Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!sri-spam!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!GSB-WHY.STANFORD.EDU!A.ERIC
From: A.ERIC@GSB-WHY.STANFORD.EDU (Eric M. Berg)
Newsgroups: mod.computers.laser-printers
Subject: Re: Scribe Metafont file format?
Message-ID: <12284656546.15.A.ERIC@GSB-WHY.Stanford.EDU>
Date: Sun, 8-Mar-87 00:53:52 EST
Article-I.D.: GSB-WHY.12284656546.15.A.ERIC
Posted: Sun Mar  8 00:53:52 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 10-Mar-87 21:46:17 EST
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: A.ERIC@GSB-HOW.STANFORD.EDU
Distribution: world
Organization: The ARPA Internet
Lines: 43
Approved: laser-lovers@washington.arpa

In talking about METAFONT (and other) font files, you have to distinguish
several types of file formats:  pixel files, raster files, "generic font" 
files, and METAFONT source files.  Here's a brief introduction written
by a non-expert (me!):

.MF files:  source file containing the METAFONT code for a font design;
an ASCII file which is processed by the METAFONT program to create....

.GF ("generic font") files: the font file format created by METAFONT;
an 8-bit file.  Most up-to-date printer "device drivers" used with TeX 
are capable of using .GF files directly, but some of the older ones
must get their font information from....

.PXL files: another 8-bit representation of the font, created from the .GF 
file by running the program GFtoPXL.  The original METAFONT (released in 1978)
created .PXL files directly, and they are used by lots of older-vintage device
drivers, as well as (apparently) some newer ones like "drawimp".  However, the
very first Imagen printers (the Imagen Imprint-10) used still another font
file format....

Raster Files (e.g. CMR10.R10): yet another 8-bit representation of the font,
created from the .PXL files by running the program PXLtoRST.

Furthermore, each individual file-name includes some numbers indicating
it's "size", the numbers being a (different) function of the font
"design size", the magnification of that particular font file, and the
dots-per-inch of the printer it was generated for.

Now... for some reason, Scribe continues to use Raster (rather than .GF or
.PXL) files in creating .IMP files for Imagen printers.  Moreover,
Scribe supports only the "old" (circa-1978) Computer Modern fonts and
not the "new" (circa-1985) Computer Modern fonts, and some of the character
positions within the fonts changed between the two versions.

I don't have the references to file formats at hand, but I know they're
available.  However, the easiest approach would probably be to get a set
of the .PXL files rather than trying to re-write "drawimp" to use raster
files.

					Eric Berg
					Graduate School of Business	
					Stanford University
-------