Heads Up: Windows 7 (x64) and LJ4M - Substituting Fonts
Fishface
printer driver, I am experiencing font substitution using one of the MS
supplied TrueType fonts (Comic Sans MS) when printing from QuarkXpress
4.11. I have not determined the full extent of this behavior, but by turning
off the "Advanced Printing Features" in the "Advanced..." section of the
printer setup dialog box, the problem goes away. The option for TrueType
fonts to "Substitute with Device Font" was enabled by default, but changing
it to the other option, "Download SoftFont," still did not correct this bizarre
behavior. This also happens with the non-Postscript LJ4 driver.
Printing from the 64-bit Wordpad application with "Advanced Printing
Features" enabled showed the correct font. It might be an issue of a
32-bit app. printing to a 64-bit printer driver, but I'm afraid I don't
have any other 32-bit programs installed from which I can select a font
and print. "Printing" to the 64-bit Bullzip PDF file creator printer driver and
subsequently printing to the LJ4 from a 64-bit pdf viewer (PDF-XChange)
with the "Advanced Printing Features" enabled produced the correct result.
This is a very old printer, and I believe the driver is supplied by Microsoft.
I wasted a lot of paper trying to sort this out, so if anyone sees this type
of behavior on another printer, the "Advanced Printing Features" change
may be the solution. I don't know what other types of advanced printing
features I may have also disabled, but that is one I can definitely live without!
additional keywords: x64 HP Quark
notme...@yahoo.com
You're using the latest Windoze system software with an app that was
released in like, what, 1998 and a printer from years prior to that?
While I'd like say that Windoze is the root of all evil, in this case I
think you're only asking for problems using such an old version of
XPress that was never meant to work beyond the year 2000.
Good luck.
In article <hf6gn1$f84$1...@news.eternal-september.org>, Fishface
Fishface
> Dude. Seriously. Join the late 1990's.
If I was using QuarkXpress 8 it would still be a 32-bit app, and
possibly have the same problem.
I use 4.11 at home and it does what I need. What do you want
me to use, Microsoft Word? I tried that in 1995 and I couldn't
get stuff where I wanted it.
> And Comic Sans? Check the name of the newsgroup. It's not
> comp.publish.i.are.stoopid.
Its for my timecard that I write my hours on so that I can get paid.
You got a problem with that, asshole?
> Really...
>
> This sounds to me like Windows 7 Pro is looking at what you're doing
> and saying:
>
> "Holy shit. It's late 2009 and there is NO WAY I'm going to let this
> idiot embarrass himself in front of the entire world."
No, that's just you talking out your ass.
> Seriously.
Seriously.
Fishface
>> I use 4.11 at home and it does what I need.
>
It does now. So far.
You're obviously a true professional.
I'll bet they try to keep you away from the customers.
todd.hakala
> On Windows 7 Professional 64-bit edition, printing with the Laserjet 4/4M
> printer driver, I am experiencing font substitution using one of the MS
> supplied TrueType fonts (Comic Sans MS) when printing from QuarkXpress
> 4.11. I have not determined the full extent of this behavior, but by turning
> off the "Advanced Printing Features" in the "Advanced..." section of the
> printer setup dialog box, the problem goes away. The option for TrueType
> fonts to "Substitute with Device Font" was enabled by default, but changing
> it to the other option, "Download SoftFont," still did not correct this bizarre
> behavior. This also happens with the non-Postscript LJ4 driver.
>
1. Which font is Comic Sans replacing?
2. Is it the computer or the printer substituting the font? I'm
assuming it's the computer, but if it's the printer and it's a PS
device, maybe you could try this:
Can you tell the printer to always replace the problem font with a
usable one on the printer? Typically, PS RIPs in printers subbed out
Courier, but maybe that Courier is not present for some odd reason,
and is finding Comic Sans as the first available font. The system is
likely looking at fonts in alphabetical order. You could also try
temporarily uninstalling Comic Sans and see what happens.
3. IIRC, Quark 4's out-of-box behavior was to use either Arial (on
Windows) or Helvetica (on Macs) for all text boxes. If Arial is not
present, you may want to re-install it, or open Quark's preferences
and specify another font as the default. I had this fix things for me
more than once, even though Arial (or Helvetica) was not used in the
document by the customer.
> Printing from the 64-bit Wordpad application with "Advanced Printing
> Features" enabled showed the correct font. It might be an issue of a
> 32-bit app. printing to a 64-bit printer driver, but I'm afraid I don't
> have any other 32-bit programs installed from which I can select a font
> and print. "Printing" to the 64-bit Bullzip PDF file creator printer driver and
> subsequently printing to the LJ4 from a 64-bit pdf viewer (PDF-XChange)
> with the "Advanced Printing Features" enabled produced the correct result.
I wouldn't look to other modern programs for solutions, it may just be
confusing the issue.
As it's been said, this is a new OS running a comparatively ancient
application. Can you not adapt your file to a more contemporary
version? Or perhaps adopting a streamlined version of your stated PDF
workflow? (Though a modern PDF may be rejected by your old printer,
too.)
Fishface
> 1. Which font is Comic Sans replacing?
