[OS X TeX] Just Curious...

[Michael Sharpe]

> On Oct 30, 2014, at 8:57 AM, Herbert Schulz <herbs at wideopenwest.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm curious what versions of OS X folks are using. I know there are some folks stuck at 10.5 on PPC systems but what else are folks using?
> 
> Please don't read anything into this request; just my curiosity.
> 
My main machine is a 2012 Mac Mini with two 24 inch screens, both non-retina, now running Yosemite. I've had fewer problems with this upgrade than most previous ones, but there does seem to be an issue with pdf font rendering by Quartz, as visible in TeXShop, Preview and Skim. All pdf seem to render lighter than in Mavericks, giving a washed-out appearance, and it seems that light fonts such as Computer Modern are being rendered as if with poor hinting. (In fact, Quartz ignores the hinting specified in a font.) At low resolutions, I see glyphs with the same stem widths rendered with slightly different stem widths, making for an uneven gray level on the page. Generally, I have to increase the resolution substantially to get highly legible text with light fonts. Heavier fonts such as Utopia (Erewhon) and XCharter render much better, and I am using them much more under Yosemite.

Michael