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From: greid@adobe.com (Glenn Reid)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next,comp.text
Subject: Re: TeX, Metafont, and 400 dpi NeXT printer
Message-ID: <554@adobe.UUCP>
Date: 28 Feb 89 20:24:45 GMT
References: <1515@amelia.nas.nasa.gov> <73465UH2@PSUVM>
Sender: news@adobe.COM
Reply-To: greid@adobe.COM (Glenn Reid)
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Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mountain View
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In article <73465UH2@PSUVM> UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes:
>In article <1515@amelia.nas.nasa.gov>, jesperse@wk18 (Dennis C. Jespersen) says:
>>
>>I've got TeX and Metafont running on a NeXT machine; the installation
>>was fairly easy, using the source files from ics.uci.edu (web sources and
>>web-to-C-ware) and labrea.stanford.edu (other TeX- and Metafont-ware).
>          ...
>
>>Generating a full set of Computer Modern and LaTeX fonts (93 fonts)
>>takes about 2.5 hours of processing time on the NeXT.  After packing to
>>pk format, the collection of pk files at magsteps 0,1,2,3 occupies
>xxx3, 753, 918, 1125 Kbytes respectively.
>>
>>jesperse@wk18
>
>
>Good man.  It occurs to me that someone, or even NeXT, could save us all
>a lot of wasted time by collecting the currently available font library
>for TeX, doint the 400dpi and screen versions (90dpi? 100dpi?) and
>...I know!  put it on a od cartridge and release it to the public domain!

You could always just scrap the Computer Modern fonts and use PostScript
fonts?  The NeXT machine uses the Display PostScript system, which
means you might not need tons of 400dpi bitmaps when you can use
outline fonts instead.

Perhaps this has already occurred to you and you have ruled it out for
other reasons, but I thought I should point it out, at least.

The availability of higher- and higher-resolution devices is one of the
main arguments against bitmap fonts.  Look at all the time, space, and
hassle they require so support a new printer (it looks like about 3
megabytes for a single font set).  Not to mention the differences
between write-white and write-black engines, etc., etc.

Glenn Reid
Adobe Systems