old font identification (and Optima)

ivo,

Glad I can help.

Neil

thank you, Neil. this was very useful information.

I wish I could have purchased both version of the optima font. the .pfb fonts are easiest to use for TeX, which is why I had to go this route for now...

regards,

/iaw

ivo,

Re: Adobe presales help...

Just click on either of the "Contact" links, which appear on every forum page (both top and bottom) and then click on "Sales".

Neil

ivo,

Please understand that the folks responding here are largely fellow Adobe product users, like you. "Official" Adobe product customer support has no relationship to these forums. If you want to transfer ownership of software licensing, Adobe provides a form for that. But as fonts are handled differently, you may wish to call them first. In the States, try 1-800-833-6687. But, before doing that, read on...

There were two early PostScript fonts, Eras and Optima, which were eventually re-encoded for technical reasons. The originals (which I believe you're talking about) may not work today. I think that you will have to repurchase them.

You should also be aware that the font licensing you wish to purchase from your printer is for old style PostScript fonts, for Windows only. Today, you will probably be better off forgetting that purchase, and simply buying OpenType versions of these fonts which will give you certain advantages (beyond just modern code): cross platform use, and with some, extended glyph sets.

You can use these new versions in place of the old PostScript versions, with the caveat that you should double check for some possible reflow (metrics and kerning may have minor adjustments). But the benefits, in my opinion, far outweigh any downside. And the cost "as new" would be fairly comparable to the old technology. Note that Adobe has not produced new PostScript fonts since 1999.

As a note, I've been active in the Adobe forums for twelve years or so, and don't know why you are having log-in problems. You can set your browser to remember your user name.

Hope this helps.

Neil

ivo,

Please understand that the folks responding here are largely fellow Adobe product users, like you. "Official" Adobe product customer support has no relationship to these forums. If you want to transfer ownership of software licensing, Adobe provides a form for that. But as fonts are handled differently, you may wish to call them first. In the States, try 1-800-833-6687. But, before doing that, read on...

There were two early PostScript fonts, Eras and Optima, which were re-encoded for technical reasons. These originals may not work today. I think that you will have to repurchase them. You should also be aware that the font licensing you wish to purchase from your printer is for old style PostScript fonts, for Windows only. Today, you will probably be better off forgetting that purchase, and simply buying OpenType versions of these fonts which will give you certain advantages (beyond just modern code): cross platform use, and with some, extended glyph sets. You can use these new versions in place of the old PostScript versions, with the caveat that you should double check for possible reflow (some metrics and kerning have minor changes). But the benefits, in my opinion, far outweigh any downside. And the cost "as new" would be fairly comparable.

That said, I've been active in the Adobe forums for twelve years or so, and don't know why you are having problems. You can set your browser to remember your user name, and then just enter your password when you come to the forums.

Hope this helps.

Neil