LyX, LaTeX, PS, PDF

[bscott at ntisys.com]

On Sun, 27 Oct 2002, at 5:59pm, tom at buskey.name wrote:
> (not being a LyX user, but a LaTeX user) The default font for TeX is
> Computer Modern as designed by Knuth in Metafont.  For awhile, it was hard
> to use the postscript fonts instead of the CM fonts.
 
  Hmmmm.  [seaches some man pages]  Okay, so if I understand all this:

  TeX is a powerful markup language that can produce a variety of nice
outputs.  From some brief encounters I just had with it, the syntax is (or,
at least, can be) complex and low-level.

  LaTeX is a set of macros for TeX.  LaTeX serves a function similar to that
which the C standard library serves for the C language itself.  You don't
have to use them, but they make like a lot easier if you do.

  Metafont is used to turn logical text and font specifications (from
TeX/LaTeX source files) into rendered fonts (as seen on paper or screen).

  TeX and/or Metafont don't always do the Right Thing for PostScript because
they pre-date PostScript becoming the de facto standard for printing and
typesetting.

  In particular, TeX defaults to a font called "Computer Modern"  that is
not available in your typical PostScript implementation.  So, when rendering
TeX to PostScript, Metafont is called into play to convert the "Computer
Modern" vector font to a fixed bitmap font.  This leads to font aliasing
problems (huge slow bitmap fonts, or tiny ugly aliased bitmap fonts).

  Telling LyX to use "Times" instead means that the TeX/Metafont chain can
simply tell PostScript "use the 'Times' font you know and love" instead of
having to do ugly conversions with bitmap fonts.

  Is that about right?

-- 
Ben Scott <bscott at ntisys.com>
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