[mgp-users 01186] re: Problem is Definitely Connected to mgp2ps

[Tim Maher <tim@consultix-inc.com>]

On Tue, Jun 10, 2003 at 02:03:03PM -0400, Chris Tyler wrote:

Chris,  
  Thanks for your input!  In order to prevent other people from
wasting time giving me the same tip as you did, I'm CC'ing the
list in my reply.  But, as you'll see below, I still haven't solved
the problem, although I can at least view my presentation correctly
now if I move it from Linux to Windows.

To keep this message in the same thread, I've retained the subject,
but note that my conclusions below indicate that mgp2ps is NOT the
problem, but instead some aspect of my Linux configuration.

> Tim,
> 
> Did you move the PostScript or the PDF files from Linux to Windows? 

A little of each; thanks for raising the question, because it sheds
some light on the matter.

For the "other linux box" test, I transferred the PS
file, and viewed it in Ghostscript, and saw the same bad fonts.  (It's a
earlier version of Suse Linux, 7.3, and configured a bit differently
than my main Linux box).

However, the finding that the Acrobat display of the 
presentation had the wrong fonts on Windows was based on using the
transferred *PDF*,
as you guessed. (Although I did transfer the PS too, I tried the PDF first,
and jumped to conclusions 8-}). 

When I distill the PS file on Windows,
and view it, it looks fine!  So it looks like mgp2ps is exonerated after
all 8-), and it must be a "PS viewing system" problem.

> ask because you said that you used Acrobat on Windows to view). PDFs
> always embed the fonts needed to render the image *into the PDF file
> itself*, unless the font is one of a small set of 'base fonts' that
> every PDF reader is assumed to have built-in.
> 
> This might explain why you're seeing the 'wrong' fonts from the Linux
> platform instead of the expected fonts from the Windows platform.

> There is also this note in the Ghostscript/ps2pdf documentation:
> 
> 	ps2pdf will sometimes convert text to high-resolution
> 	bitmapped fonts rather than to embedded outline fonts.

The "wrong fonts" aren't huge, or distorted, they're just Courier where
fancy fonts were intended.

So thanks for your help!  At least now I have a way to make PDFs that
look right, although I have to throw in with the "evil empire" to do it. 

Can anybody tell me what to try next to get the fonts to work on Linux?
Or at least to get feedback on exactly which fonts are not being found,
and replaced by the default (apparently courier)?  So far, I haven't
found any way to get that kind of feedback out of Ghostscript.

-Tim
*------------------------------------------------------------*
| Tim Maher (206) 781-UNIX  (866) DOC-PERL  (866) DOC-UNIX   |
| CEO, JAWCAR ("Just Another White Camel Award Recipient")   |
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----- End forwarded message -----

-- 

-Tim
*------------------------------------------------------------*
| Tim Maher (206) 781-UNIX  (866) DOC-PERL  (866) DOC-UNIX   |
| CEO, JAWCAR ("Just Another White Camel Award Recipient")   |
| tim(AT)Consultix-Inc.Com  TeachMeUnix.Com  TeachMePerl.Com |
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-*
|  Watch for my Book: "Minimal Perl for Shell Programmers"   |
*------------------------------------------------------------*