RE: ATM 4.6.2 Mac Type 2 and Type 3 Errors,Crashing,Stalling,Quiting at random,a fix
RE: ATM 4.6.2 Mac Type 2 and Type 3 Errors,Crashing,Stalling,Quiting at random,a fix
- Subject: RE: ATM 4.6.2 Mac Type 2 and Type 3 Errors,Crashing,Stalling,Quiting at random,a fix
- From: email@hidden
- Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 03:49:23 EDT
Dear David,
You may have considerable problems with ATM v4.6.x under OS 8.6 - 9.2.2.
Although ATM 4.6.x will attempt to validate fonts following a system crash,
it's font diagnostics & repairs are not omnipotent. There are some possible
sources of trouble that you may have overlooked. :
1. Corrupted postscript font's font id (FOND) numbers. Conflicting font
identifier numbers (especially in on-mainstream vs. type 3 postscript fonts)
can cause ATM to crash when attempting to use a type 1 and a type 3 PS font
with the same FOND ID. Even different issue dates of Adobe fonts may have
overlapping number usage (especially type 1 postscript fonts issued between
1984 and 1989 overlapping with type 1 postscript fonts issued between 1996 -
2000). Major foundaries actually have version numbers for their fonts to help
prevent this.
2. Corrupted bitmaps. Since bitmapped font files in suitcases are opened
every time your Macintosh starts up, they are obvious targets for corruption.
Unfortunately, a corrupt font leads to more crashes and can lead to more
corrupt fonts.
3. For custom generated fonts (such as those created using Fontographer), ATM
errors can be generated if the font has characters assigned to the upper 128
range of characters (shift-option and option characters) and the font creator
set the font encoding to use "Adobe Standard Encoding" rather than "Macintosh
Encoding". If you generated the font, regenerate using the "Macintosh
Encoding" Option; if it was contract work, contact the original artist. This
is expecially common if you use fonts downloaded off the net from
non-commercial sources (most large font foundaries fix such issues before
issuing fonts).
4. Identical inner-package name for a true type font and a postscript font
can cause a problem. Example: if you have a true type font called Symbol, but
it's suitcase is called Symbol TT, plus you have a postscript symbol font
(named Symbol or Symbol.ps, plus symbol.bitmap for the suitcase), this can
generate an annoying number of errors. Standardize on never using true type
fonts with the same name as postscript fonts -- in other words, if you have
access to the same font in both flavors, discard the true type version.
5. Variation of the identical inner-package name problem: you have the
postscript font (symbol) in the font folder and the bitmap suitcase for it,
but the suitcase also contains the truetype outline for symbol.
6. Mismatched version of the ATM Font Database (resides in the system
folder). You should be using version 1.5 or later.
All of the above problems can be exacerbated by the use a third-party font
library manager that moves fonts in and out of the system folder (such as
SuitCase), since it can bring mismatched conditions into play at any point.
I will gladly admit that Adobe Type Manager v4.1.x and lower seemed to have
significantly fewer errors than v4.5 & later. But by that same token, earlier
versions didn't report their own crashing, so unattributed system crashes may
have been sourced from the same kind of font problems without the user's
knowledge.
I would recommend that you consider taking some or all of the following
steps, even if you do not use ATM again:
1. Install your fonts cleanly from the original sources. Install every font
you use, even if only seldomly.
2. Run a font diagnostics and repair utility. For OS 8.6 users, I recommend
FontBox. Rerun the utility until it reports no errors found.
3. Now you can remove the seldom-used fonts and float them in when you need
them without worrying about them causing conflicts.
Best Wishes
=-= Marc Glasgow
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