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From: cs002@unocss.unomaha.edu (cs002)
Newsgroups: comp.text,comp.sources.wanted
Subject: Re: Ditroff font tables for HP Laserjet III
Summary: Ditroff font tables for HP LaserJet III
Keywords: ditroff, font tables, hp-laserjet iii
Message-ID: <3028@unocss.unomaha.edu>
Date: 19 Jul 90 17:05:00 GMT
References: <1210@wundt.psy.vu.nl>
Organization: U. of Nebraska at Omaha
Lines: 35

In article <1210@wundt.psy.vu.nl>, reneni@psy.vu.nl (Rene Nieuwboer) writes:
> 
> Has anyone converted Ditroff for the HP-Laserjet III printer?
> Especially the font tables with their character widths are giving
> me headaches. The postprocessor will not be too difficult.
> If it has to be paid for, please don't be ashamed to mention it!
> 
As you mention, the postprocessor is not the problem -- anything that
drives a LaserJet II will work.

By ``font tables'', I presume you mean the problem of actually obtaining
the font widths for the ``internal'' fonts - CG Times and CG Univers 1
and their italic, bold, and bold italic counterparts. These can be obtained
using Type Director 2.0, available from HP for less than $50 US. Actually,
Type Director produces font support files for a variety of products, including
Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, and Ventura Publisher. If you know the format of
the font support files for these products, and how they are interpreted, then
you can, indeed, ``divine'' the font widths for the internal fonts. Alas, it's
still a pain.

What is more productive is the use of the TFM files that Type Director will
generate for ``AutoFont'' support. These are *NOT* the TFM files used with
TeX (as I found out the hard way). Instead, they are ``Tagged Font Metric''
files. As I am working on a ditroff (to be publicly availble) specifically
for the MS-DOS and OS/2 environment, and specifically wanted to eliminate
as much of the hassle with font widths as possible, I investigated and found
that HP provides developers with a package of info on TFM files, including
two floppies with C code and sample TFM files. I will be shortly producing
a program which will generate ditroff font tables from TFM files, and at
that time will post it to some appropriate newsgroup. If in the meantime
you really need to investigate further on your own, I suggest either
acquiring Type Director, or the TFM package from HP, or both.

Stan Wileman, Math/CS, U. of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE 68182-0243
cs002@unocss.unomaha.edu -or- stanw@zeus.unomaha.edu