[tex-k] Re: font metrics and style files from dviljk package

[Leif Harcke]

On Mon, 15 Mar 2004, Karl Berry wrote:
> I think it would be very nice to have a package for the 45 standard PCL
> fonts.  I've wanted it myself, more than once.

OK, here's a first cut.  I uploaded it to CTAN just now.  README follows
below.  I included the metrics, virtual fonts, and your original programs
which generated the virtual fonts from the metrics, since these files seem
to have evaporated from the standard packages (including dviljk-2.7 and
later).

  http://www.stanford.edu/~lharcke/programming/pclnfss-0.1.tar.gz

--
Leif Harcke
lharcke at stanford.edu

-----------------------------------
ABOUT

pclnfss - a package of LaTeX 2e class files for selecting and using
the standard 45 scalable fonts built into most PCL laser printers.
Updates the .../texmf/tex/latex/dvilj/*.sty package files provided
with the original dviljk-2.x distribution.

VERSIONS

2004 Mar 15 - v0.1 Leif Harcke <lharcke at stanford.edu>

INSTALLATION

 Style files
 -----------
Copy the tex/latex/pclnfss directory containing the *.sty and *.fd
files to your .../texmf/tex/latex directory.  You should remove the
older .../texmf/tex/latex/dvilj/* class files.

 Font Metrics and Virtual Fonts
 ------------------------------
If your TeX distribution doesn't have the LaserJet font metric files
and virtual fonts installed, copy the files in the fonts/ directory to
the corresponding locations in your .../texmf/fonts/ directory.

DEPENDENCIES

You need dviljk-2.6p2 as distributed with teTeX or a similar DVI to
PCL driver in order to generate PCL code from the resulting DVI
driver.  dviljk is still part of the base teTeX distribution.  A
different branch of the code can be found in

  http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/obsolete/dviware/dviljk/

and

  http://ftp.tug.org/historic/systems/dviware/dviljk/

Warning: the above versions are labeled 2.8, but teTeX seems to be
distributing v2.6p2 as the current version.  The dviljk codebase
branched sometime in the 1996-1997 timeframe.

TEST SUITE

Run LaTeX on the typelist.tex file in the tests/ directory.  Then run
the dvihp shell script on the dvi file to send the output to the PCL
printer.  The output should resemble a facsimile of the PCL Typeface
List that can be printed using the front panel controls of the
printer.

USING THE PACKAGES

A quick example:

  \documentclass{article}
  \usepackage{garamond}
  \begin{document}
  \noindent Testing the Garamond font.  {\it Italic} {\bf Bold}\\
  Here is a WingDing of a pencil: \usefont{OT1}{hwi}{m}{n} \char033
  \end{document}


LICENSE

GNU General Public License.  This package is a modification of the
original dvilj style files which came with the dviljk package, which
was distributed under the GPL.  See the file COPYING in the root level
of this package.

CREDITS

Andy Piper contributed the original dvilj PCL font selection packages
for the LaserJet 4L printer to the dviljk package.  Karl Berry
generated the virtual font files (see src/README) for the dviljk
package.  dviljk is based on the dvi2xx package by Gustaf Neumann.
Norman Walsh generated the original pl files from the TFM files
supplied on the HP developer's disk using his HPtfm2pl program.

BUGS / MISSING FEATURES

 * need better documentation
 * provide virtual math fonts a la PSNFSS's mathptx package
 * generate font metrics and style files for the 60 or 80 standard
   PCL6 fonts.

BUILDING METRICS AND VIRTUAL FONTS FROM SCRATCH

Only for the diehard.  This would require getting a copy of the
original TFM files on the Hewlett Packard developer disk.  Then use
Norman Walsh's HPtfm2pl program (DOS executable only):

  http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/support/hp2pl/

to convert the TFM files to pl files.  Optionally, you could start
with Norm's pl metrics available from

  http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/ljmetrics/

Then use Karl Berry's programs in this package's src/ directory to
generate the virtual fonts.