Only a little bit OT -- would like to hear about OTF fonts and PS printers!

Actually, that applies to PostScript 3 as well. The printer driver expands the CFF table back into a full Type 1 font, or for TT-flavored OpenType drops unnecessary tables and puts a wrapper around what's left to make a Type 42 font.

T

"" OpenType PS (.otf) fonts are always converted to Type 1 fonts when they are printed to a PostScript Level 1 or Level 2 printer ""

So according to you the only solution to print the .otf fonts is to print them to PostScript Level 3. Is there any way out in which we can still print .otf fonts as .otf if we do not have level 3 printer.

Regards
Ricky Wilson

Well, the license for the font you purchased most likely gives you the right to use the font on a certain number of output devices (printers).

The European copyright normally allows people to perform software modifications to assure interoperability with other software components. In Europe, the contractual provisions may not limit this right. AFAIR, in Adobe's EULAs, if you're in the U.S., it says "reverse engineering prohibited" while in the EU, it says "reverse engineering prohibited except where allowed by law", or something like that ;)

This should give you the right to convert the fonts prior to downloading to the system. After all, if you simply print a document from, say, Word, the the font *will* be converted to Type 1 anyway (by the printer driver, as part of the printing process). And if you're printing to a PCL printer, the font must be converted by the printer driver to a PCL compatible format as well. The only difference between what happens in the printer driver and what you're trying to do is that the printer driver does it implicitly and you would do it explicitly. But then, theoretically, nothing stops you from writing a custom printer driver :)

Since I am not a lawyer, don't take my advice in any official manner. My presumption and understanding so far is that in the case you're describing, you should be on the safe side. The details may differ depending on where you obtained the fonts (in the EU or USA), from which foundry they come etc. But I think this problem is of academic matter anyway. I couldn't imagine any lawyer pestering you because you downloaded a font that you legally own to a printer that you own.

Regards,
Adam

>For PostScript Level 1 printers, I believe the only option is to convert the fonts into Type 1 ASCII (.pfa) and download them.<<br />
Thanks, Adam (and a Happy New Year, too, even once again ;-).

But what about legal issues? I suspect that font conversion (to PFA or something else) might be a big problem, the more as Bill Gates recently treated as "commies" all those who aren't willing to accept foolish non-sense copyright rules that protect everybody besides of real creators/editors/writers.

I'm myself a commie, and I'm proud of that. But I don't want to be annyoed by US lawyers, and especially, I don't want to have to spend lots of money for useless U.S. (but it will come soon in Europe, too) court trials.

So what should I do? Maybe simply download fonts by the PS driver (whole or truncated character sets)... Of course, this would be PFA conversion, too, but at least it seems to be legal (although my preferred paper format is A4 in Europe ;-)).

Regards,

Christoph

Christoph,

OpenType PS (.otf) fonts are always converted to Type 1 fonts when they are printed to a PostScript Level 1 or Level 2 printer. In PDF files, the CFF table (but not rest of the font) is included. For PostScript 3 files, I believe it is possible to include both Type 1 or CFF files.

For PostScript Level 1 printers, I believe the only option is to convert the fonts into Type 1 ASCII (.pfa) and download them.

Adam