Microsoft KB Archive/67277

OS/2 Word: Support for IBM 4019 Personal Laser Printer PSS ID Number: Q67277 Article last modified on 09-27-1991 PSS database name: W_Os2Word

1.10

OS/2

Summary:

The IBM 4019 printer is only fully supported by Microsoft Word for OS/2 when you use the optional PostScript emulation with the OS/2 PostScript printer driver. It will print standard ASCII characters in native mode using IBM’s OS/2 4019 printer driver; however, it will not be able to accurately print extended or foreign characters.

To maintain maximum file compatibility with Microsoft Word for Windows, Microsoft Word for OS/2 uses the same codepage (similar to symbol set) as Windows. Unlike OS/2, which by default uses codepage 850 (multilingual), Windows uses the ANSI codepage (codepage 1004). The IBM 4019 does not support the ANSI codepage when in native mode; therefore, it will not function properly with extended characters.

More Information:

This printer is supported in Windows because Windows printer drivers only support the ANSI codepage. This printer can actually only support a subset of ANSI when operating under Windows because a translation is made to allow as many of these characters to be printed as possible.

IBM chose not to support the ANSI codepage when writing the 4019 printer driver for OS/2. Without the full codepage support, any attempt to use the extended or foreign characters may result in misaligned text and poor justification. As a result, it is recommended that the PostScript emulation be used with Word for OS/2.

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1991.