Using fonts from the LaTeX Font Catalogue.

[Bob Tennent]

 >|My "problem" is with the idea that each font should
 >|require a separate package before it can be used.  If
 >|we take (for example) all fonts that are supplied only
 >|in AFM/PFA/PFB formats, could there not be one "AFMPFX"
 >|package that would make /all/ of them available ? 
 >|And --ditto-- for any other family of fonts that is
 >|differentiated from all others families by the format(s)
 >|in which it is supplied, assuming that the font format
 >|is the primary determinant as to how a particular font
 >|should be used with LaTeX ?

Phil: I have good news for you: in TeXLive, just three
"super-packages" provide *all* available fonts in *all*
available formats. The super-packages are called collections
and one simply installs the fontsrecommended and fontsextra
collections and, if desired, run the getnonfreefonts
program. And if you have already all of TeXLive installed,
you only need the last of these. Isn't that an even better
solution to your "problem"? Of course for LaTeX you still
have to select the actual font family or families you want
in your document by commands of the form \usepackage{...}
or possibly \setmainfont{...}. The fact that these load a
family of fonts rather than an individual font is surely a
great convenience compared to the primitive mechanism in
plain TeX.

Bob T.