Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!emory!att!pacbell.com!ames!orion.arc.nasa.gov!ogawa
From: ogawa@orion.arc.nasa.gov (Arthur Ogawa)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Adobe font help needed
Message-ID: <1991Feb23.162820.9690@news.arc.nasa.gov>
Date: 23 Feb 91 16:28:20 GMT
References: <1991Feb13.133626.22292@ulrik.uio.no> <30695@shamash.cdc.com> <3299@ux.acs.umn.edu>
Sender: usenet@news.arc.nasa.gov (USENET Administration)
Organization: /usr/local/lib/rn/organization
Lines: 25

In article <3299@ux.acs.umn.edu> clarson@ux.acs.umn.edu (Chaz Larson) writes:
|paul@u02.svl.cdc.com (Paul Kohlmiller) writes:
|>I think I know what the confusion is. On a Mac (on weird systems, who knows)
|>ATM wants the laser font file (what I think you call the PFB file) and the
|>font metrics file (AFM)...
[...]
|ATM needs the bitmap file and the outline file.  It doesn't need AFM files.
|AFM files aren't even included on the ATM master disk.
[...]
|The only program I am aware of that uses AFM files is PageMaker.  QuarkXpress
|may use them as well.

For the record: TeX uses font metric information derived from the AFM
file. Presumably, the Radical Eye TeX on the NeXT has .tfm files
corresponding to all of the fonts distributed standard on the NeXT,
but if you buy a type ! font from Adobe or whoever, and you want it to
work with TeX, you must also obtain the AFM file (unless the font
comes with a tfm). The application AFtotf will convert the AFM to a
tfm file. After that, you may delete the AFM file.

The common wisdom among those knowledgeable about font metrics is that the
AFM has information (kerning, ligatures) that is not available in any other
form, so if your application does not use the AFM directly or indirectly, 
the type you set will not be as good as otherwise. I was unaware that PMaker
used AFMs. Is this also the case on the Mac?


Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com