[pdftex] Pale print with Adobe Reader

[Reinhard Kotucha]

>>>>> "Martin" == Martin Schröder <martin at oneiros.de> writes:

  > 2007/3/18, Rodolfo Medina <rodolfo.medina at gmail.com>:
  >> This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159-1.10b (Web2C 7.4.5)

  > Update.

Martin, I'm not sure whether this is always the best solution.

in this case it seems that what Rudolfo needs is a font with heavier
strokes than Computer Modern, for instance Palatino.  A pdfTeX update
will not solve this problem.

Many people are using the TeX system provided by the Linux
distribution they are using.  It makes more sense to update Linux
(especially if there are security fixes) rather than to update TeX.
But even then they do not get the latest pdfTeX release.  Upgrading
pdfTeX should be done by experts only if there is a good reason.

However, I do not see any problems if people are using old releases.
Every TeXLive or teTeX release had been usable.  There had never been
serious bugs.

Even if there are serious bugs in a macro packages it's not always
necessary to update the TeX system.  There are so many macro packages
available but people are using only a few of them.  It is quite
unlikely that they use a package which causes trouble.

There is a company here in Hannover which provides software to create
customized time tables for railway companies generated by pdftex and a
web interface.  Most railway companies in Europe are using this
software.

They used pdfTeX-0.14h for many years but obviously they switched to
pdfTeX-1.10b recently.  Both versions are quite old but does it really
matter?  Their product is working perfectly.  Should they upgrade to
the latest pdfTeX release and send a new version of their software to
their custumers which creates exactly the same output?

There is absolutely no need to upgrade unless you need new features.

Martin, I'm aware that you are involved in pdfTeX development and that
no developer is interested in bug reports concerning ancient versions.
But in this particular case I do not see that upgrading provides any
advantage.

It happens quite often on this mailing list that people are asked to
upgrade their system.  But why?  I do not remember even one problem
that had been solved by a system update.

My recommendation is to use the TeX system you have as it is.  If
there are problems, report them here. 

Coming back to the original question,  does \usepackage{mathpazo}
help?

Regards,
  Reinhard

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Reinhard Kotucha			              Phone: +49-511-4592165
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