From: jta@locus.com (JT Anderson)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: True Type
Date: 10 Apr 92 17:48:28 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Locus Computing Corp, Los Angeles

In article <1992Apr9.183542.4362@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> drv@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (dennis.r.vogel) writes:
>In article <1992Apr8.013354.4025@cs.rose-hulman.edu>, swartzjh@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu (Jeff H. Swartz) writes:
>> 
>> 	Does anyone know if there is an easy way to convert Adobe fonts  
>> into True Type fonts?  I have tons of Adobe fonts and really want to keep  
>> them when I get Win 3.1.  Any ideas???
>> 
>This should be a FAQ if it isn't already:
>
>	AllType from Atech - avout $50 at Egghead
>
>Dennis R. Vogel
>AT&T Bell Laboratories
>Middletown, NJ

This would be great if it worked.  Here are my experiences with AllType.

With the version from the store, if AllType converts the Type 1 font to a
TrueTypy font for Windows 3.1, that is, you let AllType put the font in 
your Windows SYSTEM directory and update your WIN.INI for you, you end up
with fonts that Windows says are corrupted.  Windows appears to not like
the .FOT file that AllType creates.  The .TTF file is ok.  Windows will
create a good .FOT file if you tell it to install the .TTF file.

If you convert to TrueType in some other directory then use the Windows 
control panel font installer the fonts will work.  Unfortunately, AllType
does not separate the font's family name from the style.  So instead of
a Helvetica font with four styles, you end up with four different fonts,
Hevetica, Hevetica-Bold, Helvetica-Oblique and Helvetica-BoldOblique.

So, I called Atech support.  They have sent me 4 different beta copies
of a new version.  (And did not make me sign an NDA.)  Of the four,
the first would not even install.  The other three worked to varying
degrees, but all exhibited the same fatal flaw.

In the beta versions, when you are converting the fonts, you can bring
up a dialog box that allows you to specify the family name and style
name.  You have to do this manually for each font that you are converting.
It would be quite a pain if you had LOTS of fonts to convert.  From the
very first beta, the read me file said they would be fixing this Real
Soon Now.

But, that's not the fatal flaw.  So, we convert our Helvetica fonts again
and install them using control panel.  Now we bring up Write and try to
use them.  We have one font named Helvetica.  It has four styles.
Unfortunately, they all look like Helvetica (regular).  Go to the control
panel and remove Helvetica.  Now the remaining three styles look like
Helvetica Bold.  I hope you see the pattern here.

I don't think that this is a bug in Windows, since the Microsoft supplied
fonts do not exhibit this problem.  I think there is something subtile (or
not so subtile) about TrueType fonts that the folks at Atech don't 
understand.

On the good side, I've gotten 5 iterations of their product for $50.  On
the bad side, it still doesn't work.  On the second to last beta, I sent
them a FAX describing the problem.  A week and a half later they had
not acknowleged receipt of the FAX.  I called them.  I don't know if they
got the FAX, but they did send the latest beta.  I sent them another FAX
on Monday after the latest beta did not work.  On the cover sheet I 
explicitly asked them to call me to acknowledge the FAX.  I have not
heard from them.  The readme file on the beta disks says to direct problem
reports to a person at Atech who no longer works there.