[OS X TeX] Newbie TeTex font installation

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 16.11.2005 um 23:55 schrieb Paul Vickers:

> Thanks for that. I'm happy to convert to PS first - I'm not especially 
> wedded to having to have the ttf files in the system. My goal is just 
> to be able to use fonts in LaTeX that I have been using in non-tex 
> environments. If it's easier/more straightforward to convert a ttf to 
> PS first, then I'm happy to do that - I just need to know what to do.

This is not easy!

The BIG problem is that (rich) Unicode encoded TrueType fonts often use 
glyph names that are not known to fontinst. It really took me some time 
to find a way how to overcome this, not finding a glyph although it's 
there! And I only found a dirty trick: rename the glyphs in the AFM 
file to the fontinst 'standard' (fontinst takes the glyph names from 
the AFM text file). And since the TTF's are much richer then the 
limited PS fonts I too decided to create a companion PS font file to 
hold all available glyphs from Text Companion or Expert encodings. This 
*is* far away from a standard. Recently I am trying to put together all 
my pieces of code and to write scripts for fontforge. I mostly used 
ttf2pt1 which does not need such scripts.

> I'm guessing I use ttf2tfm or some such to do that?

No. You really have to convert the contents of the font file. It's like 
converting potatoes into vodka -- or starch.

>
> I have ttf2tfm, ttf2pk, Fondu etc, and am happy working in the Bash 
> shell.
>

I have a 'configuration file,' a C shell script (which runs in Bash 
too), a Perl script, two TeX files for fontinst, some encoding files 
... I could create a pre-alpha package and some description. YOU would 
need to adapt one TeX file to Gill Sans. It needs good nerves. I think 
Gerben Wierda still supplies a ttf2pt1 i-Package with a modern version 
the programme. The installation process into your own data might take 
30-60 minutes with all proof sheets (I just remember: I do need to work 
them over!) opening in TeXShop (to view the PDF). And there is 
something needed to make the new MAP file first known to the system and 
then generate the proofs!

A Perl script might be clever enough to find which TeX Live the TeX 
installation is based on. And choose the appropriate commands ... + 
generate the proper TeX file for fontinst?

--
Greetings

   Pete

Got Mole problems?
Call Avogadro 6.02 x 10^23

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