[texhax] includegraphics and image scaling

[Paul Isambert]

Le 10/12/2010 16:44, Peter Davis a écrit :
>
> On 12/10/10 10:30 AM, Paul Isambert wrote:
>> Le 10/12/2010 12:31, Peter Davis a écrit :
>>>
>>> On 12/10/2010 6:11 AM, Martin Schröder wrote:
>>>> 2010/12/10 Peter Davis<pfd at pfdstudio.com>:
>>>>> If I could use the fontspec package with pdfTeX, I'd switch to 
>>>>> that.  As is,
>>>> You could try lualatex. :-)
>>>>
>>>
>>> I've considered it.  Why the smiley face?
>>
>> Probably because pdfTeX + what fontspec gives access to (+ bunches of 
>> other things) = LuaTeX (LuaLaTeX when used with the LaTeX format). 
>> And LuaTeX users tend to see LuaTeX as the solution to most existing 
>> problems, including probably world poverty, hence our smiles that 
>> never fade and our air of commiseration toward people who're stuck 
>> with other engines.
>>
>
> Thanks, Paul.  As I mentioned, I have considered LuaTeX.  It does, 
> indeed, look very promising.  However, from what I gathered from 
> various Web sites and lists, it's still a work in progress.  
> Robustness and performance are not at the level of other engines at 
> this point.  Would you agree with that assessment?

No, unless performance means speed (in which case, yes, LuaTeX is a 
little bit slower).
As for robustness, bugs are regularly found in LuaTeX, but not the kind 
you're likely to encounter, unless you start doing advanced things that 
can't be done with other engines, so they're rather easy to ignore.

> I'd be very happy to use something that solves world poverty, but it 
> has to hold up in a demanding print production environment.

If the environment is so demanding I for one would use the most advanced 
engine. And I do think that LuaTeX is the most advanced engine indeed, 
since I can't see what others can do that it can't, whereas I see tons 
of things it can do that others can't.

Again, as I've already stated on this list, I'm not saying LuaTeX would 
be better than XeTeX. Here I'm just addressing your situation, which 
seems to be: pdfTeX with TTF/OTF. If you can make do without what pdfTeX 
offers, then XeTeX is perfectly ok. So much for world poverty, though.

Best,
Paul