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From: aaron@jessica.stanford.edu (Aaron Wallace)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: Windows, Windows Write, Fonts, Epson LQ
Message-ID: <9324@lindy.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 5 May 90 18:19:06 GMT
References: <3529@optilink.UUCP> <2681@ecs.soton.ac.uk> <3572@optilink.UUCP> <1990May5.001408.2598@bach.amd.com> <8645@sbcs.sunysb.edu>
Sender: root@lindy.Stanford.EDU (Rooter)
Organization: Stanford University, Computer Science Department
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In article <8645@sbcs.sunysb.edu> altman@sbgrad12.cs.sunysb.edu (Jeff Altman) writes:
>
>Another answer is to get the Bitstream Fontware 3.0 Kit for Windows
>which allows you to generate your own fonts for Windows Apps. It comes
>with versions of Times Roman (Dutch) and Helvetica (Swiss) and costs
>$25 with a coupon that comes with Windows.  You generate both the 
>screen and the printer fonts in whatever size you want (6pt and up) 
>and whatever combination of (bold or italic) and whatever printer
>Postscript, PCL, 9 pin dot matrix or 24 pin Dot matrix.  

Given the few printer fonts that do come with Windows, for most printers
I'd say Bitstream is very useful.  However, it may be best to "tweak" the
Bitstream kit a bit for best performance.  In my case, I wanted to generate
fonts for an Epson 9 pin printer in the 144x280 mode.  It cranked out
a set of 72x140 fonts.  Some poking around in the Bitstream configuration
files (they're all ASCII-readable--what a wonderful idea!) showed that the
72x140 number was hard-wired (I think the hdpi and vdpi fields are
relevant, although I'm not sure) in the EPSON9 file.  I changed these
fields, re-installed the device file, and it generated the correct font
sizes--quite nicely, too.  One thing, though--I'd recommend not generating
screen fonts for the Dutch and Swiss.  Winword (and others, I'd imagine)
will use the default Windows screen fonts, which have been "tuned" to look
good at low resolution.  The fonts Bitstream makes are readable, but a bit
jagged.  The exception is if you need fonts for sizes Windows doesn't have;
then it's probably best to make them.  For those low on memory/speed, it
also helps to make only the regular (i.e. non-bold, italic) version--Windows
can make the bold/italic version on the fly from the normal font.  Although
this sounds slow, it's much slower waiting for Windows to read in each
separate font as it repaints the screen.  For printer fonts, by all means
make all that you have room for.

On a different note, has anyone had any experience with the Atech Publisher's
Powerpak for Windows?  I saw it in action at a show recently, and I have
a demo disk--it prints much better quality output than the Windows driver
for the Epson 9-pin printers (at least my EX-800).  The Powerpak, for those
who don't know about it, includes drivers for 300 printers and three
*on the fly* scalable fonts (a Helvetica, Times Roman, and Courier, including
thin, hollow, and bold/italic combinations).  Screen fonts are not on-the-fly
scalable, but can be made at any time from within Windows.  The price of the
kit is $79; what's best, though, is that additional fonts are only $30 (for 3).
Although all I had was a demo, speed seemed acceptable.

Aaron Wallace