eddy@jafus.mi.org (Eddy J. Gurney) (10/01/90)
Both of these questions have probably been asked before, but I must
have missed them the first time around. Any help (or other references)
would be most appreciated.
First, does the Mac use Adobe's Font Metric files? Or do specific
applications need to be programmed to use them. Like, does Adobe Type
Manager use them? PageMaker 4.0? FreeHand? Illustrator? Word 4.0?
If they're not used, I could free up a _bunch_ of space on this here
hard drive... :-)
Secondly, I don't have a PostScript printer connected to my IIcx at
home. (Unfortunately 8-) So, when I need something printed out, I
will use the "Click-and-hold-OK, hold-Command-K, Release-mouse-button,
Wait-for-'Creating PostScript'-dialog" method of printing PS files to
disk. Here's where the problem comes in:
I use A.T.M., and hence, have all the LaserWriter PS Fonts in a
directory in my System Folder. When I create this PS file, it CONTAINS
the downloadable versions of all the fonts I used in the document, even
though they're resident in the printer! So, to save disk space and
transfer time, I have to move all the fonts to another directory, then
move them back after "printing" to disk. A REAL pain - but worthwhile
for ATM's sake.
How can I "hack" the LaserWriter drivers to "download" ONLY those fonts
that AREN'T in the "Standard 35"??? I remember reading that under
normal printing conditions, it asks the printer "Do you have Palatino?"
and if it says "yes", it doesn't download it. Obviously, when printing
to disk, this approach doesn't work... Any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any information.
E.J.G.
--
Eddy J. Gurney N8FPW
<eddy@jafus.mi.org> <gurney@frith.egr.msu.edu> <17158EJG@MSU.BITNET>
(Preferred) (If your mail bounces) (If you HAVE to :-)baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten) (10/03/90)
In article <1990Oct1.135938.12496@jafus.mi.org>, eddy@jafus (Eddy J. Gurney) writes: >I use A.T.M., and hence, have all the LaserWriter PS Fonts in a >directory in my System Folder. When I create this PS file, it CONTAINS >the downloadable versions of all the fonts I used in the document, even >though they're resident in the printer! So, to save disk space and >transfer time, I have to move all the fonts to another directory, then >move them back after "printing" to disk. A REAL pain - but worthwhile >for ATM's sake. If you *don't* use TypeAlign, here's a better way. Just use DiskTop or ResEdit or your favorite utility that can edit file creator and type codes. Change the type of the printer font files (the PostScript files, not the bitmaps) from "LWFN" to something like "xWFN". ATM will still be able to find and use the fonts, but the printing routines look for files of type "LWFN" when it comes time to download fonts. Alas, TypeAlign uses the same scheme, so if you're using it regularly, the above solution won't do you much good. But it should help most people who have this problem. -- Steve Baumgarten | "New York... when civilization falls apart, Davis Polk & Wardwell | remember, we were way ahead of you." baumgart@esquire.dpw.com | cmcl2!esquire!baumgart | - David Letterman
elliott@veronica.cs.wisc.edu (James Elliott) (10/05/90)
In <1990Oct1.135938.12496@jafus.mi.org> eddy@jafus.mi.org (Eddy J. Gurney) writes: >I use A.T.M., and hence, have all the LaserWriter PS Fonts in a >directory in my System Folder. When I create this PS file, it CONTAINS >the downloadable versions of all the fonts I used in the document, even >though they're resident in the printer! So, to save disk space and >transfer time, I have to move all the fonts to another directory, then >move them back after "printing" to disk. A REAL pain - but worthwhile >for ATM's sake. >How can I "hack" the LaserWriter drivers to "download" ONLY those fonts >that AREN'T in the "Standard 35"??? I remember reading that under >normal printing conditions, it asks the printer "Do you have Palatino?" >and if it says "yes", it doesn't download it. Obviously, when printing >to disk, this approach doesn't work... Any ideas? Some printer drivers (such as the one supplied with Aldus PageMaker 4.0) are smart enough to know which printers contain which fonts (using APD files), and therefore don't put redundant downloadable fonts in the PostScript file when they print. Of course, that doesn't help when one is not using an Aldus application. My solution was to write a program I call StripFonts which scans a PostScript file and removes the fonts which it knows to be built-in. This can save a lot of space and time uploading. It actually does more than that. Since I upload to a UNIX machine, I realized that it was a waste of time to keep uploading the same (non built-in) fonts over and over again, so there is a UNIX end to StripFonts too. This utility keeps copies of the uploaded fonts in a directory on UNIX, and can generate a list of the fonts thus available. If I download this list to the Mac end of StripFonts, it will remove those fonts from the PostScript document as well, but in such a way that the UNIX end will re-include them before printing. This method reduced a 430K sign to 30K, which saved me LOADS of time uploading at 2400 baud (especially while I was fine-tuning the sign), and saves me disk space too, since I just keep the stripped copy around. I've got a few friends trying out this program at the moment. I consider it to be in "beta test" mode, and plan to eventually release it as freeware. There are a few features I still want to add before an "official" release, but if there is enough current interest, I could post the beta copy now. [As for the question about the .afm files, I don't believe any Mac application or utility, with the possible exception of the LaTeX implementations, uses them.] -- Jim Elliott "Like a bridge he'll come between us, not a wall" elliott@veronica.cs.wisc.edu