Computer Modern not raster. Why?

Question

The fonts produced by METAFONT should be raster rather than vector, as far as I know.  The Computer Modern font is produced by METAFONT, hence it should be raster.  The following code
fonttestfont= cmr10 at 100pt

testfont Abcdefghi

bye

anyhow produces a document that seems to include a vector font, when given to pdftex or tex+dvipdf.  Why?

wipet · Accepted Answer

You can de-activate the mapping cmr10 to Type1 font in pdftex by pdfmapline command:
pdfmapline{-cmr10}

fontf=cmr10

f Hello world.

end

Now, the pk bitmap is used, which looks horrible in typical PDF viewers. If the pk is not present, then pdftex runs Metafont in order to create it. This is method used before the year 1990 (more or less). You can return to these old days using pdfmapline, as shown above. IMHO, there is no reason to do this (with the exception of conducting historical research).

Computer Modern not raster. Why?

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