftp archive sites give access to the bitmaps (pk files).
See also: Babel, Sauter
There is also a reparameterised version of CM by John Sauter, which makes
it easy to generate fonts at desired sizes-- this is especially useful for
non-TeX users.
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
Many TeX ftp archive sites give access to the bitmaps (pk files).
Subject: Fonts: Concrete
This font was designed for Donald Knuth's Concrete Mathematics book.
It looks a little like a cross between American Typewriter and Computer
Modern Roman. There are Roman and Italic faces.
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
Subject: Fonts: Cyrillic
There are several Cyrillic (Russion-Alphabet) fonts:
Tom Ridgeway's Cyrillic fonts
[BITNET: LISTSERV@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU]
WN-Cyrillic
ftp: june.cs.washington.edu (128.95.1.4)
Subject: Fonts: Dingbats
By Doug Henderson.
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
Subject: Fonts: Euler
These were designed by Herman Zapf for the American Mathematical Society,
from whom the metafont files are available (with restrictions).
There is a German Fraktur font and a calligraphic font.
Subject: Fonts: Greek
(unknown greek font)
ftp: xydeco.siemens.com (129.73.1.101) -- greek*
Also the Sylvio Levy `gr' greek family, for both Modern and Classical Greek.
This includes roman, typewriter and bold, plus TeX macros.
Brian Hamilton Kelly's cmgr family
Yannis Haramboulos' rgr family
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.babel.greek]
see also Babel...
Subject: Fonts: Hebrew
There is a sans-serif Hebrew font called REDIS available from ymir.
It comes in three faces, including italic (slanting to the right, of
course).
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
Subject: Fonts: Helvetica
Produced by the Metafoundry and sold commercially.
This is all I know, sorry. I do not have an address for the Metafoundry,
and do not know if they have other fonts. I will try to find out, but
would appreciate any information on these and other commercial suppliers.
Subject: Fonts: Hershey
The Hershey fonts were designed for use by plotters, and published in 1972.
These fonts are of relatively low typographic quality, but are useful on
devices with lower resolution.
[no archive site listed]
Subject: Fonts: International Phonetic Alphabet
Used by linguists, and also in some dictionaries. It's designed to go
with Computer Modern. From WSU.
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
Subject: Fonts: Music
MuTeX is a basic music package for TeX. It seems to be the same as mtex,
but with documentation in English rather than (or as well as) German.
ftp: stolaf.edu (130.71.128.1) /TeX/MuTeX
Subject: Fonts: OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
OCR A (this is not the font for printingon cheques)
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
Subject: Fonts: Pandora
This is a little like Palatino, annd includes a sans-serif variant.
It is not yet of production quality, unfortunately.
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
Subject: Fonts: Pointing Hands
Various manual extremities, designed by Georgia Tobin
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
Subject: Fonts: Punk
A punK hAndWritten fOnT...
For writing on walls, perhaps. The lower case is simply a smaller
version of the upper case.
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
Subject: Fonts: Sauter
This is a rework of Computer Modern. The outlines are the same, as far as
I know, but it is much easier to generate the various fonts.
By John Sauter.
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
Subject: Fonts: Tengwar
There are at least two Tengwar fonts, although I have only been able to get
hold of one of them.
ftp: ymir.claremont.edu (134.173.4.23): cd [anonymous.tex.mf]
End of Font List
$Header: /home/lee/tex/mf-fonts,v 1.1 90/06/17 18:10:26 lee Exp $
$Log: mf-fonts,v $
# Revision 1.1 90/06/17 18:10:26 lee
# Initial revision
#
--
Liam R. E. Quin, lee@sq.com, {utai,utzoo}!sq!lee, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto
``Anyway, nothing spices up a novel like a monster threatening to gobble up
the world'' [David Brin, _Earth_, p.584 (Afterword)]