Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucsd!ucbvax!UNOCSS.UNOMAHA.EDU!cs002
From: cs002@UNOCSS.UNOMAHA.EDU (Stan Wileman)
Newsgroups: comp.laser-printers
Subject: Re: DeskJet advice needed
Summary: Once again, LaserJet to DeskJet Font Conversion
Message-ID: <9007200322.AA07290@crayola.cs.UMD.EDU>
Date: 14 Jul 90 03:02:54 GMT
References: <9007130346.AA00746@crayola.cs.UMD.EDU>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: U. of Nebraska at Omaha
Lines: 33
Approved: laser-lovers@brillig.umd.edu


In article <9007130346.AA00746@crayola.cs.UMD.EDU>, harper@convex.UUCP (David Harper) writes:
> 
>     ... does anyone 
>     know of a conversion utility which will take public domain fonts for
>     a LaserJet and convert them to a DeskJet format?  Has anyone tried
>     downloading LaserJet fonts to see what would happen?
> 
This is, apparently, an often-asked question. DeskJet fonts are NOT the same
as LaserJet fonts, although the same escape sequences are used to download
them. What's different is the content of the bitmap. Fundametnally, the big
difference is that DeskJet bitmaps are sent to the printer in column-major
order, and LaserJet bitmaps are sent in row-major order. See, the DeskJet,
being an ink jet printer, print columns of dots as the print head moves
horizontally. The LaserJet prints a row of dots, then the next row, and so
forth. The heart of the algorithm that converts LaserJet fonts to DeskJet
fonts is the `corner-turning' logic (as well as the other administrivia,
like the compression, etc.).

LaserJet fonts will *NOT* work on a DeskJet without conversion. There is a
very good conversion utility available from S. H. Moody & Associates,
1810 Fair Oaks Avenue, South Pasadena, CA 91030. It's called LJ2DESK, and
is accompanied by a utility called FONTVIEW which displays the individual
characters on your monitor. LJ2DESK will convert most LaserJet fonts, including
the public domain fonts you can find, and makes appropriate corrections in
the fonts as required. I have two DeskJets and a LaserJet III, and the same
fonts that work on the LaserJet III can be used on the DeskJets (subject, of
course, to the size limitations of the DeskJet).

LJ2DESK is reasonably priced (but I don't recall the cost).

Stan Wileman, U. of Nebraska at Omaha, Math/CS Dept.
cs002@unocss.unomaha.edu -or- stanw@zeus.unomaha.edu