Classic problems with memory form formidable language barrier

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 12:00am, 12 Oct 1993

I HAVE a Mac Classic and a 486 PC. Because of the Classic's limited memory, there are no Chinese fonts installed in the machine. This is very inconvenient when I have to perform desktop publishing.

I wonder if I can do some Chinese text in TrueType under Windows on the PC and then transfer it into graphic format and port it on to the Mac. I am using FreeHand 3.1 and PageMaker 4.0 to do black-and-white artwork. Can output centres print such files onto bromide paper without difficulty? I know FreeHand can accept certain graphic formats created by other applications. Could you introduce some applications that are compatible? K. H. YAM Shau Kei Wan Yes, you should be able to save Chinese fonts created on your PC as a TIFF (tagged imaged file format) graphics file and use Apple PC Exchange to move it across to your Mac. Using FreeHand, you should then be able to cut and past this image on to documentsyou are working with on your Mac.

Other than this method, you can work with Chinese TrueType fonts on your PC and transfer them to your Mac, but you need the same fonts installed in your Mac to begin with. This would make the whole exercise somewhat pointless.

However, it might be worth your while to take a look at some Chinese TrueType fonts for the Mac on offer from a number of companies to see if you can find some that will fit on your Classic. A company called Dynalab makes PC and Mac TrueType fonts, andis represented in Hong Kong by Wys Systems (telephone 529-1831). Another company, Atozlab, makes only Mac TrueType fonts (telephone 831-6633).

To print out your fonts, an output centre needs TrueType on its systems, too. According to a local desk top publishing (DTP) expert, TrueType is still not as commonly used among output centres here. PostScript is still the popular choice. You may, therefore, encounter problems having your work output at more than a few local output houses.

As for the graphics format created by other applications that FreeHand can accept . . . TIFF will work here, too. Programs such as Illustrator, Harvard Graphics and Corel Draw can all save graphic files in TIFF, and FreeHand will be able to read them.