Specifications

Apple IIGS
#67: LaserWriter Font Mapping 1 of 2
Apple II
Technical Notes
Developer Technical Support
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Apple IIGS
#67: LaserWriter Font Mapping
Revised by: Matt Deatherage May 1992
Written by: Suki Lee & Jim Luther September 1989
This Technical Note discusses the methods used by the Apple IIGS Print Manager to map IIGS
fonts to the PostScript® fonts available with an Apple LaserWriter printer.
Changes since November 1989: Corrected some typographical errors and added Carta and
Sonata, two fonts the LaserWriter driver knows about but aren’t built into any LaserWriter.
Version 2.2 and earlier of the Apple IIGS LaserWriter driver depend solely upon font family
numbers as unique font identifiers. There is a table built into the driver which maps the known
font family numbers to the built-in LaserWriter family fonts. Any fonts which are not built-in
are created in the printer from its bitmap font strike. Under this implementation, all font family
numbers not known at the time the driver was written print using bitmap fonts. This driver
knows nothing of any other fonts which may reside in the printer.
There have been many requests for the driver to take advantage of other available PostScript
fonts to get high quality output from the LaserWriter. PostScript fonts from Adobe’s font
library, or from other PostScript font manufacturers, can be downloaded to the printer from a
Macintosh and remain in the printer for use until power off. Currently there is no means to
download a PostScript font with an Apple IIGS.
The Apple IIGS LaserWriter driver version 3.0 and later makes use of most resident PostScript
fonts in the LaserWriter when requested. If the font is not available, then the bitmap font is used.
The driver queries the printer at the start of a job for the font directory listing. The listing
consists of names of all the fonts in the printer, built-in or downloaded. This information is kept
locally for look up using the name of the requested font.
Issues
All Apple IIGS fonts contain a family name and a family number. The Apple IIGS currently
identifies fonts using the family number; however, this identification method may change in the
future, due to the complexity of tracking unique matches between font family names and font
family numbers.
PostScript identifies its fonts by name (case sensitive) and knows nothing of any font family
numbering system, Macintosh or Apple IIGS, which might be attached to a particular font. Most