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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: Scalable fonts on the LJ III
Keywords: ditroff, font tables, hp-laserjet iii
Message-ID: <3040@unocss.unomaha.edu>
Date: 28 Jul 90 19:43:11 GMT
References: <1210@wundt.psy.vu.nl> <3028@unocss.unomaha.edu> <1990Jul26.163727.25454@eci386.uucp>
Organization: U. of Nebraska at Omaha
Lines: 34

In article <1990Jul26.163727.25454@eci386.uucp>, clewis@eci386.uucp (Chris Lewis) writes:
> In article <3028@unocss.unomaha.edu> cs002@unocss.unomaha.edu (cs002) writes:
> Does the III autoscale downloaded fonts too?  (Haven't seen any LJIII
> docs yet)
> -- 

The LaserJet III will scale downloadable fonts, IF they are scalable down-
loadable fonts (sounds like doublespeak, doesn't it).

LJ IIIs deal with two kinds of fonts - bitmapped and scalable. Internally
its got several scalable fonts, from 0.25 point to 999.75 point in quarter-
point increments. They can be used in landscape or portrait, since it'll
do rotation.

Externally (downloadable) you can have bitmapped or scalable fonts. The
bitmapped fonts can't be scaled by the printer, but the scalable guys can.
Sorta makes sense. The scalable fonts have all sorts of special info about
how to do scaling, and they're significantly more complex than bitmapped
fonts. Documentation on the format of these things is available from
CompuGraphic - I've not yet sent for it.

BTW, I've acquired the HP PostScript cartridge for the LJ III and everything
I've tested works just the way I've expected. I'm no PS guru, so there may
likely be some problems that I've not discovered. One unfortunate problem
is that when the PS cartridge is installed in the printer, PCL goes away.
This means you can't have a MAC and traditional PCL applications on a PC
use the same printer without powering down, inserting or removing the
cartridge, and powering up again. For many this won't be a problem, but
for our site, where we have PCs, MACs, and a Sequent all generating print
files (fortunately not all for one lonely LJ III) it means more manual
intervention.

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