Primer

Tom Schneider toms at ncifcrf.gov
Wed Feb 19 13:01:31 CET 2003


Axel:

Thanks for your notes.  I would prefer to avoid adding fonts outside
the standard distribution for my papers because that forces others to
do the same.

To recapitulate the problem:

I have found that if I convert from ps to pdf:

echo "quit" | gs -q -r2000x2000 -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=$name.pdf $name.ps

the pdf looks horrible on the screen (Sun workstation, acrobat) but it
prints ok.

So I have been using:

\usepackage{pslatex} % Times New Roman Font
or
\usepackage{times}

This displays well on the screen but when sent to our printer
it loses all the dashes!  That is completely unacceptable.

Isn't there a system that works well in all directions????
This is frustrating.

Tom

  Dr. Thomas D. Schneider
  National Cancer Institute
  Laboratory of Experimental and Computational Biology
  Frederick, Maryland  21702-1201
  toms at ncifcrf.gov
  permanent email: toms at alum.mit.edu (use only if first address fails)
  http://www.lecb.ncifcrf.gov/~toms/

> Hi Tom!
> 
> > Ah ha!  I know that the pdf file is rather bad on the screen (though it
> > prints fine) but don't know why or what to do about it.
> > 
> > > If you have control over your toolchain I suggest using the Type 1 
> > > version of the CM fonts. Depending on your TeX installation adding 
> > > "-PCMPS" to your DVIPS options may be sufficient.
> > 
> > It doesn't work:
> > 
> > dvips: warning: no config file for `CMPS'
> 
> Sorry, this was my fault. I am using some files not included in the
> standard distribution. You may have the fonts already installed, but
> with different support files.
> 
> If not, you can get them from your nearest CTAN mirror, for me it is
> ftp.dante.de, for you that may be tug.ctan.org. The fonts will be at
> /tex-archive/fonts/cm/ps-type1/bluesky/cmps-unix.tar.gz
> (or similar, I have the CD here.)
> 
> Put the pfb files into a directory searched by DVIPS (you sysadmin will
> know).
> 
> There are several ways to treat the psfonts.cmz file:
> 
> You can add the contents to the psfonts.map file, this file is read by
> DVIPS when it looks for fonts.
> 
> You can rename the file to psfonts.CMPS and add the command
> "p +psfonts.CMPS" (without the quotes) to config.ps. This looks like the
> best idea when you always want to use the PS fonts, even for printing.
> 
> You can rename the file to psfonts.CMPS and create a file called
> config.CMPS which consists only of one line:
> p +psfonts.CMPS
> This is what I did. To use the PS fonts you have to specify -PCMPS when
> invoking DVIPS. Without this option bitmaps will be used which may be
> neccesary for old printer with low memory.
> 
> After installing the fonts you may have to call texhash to tell TeX
> about the changes, your administrator will know.
> 
> > % dvips -v
> > This is dvips(k) 5.86 Copyright 1999 Radical Eye Software (www.radicaleye.com)
> 
> That is the same version I have.
> 
> > I use ghostscript to convert to pdf,
> > 
> > echo "quit" | gs -q -r2000x2000 -sDEVICE=pdfwrite 
> > -sOutputFile=$name.pdf $name.ps
> 
> You tell GhostScript to use 2000 DPI resolution but the fonts are
> already turned into bitmaps by DVIPS, normally at 300 DPI (laserwriter).
> When using PS fonts, you don't have to specify a resolution at all.
> 
> > % gs -v
> > Aladdin Ghostscript 6.01 (2000-03-17)
> > Copyright (C) 2000 Aladdin Enterprises, Menlo Park, CA.  All rights reserved.
> > 
> > Do we need to upgrade?
> 
> I have used the same version untill recently, it should do.
> 
> I hope this helps, please feel free to ask more questions.
> 
> Axel




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