Psnfss - Old Content

What is PSNFSS?

PSNFSS is an abbreviation of ‘post script new font selecting system,’ a terminology from LaTeX. It is an additional package that is usually installed on your LaTeX system. One of its purposes is to access the standard postscript fonts that printers have built in, also known as the thirty five base fonts. Part of PSNFSS is a set of font metrics (the tfm-files) that allows TeX to use the fonts for typesetting (TeX only knows about metrics, not outlines).

PSNFSS contains the following fonts:

font family	styles	KB name	ConTeXt typescript
AvantGarde	4: Book, Demi + Oblique	pag	urwgothic, using the urwgothic typescript
Bookman	4: Light, Demi + Italic	pbk	bookman
Courier	4: (Normal), Bold + Oblique	pcr	courier (tt)
Helvetica	4: (Normal), Bold + Oblique	phv	helvetica (ss)
Helvetica-Narrow	4: (Normal), Bold + Oblique	phv*n	?
New Century Schoolbook	4: Roman, Bold + Italic	pnc	schoolbook
Palatino	4: Roman, Bold + Italic	ppl	palatino
Symbol	1: (Normal)	psy	?
Times	4: Roman, Bold + Italic	ptm	times
Zapf Chancery	1: MediumItalic	pzc	chancery (cg!)
Zapf Dingbats	1: (Normal)	pzd	(access through symbols)

How do I access these fonts from ConTeXt?

You can use the various psnfss font families by using commands like

\usetypescript[times][ec]
\setupbodyfont[times,12pt]

Note that in the case of “helvetica” these lines should be replaced with:

\usetypescript[helvetica][ec]
\setupbodyfont[helvetica,ss,12pt]

or

\usetypescript[helvetica][ec]
\setupbodyfont[helvetica,12pt]
\starttext
\ss

since helvetica is sans serif.

Here is an example:

%\usetypescript [adobekb][8r,ec] % uncomment for old ConTeXt
\usetypescript[times][ec]
\setupbodyfont[times,12pt]

\starttext

\input knuth
\blank
And this is some maths with PostScript fonts. 
\startformula
{a \over b} = {c \over d} \iff ad - bc = 0, 
\qquad \int_0^{2\pi}\!\!\! \sin^2(x)dx =\pi, 
\qquad {\rm e}^{{\rm i}\pi} + 1 = 0,
\qquad \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}{1 \over k^2} = {\pi^2 \over 6}.
\stopformula
Some ligatures: ffi, ffl. 

\stoptext

Notes

Pdftex warning messages

You are likely to get some warnings from pdfetex like

 Warning: pdfetex (file ec-urw-times.map): cannot open font map file

but these are harmless and can be ignored.

Older ConTeXt releases (pre 2006.01.09)

If you use an older ConTeXt release (like one that came with your TeX installation) you will have to change an internal mapping of font filenames with this command:

\usetypescript [adobekb][8r,ec]

In new ConTeXt releases, this has become the default behaviour.