Re: mfonts.tex from manuals

[Taco Hoekwater <taco@elvenkind.com>]

David Arnold wrote:
> All,
> 
> I was able to texfont the demofont and texfont the palatino and  
> compiled test files for each. But when I try to compile mfonts.tex, I  
> get the stuff below. I obviously need help. I have no uplr8t anything  
> on my system.

First: here is a quick fix. I've made my copy of mfonts.tex
start with these

   \usetypescript[adobekb][8r,ec]
   \usetypescriptfile [type-buy]
   \usetypescriptfile [typeface]
   \environment ../allkind/mcommon.tex

That fixed the problem with Palatino (It now says I have
missing LucidaBright (texnansi-lbXXX) fonts, but I believe
that is correct because it is from an example, and at least
one hurdle is taken).


Now for the actual problem.

It looks like this problem is caused by type-dis.tex. In that file,
fontsynonym mappings are provided between texfont-style metric names
and berry-style filenames for a number of free Type 1 fonts,
esp. the ones that come from URW and are shipped with ghostscript.

In theory, the definitions in that file are fine, but in the real
world there is a problem:

   The URW fonts are normally used only to mimic Adobe's base
   PostScript fonts like Times and Palatino, are therefore almost
   never installed under their true names like URWPalladio and
   Nimbus Roman.

So, the font metrics for URWPalladioL-Roma in EC (psnfss)
encoding are typically installed as pplr8t (the initial p
indicating Adobe, to mimic Palatino-Roman) instead of uplr8t
like they should be (that initial u would be indicating urw).

I am not sure how Hans feels about this, but there are two ways out:

1. Certainly the *easiest* way to get a working solution is to
change the fontsynonyms in typ-dis.tex so that they match the real
world instead of the desired world.

2. But on the other hand, that would be promoting a rather bad
practise, and deleting the fontsynonyms instead would be better.

I happen to know that Hans will start distributing a cont-fnt.zip
file soon that will contain texfont-style metrics, so my vote goes
to the second solution.



Greetings, Taco