| Many of the fonts which are typically used in a TeX
document must be generated by the MetaFont system. Metafont
is a language similar to TeX (included in most TeX
distributions) which takes a description of the font
outline, and produces a rasterized version (.pk file) of the font which can
then be send to a printer or be used in a previewing program
like KDVI. Metafont goes out of its way to produce the
best possible output for your printer. For instance, it
knows that a pixel of an inkjet printer is a roundish blot,
and that nearby pixels tend to smear into each other. In
contrast, a pixel on a laser printer is rectangular, but an
isolated pixel is very often not rendered at all. Generating such highly optimized bitmap fonts is
naturally rather time-consuming, in particular since typical
TeX documents use a large number of different fonts. We can
only ask for your patience. To ease the matter somewhat,
most distributions of TeX store the .pk files for a limited time,
for example, 100 days. Therefore, if you access the same document
more than once, the .pk
files will be reused. |
| In order to produce bitmap fonts which are optimized
for your printer (see the answer to the first question),
Metafont comes with a database of printing engines — look
for a file called modes.mf . A Metafont
Mode is just the name of a database entry. For example, the
name “ljfour” refers to the entry in the
database that describes a Hewlett-Packard® LaserJet 4
printer. A MetaFont Mode is usually followed by a number,
the resolution. The LaserJet, for instance, can print in both
300 and 600 dots per inch. Thus, “ljfour/600”
would be a full description. |
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