Latex to PS and PDF with Type 1 Fonts

To produce a PDF document with Latex that should be well readable on a computer screen (using gv, acroread, etc), it is necessary to use Type 1 fonts ( Type 1 Font Software).

Type 1 fonts are made up of 2 separate files, the screen font and the printer font. The outline information for the printer font uses Bezier curves. You cannot display outlines or actual mathematical curves on your screen. The screen font holds bitmapped information based on the printer font algorithms so you can see the font representation on your monitor.

Creating a PDF Document with Type 1 Fonts from Latex

  1. Download ps-type1-fonts.tar.gz

  2. gunzip and un-tar the package in you home directory: cd ~; tar xzvf ps-type1-fonts.tar.gz

  3. In the directory ~/ps_type1_fonts/pfb you find the fonts and the files: config.distillembed, font.map and README.
    config.distillembed and font.map contain the PATH to the font directory, edit them if you use an other directory than ~/ps_type1_fonts/pfb.

  4. Copy the files config.distillembed and font.map to the directory with you latex source "my_text.tex".

  5. Use Latex on you "my_text.tex" file to create the "my_text.dvi" file.

  6. Use dvips to create a PS file including the Type 1 fonts:
    dvips -P distillembed -o my_text.ps my_text.dvi

  7. Use ps2pdf: ps2pdf my_text.ps

Now you can read the "my_text.pdf" file with, e.g., gv or acroread.


Original of this document (in German)