Wee, isn't this fun?

I just tried making a PostScript file which prints out all 35 standard 
PS1 core fonts. I asked Ghostscript to convert this to PDF. I then 
printed the PDF file, and also sent the original PS to the laser printer.

Guess what? The fonts aren't quite the same. ;-)

First of all, Acrobat appears to have shrunk the PDF version by about 
5%. (This is probably something to do with the printer's printable 
margins or some such.) I reprinted with scaling turned off, and now the 
two pages match much more closely. (The bottom edge is still different 
though...)

Even then, there are differences. Most conspicuously:

- The font known as /ZapfChancery-MediumItalic is significantly wider in 
the printer's native font verses Ghostscript's font.

- The font known as /ZapfDingbats is the same size, but the symbols are 
not quite the same. (E.g., the character "i" is a 6-pointed star with 
rounded points. But in the Ghostscript font, it's rotated about 5 
degrees, whereas in the printer font it's exactly on-axis. The "g" is 
completely different; Ghostscript has a 12-pointed star, while the laer 
printer has an 8-pointed star, with alternating point thickness.)

Beyond that, the two printouts are extremely similar. However, there 
appear to be a number of very, very tiny differences:

- The "e" in the Avant Garde fonts. The horizontal bar appears to be 
very slightly lower in the printer font, and the gap between it and the 
curly tail is infintesimally narrower as a result.

- In /Bookman-Light, the "k" and "m" actually touch in the Ghostscript 
font, but there is a tiny gap in the printer font.

- In the various Courier fonts, the serif at the top of the "C" is very 
slightly bent in the printer font, but perfectly straight in the 
Ghostscript font.

- /Courier-Bold seems to have a very slightly heavier weight in the 
printer font. (Not by much though.)

- The "-" character in the Courier family is longer in the printer font 
then the Ghostscript font.

- In the Helvetica family, the edge of the tail in "e" is exactly 
horizontal in the printer font, but angled in the Ghostscript font. 
(Also for "c".)

- In /NewCenturySchlbk-Romain, the seriefs on the "u" are different. 
They're wedge-shaped, but on the printer the TOP of the wedge is angled, 
but the Ghostscript font has the BOTTOM of the wedge angled. A few other 
letters exhibit this difference.

These and other tiny differences lead me to conclude that the fonts are 
not the same.

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