Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc:28363 comp.text.desktop:754
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pcrat!rick
From: rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.text.desktop
Subject: Re: HP LaserJet Font Cartridges Available
Summary: Get soft fonts
Message-ID: <758@pcrat.UUCP>
Date: 5 May 89 20:11:56 GMT
References: <1321@optilink.UUCP>
Reply-To: rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson)
Organization: PC Research, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ
Lines: 36

In article <1321@optilink.UUCP> cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:

>I'm considering purchase of a LaserJet (in spite of my emotional 
>attachment to the flexibility of PostScript), and I want to make
>sure that there is adequate font support before I take the plunge.

There are dozens of typefaces available for the LJ in cartridges.

There are hundreds of typefaces available for the LJ in soft font
format.  Typically, the soft fonts are produced by a font scaler
from an outline description of the typeface.  Bitstream, SWFTE,
and Digi-fonts are the ones I'm familiar with.  This lets you use
any size font, not just the sizes in a cartridge.  The drawback
is downloading time.  Some WP and typesetting software (not ours!)
isn't smart enough to download only the glyphs that are actually
used, and instead download the whole font.

HP sells both carts and soft fonts (no scaler) of high quality,
and even higher price (given the low cost of the LJ).

Digi-fonts is interesting, because they sell some 260 odd typefaces
for about $350 for the entire libary.  I've got Bitstream, the first
release of SWFTE's typefaces, and the first release of Digi-fonts.
Bitstream is the best looking, followed by Digi-fonts, followed by
SWFTE.  Both SWFTE and Digi-fonts have released second versions
of the typefaces, so the quality rankings may have changed.  The
original SWFTE scaler was also somewhat buggy.

I think SWFTE also has the capability to generate the fonts
on-the-fly for a number of DOS based WP programs.

-- 
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