Re: diatribe

[Simon Mang Cao <simonmc@ebox.tninet.se>]

Y&Y, Inc. wrote:
> 
> Hi:
> 
> Regarding the so-called `MF/T1' problem.
> 
> Guys: what a load of hot air over something so uninteresting!
> I don't know where to begin.  So I'll not bother about technical details.
> 
> It's a classic case of the TeX world contemplating its own navel while the
> rest of the world passes it by!  Count me out.
> 
> Regards, Berthold.

Hi there,

I don't know how I got this mail. I remembered only that I gave
out my VF's to some people requested for those missing design
sizes in the AMS/PS distribution provided jointly by AMS, BSR and
Y&Y.

There will be no such problem if everyone has a full distribution
of AMS fonts in T1 format. But if one can not even view or print
the document (amsfndoc.tex) come with the standard AMS/PS
distribution, there is a problem. Even I made these VFs for my
personal use and for all those requested them, FLAME (thank God
just one) such as the above has already come.

Technically, there is no such problem if one use only MFs for all
documents or one has extra bucks spend on a complete set of AMS T1
fonts. These are certainly a great deal of reasons for choosing to
	use T1 fonts at this CIA (Computer Internet Age)! Sure! Mr.
	Bethold. I almost neglect that you are speaking for Y&Y. You
	own a full set of AMS T1 fonts that were not distributed with
	the AMS/PS package.  Shall we say Y&Y/PS fonts? Until Y&Y/PS
	fonts is made public available (maybe never), we have to
	bother ourselves by making VFs for the missing fonts in the
	public AMS/PS distributions. 
(La)TeX is a powerful tool used mostly by academic folks, at least
neither I nor my research group have extra money spend on luxury.
A lot of people requested the VFs directly from me, since I send
them to Andrew (OzTeX maker) for evaluation. Though they were
intended only for my personal use. As long as there is a need, why
not?

In deed to make a set of VFs from available AMS/PS (no Y&Y/PS), is
not that problematic. One can even use type1cm.sty in LaTeX to
make life a little easier.  However, under the constrains of both
unity of font matrices and as close an outline font to its MF
counterpart as possible, one has several choices to make. I'm not
going to details here. I'm interested in what level of
compatibility between VFs and MFs of AMS can be achieved, if one
does not have Y&Y/PS fonts.  I have given a message to Andrew, and
later to Ben (BSR) in response to his request of my VFs.

Folks, Prof. Knuth made TeX free for everyone to enjoy NOT to
flame! Enjoy your daily TeXing!!

Simon