Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Peter Flynn Newsgroups: comp.text.tex,comp.lang.postscript Subject: Re: dvi.ps Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2020 22:53:09 +0100 Lines: 49 Message-ID: References: <1591312531.bystand@zzo38computer.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net RGhfIUfC7+NxiehqxCsLYA5PAhUhiKBVclq6WxGiFRLuNwbAJ7 Cancel-Lock: sha1:t4CAtb0A8t2ulNdMS/SOqQDebdE= User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:68.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/68.7.0 In-Reply-To: <1591312531.bystand@zzo38computer.org> Content-Language: en-US Xref: csiph.com comp.text.tex:34248 comp.lang.postscript:3544 On 05/06/2020 00:50, news@zzo38computer.org.invalid wrote: > I have some questions about use of TeX with PostScript. One of my > questions is if there is a way to automatically decide which METAFONT > mode is needed based on the contents of the page device dictionary? The METAFONT mode is used with Type 3 (bitmap) fonts to specify how many dots per inch (horizontally and vertically) are needed for the current output device (ie phototypesetter, graphic display terminal, etc). If a Type 3 font (in METAFONT terms, a .mf file creating a .gf file) is needed and a bitmap (a .nnnnpk file) does not yet exist for the requested resolution, METAFONT will be called to generate it. As most output devices nowadays have resolutions so far in excess of anything whose dots your eyes can reasonably be expected to resolve, the METAFONT mode is largely obsolescent: at some stage, TeX distributions set to some default value like HP LaserJet 600×600 but I think nowadays METAFONT has a setting called 'modeless' (I may be wrong on this: it's been many decades since I needed to know, and texmf.cnf is singularly unforthcoming). People do still use Postscript — some printers still have platemaking equipment whose RIP only accepts Postscript — but most output is now PDF. Type 3 fonts are still very much around, but with a few elderly exceptions, font technology in print production has long moved on. A number of popular numeric and drawing packages still apparently produce EPS output (my old favourite stats package, P-Stat, among them), but it's easy to convert the EPS to PDF for embedding in a [La]TeX document. > My intention is mainly that TeX can be used for text, and then you > can use PostScript for diagrams, but you could also use PostScript > codes to decide how the DVI file is processed in other ways too. It's certainly possible. > For a diagram, you could for example write \special{(fig1.ps) run} [snip] You certainly could. > When I have something, then I will post it, although my initial question > still stands; I want to know if it is even possible to determine it > automatically in this way (assuming that you used -sDEVICE= to select the > proper kind of output device that you are using). (If not, then it isn't > too bad; I can just require it to be specified manually, which I would > allow even if automatic is possible too, anyways.) The value is probably stored somewhere but I don't know where. Peter