Small caps style missing

[Robin Fairbairns]

Radek.Zakrzewski writes:

> As you may have guessed, I am completely ignorant regarding font
> installations etc. - this was exactly the reason why I bought the YandY Tex
> rather than trying to download some freeware and try to setup my own LaTeX
> (I even got flamed quite badly on a LaTeX newsgroup just for asking about a
> commercial package...)

i have been known to suggest that people on comp.text.tex go to their
supplier for help (this most often happens with pctex users, i'm faintly
surprised to realise); there are people who imagine that the world is
polluted by anyone paying for anything, but most of the knowledgeable
people on c.t.t are pretty realistic about the nature of the universe.

> Anyway, for this reason I need a somewhat clearer explanation. I understood
> the first part up to the semicolon. However, the part about CM and getting
> them anyway was quite cryptic. Do you suggest I should switch to (buy?) CM
> fonts? Are  small caps included with CM fonts? Could you please explain?

the bit about cm fonts was surely an aside.  those of us who "grew up"
with them regularly find ourselves surprised by the need to buy small
caps separately for commercial fonts.

> When I was buying the YandY tex I was assuming that the different font
> packages were sort of equivalent and each supported basic functions,
> including such stuff as italics or small caps.

to an extent.  really, no two font families are precisely equivalent,
whatever supplier they may come from.  small caps, and "old style"
digits are things that are regarded as different classes of requirement,
by most commercial font suppliers.  (the adobe "expert" encodings tend
to include both, but fonts with just one or the other are available, at
least for adobe times.)

> Do you know what else is
> missing from the MathTime font package from YandY?

bold maths is missing from some mathtime packages.  (admin at yandy may
care to explain more precisely).

> Thanks for baring with my ignorant questions...:-)

answering you gets the message out to more than just you.

robin