How to make smooth PDFs out of DVI files

This little chapter just explains the tricky way to make DVIps (the one of Thomas Rockicki) produce postScript files that will not include the infamous original PK-fonts.

The idea is here that PDF files that are made with PK-fonts contain each character as an image. The result is not too huge but (1) makes the text not selectable (hence not copyable and the like) and (2) text that doesn't smooth well on screen, thereby asking any visualizer to make big fonts so as to stay readable.

The solution is simple: make DVIps believe the printer knows the fonts, then arrange to make the fonts available to Acrobat Distiller.

Download the two following text files: config.distiller, DitesJusteLeNomPS.map. And put them in a place accessible to DVIps, the simplest being right to your dvi document.

You print with:

dvips -Pdistiller -o yourFileNameYouWant.ps yourFileName.dvi

Then launch distiller, arrange that the font-path contains all the fonts quoted in DitesJusteLeNomPS.map are accessible as PostScript fonts to Acrobat distiller (you can download them starting at the Dante server, here), then distill yourFileNameYouWant.ps.

In the future, you might want to make real metrics available to dvips, these can be caught also from the Dante Server.

Note that recent experience I had with the excellent TeXShop of Richard Koch proves that the pdftex command might be a better solution. It is included in the TeTeX distribution.