Actually, it was being replaced, with a Courier looking font.
It likely happens with TrueType fonts in general.
> 2. Is it the computer or the printer substituting the font?
I believe it is an issue with the driver.
> I'm assuming it's the computer, but if it's the printer and it's a PS
> device, maybe you could try this:
> I wouldn't look to other modern programs for solutions, it may just be
> confusing the issue.
My theory was that the problem was related to 32-bit application printing
to the 64-bit driver with enabled "Advanced Printing Features." It works
OK with this disabled.
> As it's been said, this is a new OS running a comparatively ancient
> application. Can you not adapt your file to a more contemporary
> version? Or perhaps adopting a streamlined version of your stated PDF
> workflow? (Though a modern PDF may be rejected by your old printer,
> too.)
The PDF printed fine. I only posted this because others might have a
similar, or related problem and the disabling "Advanced Printing Features"
might also be a workable solution. When I search online for a solution to
a problem, most of the time someone has had the same problem and solved
it already. I hadn't found mention of this issue, so I posted my experience,
and the successful workaround. I just didn't need any crap from Bozo.
The transition to 64-bit Windows has been otherwise fairly successful for
me, and it's sure nice having 8GB of usable RAM. I can even run my old
16-bit applications in Virtual XP mode.
todd.hakala
> todd.hakala wrote:
> > 1. Which font is Comic Sans replacing?
>
> Actually, it was being replaced, with a Courier looking font.
> It likely happens with TrueType fonts in general.
Aha! Now it's clear: It sounds like Comic Sans font is not being
downloaded with the document data to the printer, (or it is being
downloaded, but the printer does not recognize it as a font), so
therefore the printer is substituting Courier in its place. I believe
that the HP 4 came out many years before the OpenType format was even
proposed.
Sometimes this can be tough to get to work. I have neither Windows 7
nor Quark 4 handy right now, but it may be that Windows 7 is using an
OpenType version of Comic Sans. If this is the case, then it is likely
that the printer does not recognize it as a font.
I suggest that you may want to dig up an old TrueType version of Comic
Sans, perhaps from Windows 95 or 98, and install it on your Windows 7
box, then restart everything and see if it prints correctly.
If you have a font management program, you should disable the Windows
7 version of Comic Sans, or at least manually temporarily move it from
current location. Having two different versions of Comic Sans
installed can cause all kinds of problems, not the least of which
would be to cause Quark to crash regularly. Quark 4 definitely does
not like font conflicts whatsoever.
todd.hakala
> On Dec 4, 9:54 am, "Fishface" <fishf...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
> > todd.hakala wrote:
> > > 1. Which font is Comic Sans replacing?
>
> > Actually, it was being replaced, with a Courier looking font.
> > It likely happens with TrueType fonts in general.
>
I just had another thought, which might be a lot less complicated, but
since I don't have Win7, I can't test it.
Somewhere deep in the Print dialog boxes, there is probably a check
box that you can enable that will convert fonts to outlines when
sending to the printer. If this is available, all your fonts should
work no matter what font technology is being used.
Note that the files may become more complex, and may cause limitcheck
errors on the printer. But it's worth a try.
Todd
Matti Vuori
b6e1-f6c...@h10g2000vbm.googlegroups.com:
> Sometimes this can be tough to get to work. I have neither Windows 7
> nor Quark 4 handy right now, but it may be that Windows 7 is using an
> OpenType version of Comic Sans. If this is the case, then it is likely
> that the printer does not recognize it as a font.
This sounds very unlikely to me, because it is the printer driver's task to
convert fonts to a format that the printer understands. Comic Sans has been
OpenType for a couple on years so if that is the case, there would have
been many complaints already.
...But the whole world is full of obscure bugs, which are cured by changing
a bit somewhere or by a change in the moon's position, so using an old
version of Comic Sans will probably fix things.
todd.hakala
> "todd.hakala" <todd.hak...@gmail.com> wrote in news:176fe773-092b-455e-
> b6e1-f6c0fe52a...@h10g2000vbm.googlegroups.com:
>
> > Sometimes this can be tough to get to work. I have neither Windows 7
> > nor Quark 4 handy right now, but it may be that Windows 7 is using an
> > OpenType version of Comic Sans. If this is the case, then it is likely
> > that the printer does not recognize it as a font.
>
> This sounds very unlikely to me, because it is the printer driver's task to
> convert fonts to a format that the printer understands. Comic Sans has been
> OpenType for a couple on years so if that is the case, there would have
> been many complaints already.
>
I have ever heard of that being possible, other than either converting
to outlines or pre-RIPing to bitmaps.
Yes, Open Type has been around for a little while, but my point is
that the RIP in the LaserJet 4 probably cannot understand the OpenType
font format. According to Wikipedia, the LJ4 was introduced in 1992
and discontinued a couple years later, probably around 1995 or 1996 or
so with the introduction of the LaserJet 5.
Although the ideas for the OpenType format were just beginning to form
in the mid-90's, OpenType fonts didn't start to appear on the market
until around 2000 or so, long after the LJ 4 went out of production. I
don't see how HP could have written RIP software to interpret a font
technology that didn't exist at the time of the printer's manufacture.