Three Crazy Fonts

[Troels Roussau Johansen]

> Ok, I went to ctan and downloaded the pfm, pfb, and tfm versions of all
> three fonts: msbm10, cmsy10, and msam10.
> I put each one in the proper file as listed above, then ran latex2e
> on $\triangleq\mathbb{R}\mathcal{R}$.
>
> No go.  It still complained of the missing fonts!

If Y&Y Tex is anything like the Tex systems I am accustomed to (MikTeX, fpTeX,
teTeX on Unix bla bla bla), there is a file database (like the Windows
registry) that should be updated after installing new stuff (installing is not
the same as copying the file to the proper location).


_____________________________________________
> Soooo....<still moping but determined not to give up> ...  I tried dragging
> all the above (pfm,pfb and tfms of all three fonts) into my c:\windows\fonts
> folder.  Lo and behold, I got this error message:
>
> Unable to install the font.  File "...msbm10.tfm is either invalid or
> damaged.

I'm not sure I understand this: Do you get this error message *as soon as* you
try to copy something into c:\windows\fonts? I have come across the same
message while running tex, and that popped up after I downloaded tfms & afms
from CTAN. I think the crux of the matter is that you end up trying to use
different versions of font files (say, the afm file might be ver.1.2, and the
tfm ver.1.3). If possible, stick to the files  that came with your Y&Y tex :-)


> > We also have another suggestion: you could opt to get the Bluesky Type
> > 1 fonts from CTAN -- they aren't quite the same as the ones from Y&Y,
> > but close. It came to mind because you're already using the
> > [psamsfonts] options.

As far as CM fonts go, that should work fine. But I don't think it's wise to
try and use  Bluesky tfm/afm files for the Y&Y mathtime fonts. In fact,
somewhere on the Y&Y support pages there are some updated files (newer than
the ones that shipped with the fonts). Can't find the precise link now, though :-(


> I would like to try that, but I'm having a problem with the CTAN
> site (see below).
>
> Here is how I downloaded the fonts from CTAN.  Please let me know if
> I'm doing this wrong.
>
> 1.  I searched, say, msbm10.tfm
> 2.  I clicked on the latest version that came up
>
> 3.  I shift-clicked on the ftp link and it gave me a box to choose
> "open" or "save"
> 4. I saved to c:\windows\fonts-mine

It might work, but generally it's not a good idea to save files that way; they
can end up being saved in the wrong format (ascii when it should be binary, or
binary when it should be ascii). Try using a CTAN mirror where you can get a
zip-file containing the whole directory (www.ctan.org, to mention just one,
supports this). That way the files are prepared and downloaded in the correct
format (as far as I remember, tfm files *have* to be in binary format since
they are the computer-readable relative of the afm files that are human-readable).


Good luck ;-)

/Troels