[texhax] Bypassing errors when loading fonts

[bnb at ams.org]

On Mon, 3 Jun 2013, Sam Brown wrote:

    Dear all texhaxers
    
    I am wanting to write a document that displays all the fonts available on my system. To do this I've enlisted a batch script that returns all .tfm files in my texmf tree, which is then processed with R to create a LaTeX file with every font available. Unfortunately, a couple of errors get in the way of successful compilation. The first is that a number .tfm files produce the error: "Font xxxx not loadable: Bad metric (TFM) file". The second is that some files that pass this first test, throw a second error when compiled by themselves: "mktexpk: don't know how to create bitmap font for xxxx"

i'll address only the "mktexpk" problem.

this makes me think that you're creating a
dvi file, for viewing with a previewer such
as xdvi.  if the fonts are type 1, then you
can instead use pdflatex; no bitmaps will
be needed.  if the fonts are opentype (many
modern system fonts), then you should
use xelatex.  in either case, you can view
the output with a pdf viewer.

many fonts created for tex now have type 1
outlines as well as metafont bitmaps, so
pdflatex works with those either way.  for
fonts that have only bitmaps, i believe
that pdflatex will produce output with
type 3 fonts, which will not scale well
(if at all), and will certainly look
dreadful if viewed at a resolution other
than the one for which the bitmap was
created.

i don't know a way to mix all types in a
single job, but someone else might.
						-- bb