TeX and Computer Modern fonts

Information of TeX and Computer Modern fonts.

You are about th visitor (since Mar. 1, 1997)

• Aren't your fonts old and ugly?
• Computer Modern PostScript fonts
• Links related to TeX

Aren't your fonts old and ugly?

In 1992, Professor Donald E. Knuthre-designed part of his Computer Modern fonts. However someone/some sites still use old fonts. (Oh, yes, actually, we used it :-) See Important Message to all Users of TeXby Prof. Knuth.

Computer Modern PostScript fonts

Computer Modern fonts are designed by Prof. Donald E. Knuth, the father of TeX. Documents written with TeX use these fonts by default.

Blue Sky Researchis the company that provides TeX environment for Macintosh named "TEXTURES" and many font sets, including Computer Modern fonts in PostScript Type-1 format. Many people say their fontset has plenty of quality. Recently, Blue Sky Research announces the release of their "Computer Modern PostScript fonts" into public domain.

Download

You can get these fonts from CTAN sites. Look for CTAN mirror site nearest to you. If you are in Japan, try the following addresses.

• RIKEN Accelerator Research Facility(RARF) in The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN)(http)
• The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) (ftp)
• The University of Aizu(ftp)

change directory into fonts/cm/ps-type1/bluesky/ for CM fonts, or fonts/amsfonts/ps-type1/ for AMS fonts. Then download appropriate font archive(s) for your environment.

Goodies of PS Type-1 fonts

The most popular font format for TeX is Packed bitmap format, called PK format. In TeX Archives CD-ROMthere are many PK fonts for printers of many resolution. Compared PK fonts with PS Type-1 fonts, I think the following:

PK fonts

• As they are bitmap fonts, you must get fonts of a certain resolution which is fit for your printer. (But there is an exception that the case if your printer or printer driver has capability of resizing fonts, like PS printers.)
• You must get fonts with same type-face but different sizes. For example, 7 to 8 sizes of fonts for Computer Modern Roman 10pt fonts.
• You can easily get many many fonts in PK format from your friend, from CD-ROM or from net.
• If you would like to use fonts that is not standard size for TeX, you must sometimes make new fonts by yourself.
• Most DVIware can handle PK fonts. (DVIware that cannot handle PK is very rare, but it exists.)

PS Type-1 fonts

• As they are outline fonts, you don't have to care about resolusion of your output device (printer). Resizing is also very easy.
• You don't have to get fonts with same type-face but different sizes. So you can save disk space.
• You can download fonts to your PostScript printer if it allows.
• PS Type-1 fonts are mostly used with DVI->PS program, and the biggest problem is that it is difficult to use these fonts with non-PS devices. Actually, I don't know previewer which handles Type-1 fonts.

The best point for me is that I don't have to make fonts with different sizes. In proceedings of Society of Naval Architecture, font sizes are specified in Japanese traditional "Q" number which isn't fit for "pt" (point) specification.

Quality of fonts

In Japanese book "LaTeX Jiyuu-Jizai", Computer Modern PostScript fonts by Blue Sky Researchis mentioned as the best fonts in Type-1 format. But which is better between them and PK fonts? I compared two samples with these two kinds of fonts in 600 dpi.

As both sample is written in the same CM fonts, results are very similar. But comparing in detail, I found lower-case characters are different a little. In our laboratory many people (including I) felt PS Type-1 is better, but some people felt PK better. (People who mentioned "I don't care" is also majority :-P)

Note: This comparison may be unfair. Although the best way to get beautiful PK fonts is to make them by METAFONT program with correcting sizes and blackness to fit for output devices, I used the fonts that my friend gave me. If I made and used fonts fit for our printers, the result might have been different.

You can download PS file written with Computer Modern PostScript fonts, or more precisely, Computer Modern Roman fonts in 12pt.

cc.ps (PS file)   cc.tex (LaTeX2 source file)

Usage of Computer Modern PostScript fonts

Usage of Computer Modern PostScript fonts with dvi2ps-j

(omitted)

Use Computer Modern PostScript fonts with Ghostscript

Ghostscript reads "Fontmap" file which has a table of relations between fontnames and filenames. So the only thing you should do is to add entries to this table.

• In directory which contains Ghostscript fonts (For example, /usr/local/share/ghostscript/fonts), make directory named CM_PS, and copy Computer Modern PostScript fonts into it.
• Add entry to the table (Fontmap) like the following:

         /cmr10	(CM_PS/CMR10.pfb)	;
         

  Example of entries

Note: Fonts distributed with Ghostscript 3.0x or later are made by URW++ Design and Development Incorporated, and have far more quality than those with Ghostscript 2.x. The old Ghostscript can also handle these new fonts.

Links related to TeX

• The publishing TeX related(ASCII)

  Informations and link-list of ASCII Japanese-pTeX

• CTAN on Web in Japan

  Comprehensive TeX Archive Network(CTAN) mirror in Japan. You can find Computer Modern PostScript fonts in it. Click here to download CM_PS archives from CTAN on Web in Japan.

My MAIN BOARD
Fluid Engineering Laboratory
Department of Mechanical Engineering Kogakuin University

Feel free to link this page, but sending me a mail makes me happy!

KONNO Akihisa 
konno@researchers.jp

Last modified: Mon Apr 10 11:55:14 JST 2000