Re: PostScript de faqto

["..." adpf@xxxxxxxx]

Hi, Robert. Great! You got the interpreter part right, except ...

≪	To the extent that PostScript is used to print words, the only
significant difference between Adobe and G(h)o(st)script is going to be
the font descriptors (what's the term for these anyway, the PFBs?); ≫

... thinking of Adobe as hardware PS and the two G'scripts as software PS
is inaccurate. Adobe doesn't make printers and there are other quite
respectable, possibly superior, software interpreters. The terms hardware
and software distinguish between interpreters--to the extent that that's
necessary. When discussing fonts it's not.

Hardware and software PS interpreters both require Type 1 fonts, period
(although there are platform permutations of fonts). The distinction here
is between fonts that are or are not resident. If not resident, the driver
must feed the font to the interpreter. A Type 1 font is the sum of all
its parts, not just the .PFB.

≪	Where do I get additional PFBs? ≫

Good Type 1 fonts are as good as digital type gets, but not all Type 1
fonts are good. A lot are available online--kidstuff, quality highly
questionable; I use exactly one (from the AO software library). Adobe
sells top quality fonts for top dollar. (Isn't ATM bundled with
Warp?--you should have some Adobe Type 1 fonts, no?) A foundry that sells
fonts of equal quality reasonably is:
	SoftMaker Inc.
	2195 Faraday Avenue, Suite A
	Carlsbad, CA 92008
	voice (619) 929-6030
	fax (619) 929-6034
Or sold. I did an AltaVista search and found no SoftMaker Web site,
although some catalogs list SoftMaker's popular infiniType and definiType
collections. (Maybe SoftMaker is as casual about www as a developer I
won't name, or it may have suffered from being unprepared for a rave
Dvorak gave its fonts in PCMag.)

≪	You suggest that Adobe is very proprietary; but the Alladin docs
say that Adobe "contributed" their fonts to Ghostscript. ≫

That is most interesting. Aladdin has never been known as a quality
foundry. When it released the version of Ghostscript that you downloaded
it announced that "The poor-quality free fonts have been replaced by good
ones." I didn't realize they were *that* good. Adobe doesn't give much
away. That "PostScript(r)" is a running gag in MacLand.

≪	I'm back in the WiDth table business again (whew). [...] I'd very
much like to have Steve C's elegant solution! Or a kludgy solution! ≫

I looked again and couldn't find that offlist exchange re a better
solution. (And I definitely don't have ADDPS4.EXE installed, but next to
PS47FONT.PR4 temporally is TFMADD.EXE, which seems to have to do with LJ
font cartridges--ADDPS4.EXE relates to PS font carts?)

!T1_WT (encoded below, with how-to at the end; v3 xpl) will get you
started. The significant number is the second (WX) in each metrics file
entry (*.AFM file--Aladdin should supply it with the fonts; .AFMs are
free at www.adobe.com):

	C 38 ; WX 889 ; N ampersand ; B 166 -23 979 703 ;
	     ^^^

i.e.,	    &=889

I'm going to skip my kludge. Symbols are correlated to my fb<'s vector
encoding and my substitution tables for esoteric chars and will just mess
up anyone using a standard xyWrite PS driver. You'll get the drift from
!T1_WT. Re. font technology, if you don't have a Red Book, which covers
it thoroughly, the comp.fonts FAQ is at:
	www: http://jasper.ora.com/comp.fonts/faq.htm
and
	ftp: jasper.ora.com:/pub/comp.font/FAQ

≪	How about vertical leading? Should one set AL=1 (AutoLeading On)? ≫

I leaded manually even pre-PS, but don't see why AL wouldn't work with
PS. Try it.

≪	I may not stick with PostScript for primary printing, but it's
nice to know what it can do. Impressive. ≫

Enjoy! So which PS manual are you using? 	--a

!T1_WT.UUE ==================================================

section 1 of 1 of file !t1_wt < uuencode 95 (v40) by R.E.M. >

begin 644 !t1_wt
MKG-V,3,L+D%&3:^N:6:N:7,Q,Z_N**YV821F<*\I/#"OKG!R+D%&33^OKF5X
MKZYE::^N?^`:_^`T?^`=_^`^:YG;#VOKF5IK_^`33O_
M,$1%5/\P1#O_,$3_@1]S96(@(#W_@0'_@0G_@&/_@0O_@&O_@'G_@&NN?^`:ZYS=C$TK_^!"ZYS>#$S+"BN
M<'8Q,Z\MKG!V,32O*2\RKZYS>#$S+*YI7!H96X](/\P02VN<'8X-J]B&-L86T](/\P02&N<'8X
M-J]B86-K#T@_S!!-JYP=C@VKW-E=F5N/2#_,$$WKG!V
M.#:O96EG:'0](/\P03BN<'8X-J]N:6YE/2#_,$$YKG!V.#:O<&5R8V5N=#T@
M_S!!):YP=C@VKV%T/2#_,$%`KG!V.#:O86UP97)S86YD/2#_,$$FKG!V.#:O
M_X$?97/_@0G_@/%71#JN7!E(#$@9F]N
M="`N049-(&9I;&4@=&\@9VQY<&@@9&5S8W)I<'1O'AX#0IT;R!C;W)R97-P;VYD('=I=&@@=&AE
M(')E9VES=&5R960@9F]N="P@86YD(&5D:70-"B`@4U<];FYN#0IS;R!I="!I
M nyc