Fonts &c. (was Re: [OS X TeX] Fonts included with Textures?)

[Adrian Heathcote]

I fear this response muddies some already muddy water. The issue was 
simple: do Macs' normal .pfa outline fonts work in teTeX or do they need 
to be converted to .pfb? It is a simple question which should have a 
simple answer.

Adrian Heathcote


On Thursday, March 28, 2002, at 11:59 PM, William Adams wrote:

> Adrian said:
> >Alan Hoenig, the author of TeX Unbound: LateX and TeX Strategies for 
> Fonts, Graphics and More >has said that his NexT/LateX set up deals 
> directly with .pfa fonts---they do not need to be >converted to .pfb.
>
> One of the advantages of Display PostScript.
>
> >My thought was: given that there is a fair bit of NexT legacy in OS X, 
> it should not need .pfb >outline formats either.
>
> There's an Apple technical note which details which fonts Mac OS X can 
> use,
>  and NeXT's nifty .font bundles are _not_ a part of that. (nor are 
> Multiple Master fonts)
>
> Google's second hit on a search of ``Apple Mac OS X supported font 
> format'
> '
>
> http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn2024.html
>
> Although Windows TrueType TTF / TTC fonts are supported, the only Type 
> 1 fonts which Mac OS X makes use of are Type 1 (presumably Mac-style 
> LWFN) with matching bitmap font suitcases.
>
> I'll spare everyone my rant about how this backwards compatibility has 
> cost us the sensible, font Fontname entry derived names.
>
> Naturally tetex, since it uses its own routines will find .pfa ASCII 
> encoded fonts more efficient (the binary encoding is actually 
> encrypting done by the eexec routine so as to copy-protect Adobe's 
> fonts back when they denied anyone else the privilege of making such 
> (everyone else had to make do with Type 3, and if they wanted hinting, 
> had to roll their own in PostScript)) for the reasons already mentioned 
> in the Fonts w/ Textures thread.
>
> Bruce then asked:
> >Can someone (William?) recommend a good font to invest in that:
>
> >a) a unix idiot (me) can easily set up for use with pdftex
> >b) will be fully usable with other OS X apps (potentially InDesign, 
> and/or some forthcoming >Cocoa word processor)
>
> >I'm thinking either Adobe Minion or Garamond (both of which I like), 
> but am not sure which >version: OpenType?  Type 1 Expert?  MM?
>
> Unfortunately Type 1 OpenType fonts don't work with pdftex, only 
> TrueType based outlines do at this time, and without the nifty 
> fonttable support to enable contextual ligatures &c.
>
> As I mentioned above, Multiple Master is right out until Apple restores 
> that functionality (which NeXTstep had, without effort on Adobe's part 
> 'cause an MM font is ``just'' a PostScript Program).
>
> How do you feel about the eponymous Hoefler Text? Jonathan Hoefler has 
> since made a Type 1 version available from his website, 
> <http://www.typography.com> which should install easily in tetex (get 
> the PC version with matching .afm files and no resource forks to mung 
> this up)
> , one could then use the Apple version in Mac OS X proper, and the Type 
> 1 in TeX (one person on this list has manually converted the Apple 
> font, but that probably wouldn't sit well with Apple if a lot of people 
> started doing it or passing it around :(
>
> Has anyone else tried contacting the programmer of TeX/GX? I'd dearly 
> love to see a pdftex variant on Mac OS X which could directly use ATSUI 
> fonts (for those who haven't, install the Developer tools, (free with 
> on-line ADC membership)) and play around with ``WorldText.app'' (nee  
> GXWrite)---if you think TextEdit's automatic ligatures are nice, ``you 
> ain'
> t seen nothin' yet''
>
> William
> (who has been working on a typeface design for eight years now but 
> hasn't yet finished it :(
>
> --
> William Adams, publishing specialist
> voice - 717-731-6707 | Fax - 717-731-6708
> www.atlis.com
>
>
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