Re: Installing MinionMM for LaTeX

["Berthold K.P. Horn" <bkph@ai.mit.edu>]

At 10:46 PM 7/6/99 -0400, Professor Wei-Chau Xie wrote:

>1. The MinionMM font that I purchased from Adobe (downloaded from
>internet) came with only two pfb files and some pfm and pss files
>(instance files). 

Right, MM fonts do not come with AFM files, and the mythical AMFM
files generally are not to be found.

>As mentioned in the previous posting, the instance files created by
>Adobe Type Manager are one pfm and one pss files.
>With the pfm and pss files on hand, it seems to me that it is not
>possible to generate pfb files even using the Y&Y Font Manipulation
>Tools (in the list of the utilities on p.389 of "The LaTeX Graphics
>Companion", there is no route that would take pfm or pss to pfb).

Making separate PFBs for instances of an MM font is not only non-trivial,
but sort of defeats the purpose, because then every instance will be
large (containing a large part of the master) rather than a "PS stub" and 
a single common PFB.

>On p.406 of "The LaTeX Graphics Companion", it is noted that "For LaTeX
>users, the second method (using the Adobe Type Manager) is the simplest,
>since the end result is an afm file and the right fragment of PostScript
>code (a "stub") to download with the font itself."  What is a "stub" and
>how to download?  The pss files are shown as "PostScript Printer Stub"
>on my Windows 95 system, but there is no mention of the pss files in the
>book. 

The PSS stub files have a format very much like PFB files (with section and
length fields in binary) and an ASCII section that may look like

%!PS-AdobeFont-1.0 MyriadMM-It_215_LT_300_CN 001.000
/MyriadMM-It_215_LT_300_CN /MyriadMM-It findfont [1 0 0 0] makeblendedfont
dup /FontName /MyriadMM-It_215_LT_300_CN put
definefont pop

This could be extracted and patched together with the master font in PFA 
format to create something useable.  (PSS stubs are no longer used in 
Window NT and it's descendent Windows 2000).

>Furthermore, the Adobe Type Manager did not create any afm files.
>Am I missing some points or not using the Adobe Type Manager correctly.

ATM never creates AFM files.  It can *use* AFM files during installation if no PFM
file is supplied --- but then needs in addition an INF file to supply the 
information missing from AFM (such as the font menu name).

>It is also noted on p.406 of "The LaTeX Graphics Companion" that "If
>LaTeX is being run in an environment with a previewer and/or printer
>driver making use of ATM, this system is very convenient. The commercial
>Windows TeX system from Y&Y fully supports and documents the
>procedure,..."  If I purchase the Y&Y TeX system, would I be able to use
>MinionMM font as I do with Microsoft Word without all these setup and
>file type conversions? Is this what the authors meant?

Yes, its rather easy.  You install the font(s) using ATM.  You then use ATM to
create the instances you want.  

Then from the previewer select "Fonts > WriteTFM" and select each instance 
in turn that you want to work with.  Note the names of the TFM files created.  
Then refer to these TFMs either directly using \font in plain TEX, or via 
LaTeX 2e's PSNFSS mechanism.  You may want to set up a short .fd file ---
  modelled on an existing .fd file --- to make this more convenient.

And that's it. The instances you chose will be used in preview on screen, when
printing to a PS device, and when printing to non-PS device.  In the case of non-PS
device, ATM does the rasterization.  In the case of PS device, the PS driver even
does partial font downloading on the master font (combining the demands of
all the instances derived from that master).

Regards, Berthold Horn.

DISCLAIMER: In case it isn't obvious: I have connections with Y&Y :-)

Berthold K.P. Horn		mailto:bkph@ai.mit.edu