🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4830@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>, heberlei@iris.ucdavis.edu (Todd) writes:
> I am a new Mac (SE/30 :-) owner, and I have a few questions I hope
> some of you from net-land can help me with (dangle that preposition).
> 
> * When I used the Macs in our Mac-lab, the word processors
> would always default to Geneva (sp?), but our laser printer would not
> support it.  I assumed our lab was out of touch, but after setting up
> a brand new laser printer with an SE/30 (not mine), I still could not
> use Geneva.  WHATS THE DEAL WITH THE GENEVA FONT?  IF ITS THE MAC
> DEFAULT, SHOULDN'T THE LASER PRINTERS SUPPORT IT?

No, the LaserWriters do not support Geneva because it exists in bit map
form only.  There is not a Postscript font to go along with it (more on
that below).  Generally, any font that is named after a city exists only
as a bit map (usually referred to as a screen font).  Fonts that don't seem
to be named after anything tend to be Postscript fonts (also called printer
fonts).  Here is a partial listing:

Screen Fonts (will print as bitmaps):   Printer Fonts (very nice on a laser):
  Chicago                                 Helvitica         Zapf Dingbats
  Geneva                                  Avant Guarde      Times
  Monaco                                  Palatino          Courier
                                          Zapf Chancery     New Century Schlbk

If someone has a full listing, please post it.  I am sure that it will be
useful for many.  To create good desktop publishing/word processing, it is
best to use the printer fonts.  [An aside: each printer font has a corresponding
screen font so that you can see it on the screen.]
 
> * Are Fonts done with Bitmaps?  Why not define a letter as a series of
> arcs (using control points)?  This would solve all scaling and 
> rotation constraints.  Is this how Post Script does it?

Yes, all screen fonts are currently done using bit maps.  Postscript fonts
do use arcs/curves to describe the font.  This is why they can look so good
at any point size on the LaserWriters.  The scaling and rotation that you
mention is very math-intensive, so it was not used on Macs to this point.
System 7.0, however, is supposed to support the use of these "outline fonts"
(add a new term) on the screen.

> * Where can I find out about what uses Post Script?  I looked through
> my Apple supplied manuals, MacDraw II manuals, and Word 4.0 manuals,
> but I could not find anything.  If I purchased a laser printer that
> did NOT support Post Script, how could I find out what I could and
> could not do on it?

Anything that uses the "Official Postscript" from Adobe will have Adobe's
logo on it somewhere.  Also, Postscript printers cost (generally) more than
$1000 more than non-Postscript laser printers.

> * Is the HP laser printer any good?  How much does it cost? (Our
> computer shop does not carry it)

The HP printer is good (it uses the same insides as the LaserWriters) but it
is not Postscript.  So, you will be dealing with high-resolution bit maps
if you use this type of printer.  The software that you use will determine
what kind of results you get out of it.  For example, to get good results,
some printers will use fonts that are 4 times the size of the specified font,
scaling it down to the size of the original font.  This will remove the jagged
edges from the printout.  But, if some software will draw the fonts in a way
that they cannot be done this way (like MacDraw II, as someone pointed out
last week -- rotating the text), the quality will, well, suck.

> * Is the sound chip sitting unused in my Mac?  I read in a Tech note
> that the chip is not supported by 6.0.3.  Will things sound really
> neat (if and) when it is supported?

Unknown.  I think that the sound support now is outstanding.  So if it gets
better in the future, I can't wait.  Ask an IBM user if he or she can get the
computer to talk and play music without sounding like a $20 tape player...

> * How do I kill the local queen thing at level 4 in The Colony?  I
> have killed it, but then I can't get out of the little hallway that
> it is in.

Sorry, I haven't ever played Colony.  But I have figured out how to create
super characters in Theldrow (18's), as well as making all mosters easy to kill
(takes the fun out of it, but I'm not patient enough).  Now if someone could
just tell me how to sleep...

> Todd Heberlein
> heberlei@iris.ucdavis.edu	128.120.57.20

-Michael


-- 
Michael Niehaus        UUCP: <backbones>!{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!mithomas
Apple Student Rep      ARPA:  mithomas@bsu-cs.bsu.edu
Ball State University  AppleLink: ST0374 (from UUCP: st0374@applelink.apple.com)