Document 363

Correcting font installation problems

Version: 3.x - Scientific Notebook

Problem

Scientific Notebook uses Unicode fonts. Sometimes, the Unicode fonts don't install correctly, and they don't display on screen or print properly. Use these instructions to check the fonts and correct the installation if necessary.

Solution

If Greek letters appear as boxes

Scientific Notebook uses the Greek letters in the extended Unicode version of the Times New Roman font. Follow the instructions below to make sure that this font is installed on your system, and that Windows is able to display the font correctly.

The instructions are different for Windows 95 and Windows NT. Be sure to click the operating system you have:

If mathematical symbols appear as boxes

Most of the mathematical symbols come from the tciuni (for TCI Unicode) font that is installed with Scientific Notebook. You need to ensure that the tciuni font is correctly installed and is recognized by your system.

Note Make sure that the Greek letters appear correctly before you attempt to fix any problems with the mathematical symbols. If the Greek letters appear correctly, your system is displaying Unicode fonts.

The instructions are different for Windows 95 and Windows NT. Be sure to click the operating system you have:

Greek letters in Windows 95

Greek letters may not display on the screen or print correctly if any of these conditions exist:

  • The extended Times New Roman font containing the Greek letters has not been installed on your system

  • The Times New Roman font is corrupted

  • Your system does not recognize the extended Times New Roman font

  • Your system is not capable of displaying Unicode characters

Follow these steps to display and print Greek letters correctly.

1. Check that you have the extended Times New Roman font installed.

  1. To start WordPad, click Start, Programs, Accessories.

  2. From the WordPad Format menu, Choose Font.

  3. Select the Times New Roman font.

  4. Click the down-pointing arrow to the right of the Script: box.

  5. If the only choice available is Western, the extended font is not on your system and you must install it.

2. Install the extended Times New Roman font.

You install the font by installing Multilanguage Support.

  1. From the Start menu, choose Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs.

  2. Choose the Windows Setup tab.

  3. If Multilanguage Support is one of the available choices, continue with these instructions.

    If you do not have a choice for Multilanguage Support, you must obtain an installable version of this support from Microsoft.

  4. Check the box for Multilanguage Support, then choose OK.

  5. Insert your Windows 95 CD and follow the instructions on the screen.

  6. When the installation is complete, restart Windows.

3. Check that Greek letters are displayed correctly.

  1. Start Scientific Notebook and open the document Welcome.tex to check that the Greek letters are displayed correctly on the screen.

  2. If Greek letters still show up as boxes after the Multilanguage Support has been installed, check that the extended Times New Roman font is correctly installed. Use either of these methods:

    1. Click Start, Programs, Accessories to start WordPad.

    2. Choose the Times New Roman font.

    3. Check that there is a Greek choice in the Script: box.

    4. Select the Greek version.

    5. Type a few Greek characters.

      If the characters appear on the WordPad screen, the extended font has been installed correctly.

      or

      If you have installed the Character Map accessory, use the Character Map accessory to select the Times New Roman (Greek) font. If you see the (Greek) version, and if you can see Greek characters in the Character Map accessory, the extended font has been installed correctly.

  3. Check the document Welcome.tex again to check that the Greek letters are displayed correctly on the screen.

    If WordPad or the Character Map accessory display Greek letters, but Scientific Notebook still displays boxes, there is a problem with your video driver. WordPad and the Character Map accessory use the older multibyte character set support, while Scientific Notebook uses Unicode support. This is the reason that those applications can sometimes display Greek letters while Scientific Notebook cannot. In all cases of this problem that we have encountered, the computer or video card manufacturer has had an updated video driver available on a Web site.

4. Check the driver information in Windows 95.

  1. From the Start button on the Task Bar select Setting and then Control Panel.

  2. Double-click the System icon.

  3. Select the Device Manager tab.

  4. Click the plus in front of Display Adapters to expand and see the installed display adapter.

  5. Double-click the display adapter to open a Properties dialog.

  6. Click the Driver tab.

The list set shows a list of all the drivers installed to support this display adapter. Use the up and down arrows to show version information for each driver. Finding updates is very dependent on the computer or adapter you are using, but this will at least tell you what is currently installed.

