Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
From: clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Kathy Strong)
Newsgroups: comp.fonts
Subject: Re: Downloading PostScript fonts
Summary: ..to a Laserwriter, not from ftp!
Message-ID: <40701@ut-emx.uucp>
Date: 5 Dec 90 06:51:53 GMT
References: <1187@dg.dg.com>
Sender: news@ut-emx.uucp
Reply-To: clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Kathy Strong)
Lines: 57

In article <1187@dg.dg.com> colella@emav51.webo.dg.com (Wayne Colella) writes:
>
>Question: Is there a technique or utility available so that I could just
>print the PageMaker (or other) file without having to either 
>	(1) wait for the fonts to be downloaded every time I print it or 
>	(2) manually download, 
>yet cause the downloaded fonts to remain in the LaserWriter's memory? Or
>am I totally confused about the whole thing?
>

Wayne--I have been using PageMaker and the Apple LaserWriter since version
1.0 of each. As far as I know, either you gotta let PageMaker download the
fonts or do it yourself.

The reason PageMaker font downloads take so long is that PM downloads and
then releases fonts on a block-by-block basis--that is, if you have three
text blocks on a page, it will download the font(s) for the first block, 
then release those fonts, download the font(s) for the second.. and so on.
(Note: Actually, I know this is true of earlier version of PageMaker. I
checked the 4.0 manual and it does not specify "block" or "page"--just says
PageMaker keeps the fonts in memory only as long as needed to print your
publication. So Aldus may have changed it to a "by page" or even "by publi-
cation" download, but I don't think so... read on.)

The reason for this technique is that the earlier LaserWriters had very 
little free memory for downloadable fonts, and it was pretty easy to make 
a page with more fonts than the LaserWriter could handle--giving the 
dreaded "Out of Memory" printer error message. So they designed PM to
image a block at a time--that way, you couldprint even a very font-heavy
page, simply by making sure that the text was broken up into blocks and that 
no single block contained more than one or two or three DL fonts. (Remember,
the fonts for each block get released from the LW's memory as the block
is finished.) The trade-off, of course, is speed. 

The LaserWriter IIs have more memory for DL fonts, and so the block-by-block
method is probably not necessary to prevent chokeups. Therefore, you probably
will get the best results if you download at least the one or two most
frequently used DL fonts in your document. Those fonts will stay in your
printer's memory until you turn it off, but it has memory to spare.

CE Software makes a very useful DA called LaserStatus that lets you make
"sets" of fonts to download. It has other LaserWriter utilities as well--
reset printer, check to see what fonts are currently resident, and so on.
A worthwhile investment.

--Kathy

P.S. My explanation above may be oversimplified--if so, forgive me. The
details were explained to me long ago. The description above is my mental 
model; I believe it's correct in all major respects, and it explains the 
observed behavior...
-- 
...........................................................................
:   Kathy Strong               :  "Try our Hubble-Rita: just one shot,     :
:  (Clouds moving slowly)      :   and everything's blurry"                :
:   clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu  :                           --El Arroyo     :
:..........................................................................:


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