[Tuglist] LaTex to pdf

Radhakrishnan CV tuglist@tug.org.in
Thu, 2 May 2002 18:07:23 +0530 (IST)


On Thu, 2 May 2002 at 13:14, Dileep Padinjarae Vengasseri wrote:

   This subject was discussed sometime back in this list. CVR had
   suggested that one can use the command `dvips -Ppdf <filename>'
   to generate filename.ps having type 1 fonts (I do not have much
   idea of what it is). This .ps file on conversion to pdf with
   ps2pdf is supposed to give a pdf file that will not be `ugly'
   looking in any pdf viewer.

It all depends on the font setup and the font families you use in 
your document. Most of the free fonts have raster and postscript 
versions in your system. If you dont specify anything while making 
the postscript, dvips will default to the raster version of the 
font, which when converted with ps2pdf will result in type3 fonts. 
type3 fonts look ugly in any pdf viewer although gv will render it
reasonably well.

Font setup differs from implementation to implementation. I can only 
tell you how it can be accomplished in teTeX (or TeXLive). 

Assuming that you use CMR fonts in your document, and that you have 
type1 versions of CMR fonts installed in your system, use the 
following command to generate the postscript:

 dvips -Pcms <input.dvi> -o <output.ps>

This when converted to pdf, must provide you a good looking pdf in 
any pdf previewer. Please get back, if you experience any problems.

To check whether you have type1 CMR, issue the command:

 kpsewhich cmr10.pfb

This should return you:

/opt/TeX/texmf/fonts/type1/bluesky/cm/cmr10.pfb

(Obviously your TeX tree might be different, but from /fonts/.. 
onwards it should be the same in teTeX.)

If you dont have cmr10.pfb and other type1 fonts of CMR family, you 
cant generate a good pdf with CMR fonts.

-- 
Radhakrishnan