[pdftex] xetex and pdftex

[John Culleton]

On Sunday 06 September 2009 18:37:47 Robin Fairbairns wrote:
> John Culleton <john at wexfordpress.com> wrote:
> > In theory xetex should be pdftex with enhanced font handling
> > capability.
>
> weird.  what theory would that be?
>
> xetex was designed for the convenience of the users who sil 
support, not
> on the basis of someone else's theory.
>
> robin

And good morning to you.

It was my earlier impression that xetex was a full pdftex but with 
better font handling, which is not in accordance with the facts, it 
seems.  Some things that work under pdftex don't work under 
xetex. 

We do need an updated full pdftex which can access resident 
system fonts of the three major flavors, Type 1, TrueType and OTF, 
without the complexities of map files and tfm files.  I am also 
examining Luatex. 
-- 
John Culleton
"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4055.html