Here are some examples of how the driver problem has manifested itself, and the solutions found in each case:

  • A customer reported that the following message began to occur about the time that laplink was installed:

    "The machine is not configured to support STB Vision 95 feature set. The STB Vision 95 display meta driver STBVISN.DRV is not loaded."

    The customer corrected the cause of the message, and Scientific Notebook was able to display the Greek letters and mathematical symbols correctly.

  • In many cases, video cards using an entry like "Chips and Technologies 65548 PCI(new)" appear to have outdated drivers. You may be able to obtain more information at http://www.chips.com. We know that some NEC portables and the Toshiba Tecra 700CT use this chip set.

Greek letters in Windows NT 4.0

Greek letters may not display on the screen or print correctly if any of these conditions exist:

  • The Times New Roman font is corrupted

  • Your system does not recognize the extended Times New Roman font

The problem is rare on Windows NT 4.0 systems. We suggest that you try restarting your system. If this doesn't cure the problem, use the Character Map accessory to examine the Times New Roman font. If this font does not contain Greek letters in the Greek range, the font may be damaged. You'll need to reinstall the font from your Windows NT 4.0 disks.

Mathematical symbols in Windows 95

Make sure that Greek letters appear correctly before you attempt to fix problems with the mathematical symbols.

Most of the mathematical symbols come from the tciuni (for TCI Unicode) font that is installed when Scientific Notebook is installed. The symbols may not display on the screen or print correctly if any of these conditions exist:

  • The tciuni font has not been installed

  • Your system is not recognizing the tciuni font

  • The tciuni font files are corrupted

Follow these steps to display and print mathematical symbols correctly.

1. Check for the presence of the font.

  1. From the Start menu, choose Settings, and then choose Control Panel.

  2. Double-click the Fonts icon. This displays a window with icons, or a list, one for each font installed on your system. You should see four tciuni items, one each for the standard, bold, italic and bold italic variants of the font.

  3. If the fonts are present, double-click the icon for each one. The font is operating correctly if you see that the font has the letters i, m, x, y, and M. The remaining characters shown in the window are boxes—this is because the actual characters used are in another part of the font.

  4. If some of the fonts show only a row of numbers down the left hand side of the window, restart Windows and then look at the fonts again. Restarting should fix the fonts.

2. Reinstall Scientific Notebook.

If the tciuni fonts are present but they do not display or print correctly, the fonts have probably been corrupted. Reinstall Scientific Notebook.

Mathematical symbols in Windows NT 4.0

Note Make sure that Greek letters appear correctly before you attempt to fix problems with the mathematical symbols.

Most of the mathematical symbols come from the tciuni (for TCI Unicode) font that is installed with Scientific Notebook. The symbols may not display on the screen or print correctly if any of these conditions exist:

  • The tciuni font has not been installed

  • Your system does not recognize the tciuni font

  • The tciuni font files are corrupted

Follow these steps to display and print mathematical symbols correctly.

1. Check for the presence of the font.

  1. From the Start menu, choose Settings, and then choose Control Panel.

  2. Double-click the Fonts icon. This displays a window with icons, or a list, one for each font installed on your system. You should see four tciuni items, one each for the standard, bold, italic and bold italic variants of the font.

  3. If the fonts are present, double-click the icon for each one. The font is operating correctly if you see that the font has the letters i, m, x, y, and M. The remaining characters shown in the window are boxes—this is because the actual characters used are in another part of the font.

  4. If some of the fonts show only a row of numbers down the left hand side of the window, you should restart Windows NT and then look at the fonts again. Restarting should fix the fonts.

2. Reinstall Scientific Notebook.

If the tciuni fonts are present but they do not display or print correctly, the fonts may have been corrupted. We have had one report of corrupted fonts, which turned out to be caused by a bad CD-ROM driver that apparently caused the font to be copied incorrectly to the system. We suggest that you reinstall Scientific Notebook.

Last revised 03/03/06

This document was created with Scientific WorkPlace.