[lug] LaTeX and distilling to PDF

Ryan Kirkpatrick linux at rkirkpat.net
Sun May 20 16:30:34 MDT 2001


On Fri, 18 May 2001, J. Wayde Allen wrote:

> Like I said before this results in a postscript file (document.ps) that
> prints fine on a postrscript printer.  However, when I run this through a
> pdf distiller, either ps2pdf or Adobe's commercial distiller, the
> resulting text becomes fuzzy with light ghosting and jaggies if you zoom
> in close.  Any ideas?  Font problem?  How can I fix this?

	I hit the same problem when using Lyx (which is really only one
step removed from LaTex) and trying to generate nice looking PDF files. I
found that by switching to the 'times' font, from the 'default' one[0] in
Lyx solved the problem. The 'times' font appears to be a Type 1 font that
Adobe PDF reader understands and renders using vector fonts. Only
disadvantage is that math mode fonts were still a tad bit fuzzy, but not
bad enough to worry. Also recent versions of Acrobat Reader handle bitmap
fonts better than older ones (4.0 vs 3.0). With version 4.0, they look
okay on screen and perfectly fine when printed. 
	Anyway, this solution should be easy to port to LaTeX, though I
wouldn't know how as I use Lyx exclusively. :)


[0] I think it is computer modern actually.

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