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LIST 1.1.4 92/07/06 -*-text-*-


		      = MALVERN & MFF MAILING LIST =

WHAT THIS LIST IS FOR

    This list is for announcements, bug reports and discussion of two
    interrelated software packages:

      * Malvern, a METAFONT font definition, and

      * mff, a simple wrapper about METAFONT that makes maintaining such a
	family of font files more convenient.

    (mff can be used to make other fonts, but Malvern is currently the only
    publically-available, "real" font written to take full advantage of
    mff's features.)

    Malvern is still being developed, but is made available for interested
    people to try it out and offer comments and suggestions.  This list
    might carry occasional discussions on the design of the face as a face
    as well as as computer software.

    The older releases of mff were called "mfjob".  I have changed the
    name to reduce confusion with Eberhard Mattes' MFjob (which is part
    of his emTeX distribution for MS-DOS and OS/2 computers).

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE

    Send a request to me, Damian Cugley, at the address

	malvern-request@prg.ox.ac.uk


HOW TO SEND MESSAGES TO THE LIST

    Mail messages for everyone on the list to 

	malvern@prg.ox.ac.uk


HOW TO GET THE PROGRAMS

    At present they are on the Oxford archive-server (Oxford now has
    Internet, and future releases will be placed on a local FTP server
    in the usual manner which should need no further explanation).  This
    program will not send files of more than 100K and will not send two
    shar files in one mail message, so you have to send N requests (in
    separate mail messages) to get a N-part package.

    Send a message of the form

	send CATEGORY FILE

    to <archive-server@prg.ox.ac.uk>, where CATEGORY is either "tex" for
    Malvern or "prog" for mff, and FILE is one of:

	mff-1.shar	)   mff 2.8.2 (a C program for UNIX
	mff-2.shar	)   but mostly tested on Suns).
	mff-3.shar	)   Includes several sample meta-fonts.

	malvern-0.3-1.shar	)   Malvern 0.3 (*very* obselete)
	malvern-0.3-2.shar	)   

    The server also understands the messages "help" and "index CATEGORY".

    The files are sent as "shell archives" -- ".shar" files.  On UNIX
    systems they are unpacked by running the Bourne shell (/bin/sh) on
    them.  Each part of the package unpacks into a directory named after
    the version number to prevent clashes.  (The Malvern files are old
    and are still named according to a different system to the later
    ones.  Sorry.)


WHAT MFF IS

    mff grew out of a UNIX shellscript I had for running METAFONT and
    installing the TFM and PK files.  Its unique feature is that it will
    parse a font name "mabi10" as "10pt Malvern bold italic" and run
    METAFONT with variables like |weight| and |italicness| set appropriately
    (all that is user-definable, of course).  The driver file understands
    these and sets stem widths etc. based on them.  The practical upshot of
    which is that I have *one* driver file ma.mf and a command like

	mff ma{55,56,75}a{8,10,12}

    creates 9 fonts automagically.  mff isn't vital but it is *very*
    convenient for creating fonts on the fly.

    mff comes with sample meta-fonts thrown in for free!


WHAT MALVERN IS

    Malvern is a METAFONT font program; it can be used with the METAFONT
    program to produce a font for use with Donald E Knuth's TeX
    typesetting system (and some other systems as well).

    Malvern grew out of my frustration with trying to get what I consider a
    pleasing sanserif font out of the CM program files.  Its design is
    intended to be simple and elegant, a touch old-fashioned, and very
    different from (say) CMSS or Helvetica (I consider this its main
    attraction:-).  It is intended to be used by itself as the main font of
    a document, rather than being just another alphabet for mathematics!

    It has at least the following eccentric features:

      * rounded terminals and corners

      * three sets of figures -- ranging, "text" (sort-of old-style) and
	small figures for footnotes and fractions.

      * four alphabets -- lower case, small, medium and large caps.  Medium
	caps can be used with a separate set of marks to make capital
	composite letters.

      * more currency signs and quote marks than anyone could want,
	including the dubious PostScript florin sign and single guillemets.

      * a raised "c" for writing names like "McDonald" (if you are feeling
	like being eccentric).

    Because it was developed with mff, it comes in any combination of
    weights and widths, with roman and italic variations.

    However, Malvern is UNFINISHED -- the italic corrections and kerning
    table are half-done and I need to write some VF stuff to make fonts
    with other encodings (e.g., the Cork encoding (TUGboat 11#4), which
    includes various national letters).  I'm making it available now so
    interested people can try it out and offer advice.


CURRENT STATE OF PLAY

    Since Malvern release 0.3, I have started adding support for
    creating fonts with the Cork encoding directly.  I have support for
    Karl Berry's name font system in the mff files, and my own eccentric
    system which translates 12-pt Malvern 55 as ma55a12.  (The names
    suggested with the 0.3 distribution are obselete.)
	I have revised the TeX macros that support malvern in the
    process of documenting them.  Experiments with "compression" (where
    the chapes change cleverly when compressed rather thn just turning
    into ellipses) have been discarded.  Many character shapes have been
    improved.
	I can only work on Malvern during my scant spare time, however,
    so these simple changes may take some time.
	The next release will be "release 1".

    I've installed mff 2.8.2 on the Oxford archive.