A problem with printing Lao text using Saysettha Lao and similar fonts was first reported to me by Bastien Laroche (BSC Laos) in February 2008, who sent the following image:

The incorrect printing behavior has since been confirmed by myself and many others.

Description of the problem

After extensive testing with different versions of the fonts, the following conclusions have been reached:

• Lao text using Saysettha Lao or other similarly coded Lao fonts, when printed using Hewlett-Packard P1005 family printers, sometimes appears rotated through 90 degrees, or fails to print at all.
• The problem applies only to printing using "Host-based" drivers, as used with P1005 and similar printers. Printing using PCL drivers does not seem to be affected.
• This incorrect printing behavior has been observed with both Windows XP (SP2, SP3) and Windows Vista (Original, SP1).
• The problem only occurs when fonts dated 2002 (and distributed with Lao Script for Windows Versions 6.0 to 7.03) are used.
• Current version fonts (dated January 2009) and fonts dated 1999 (included with earlier versions of Lao Script for Windows) always print correctly, if correctly installed (see below).

Correcting the problem

To resolve this problem, you should install the current version of the Saysettha Lao series of fonts.

• Download and install or upgrade to Lao Script for Windows Version 7.21 (or later), which includes revised versions of Saysettha Lao and other fonts in the same series which behave correctly.
• Open the Windows\Fonts folder and delete Saysettha Lao and any other fonts you want to replace.
• Delete the printer GDI font cache, the file GDIPFONTCACHEV1.DAT in the folder \Users\<user>\AppData\Local\ (on Windows Vista) or \Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\ (on Windows XP). A separate cache is built for each user and must be separately deleted.
• Open Control Panel - Add or Remove Programs (or Programs and Features) and select Lao Script for Windows 7.21 and press Change. When the Welcome screen is shown, press Next, then select Repair to re-install the current version of all fonts.

While the above work-around should resolve the problem, it should again be emphasized that as Saysettha Lao and similar fonts use non-standard coding, correct behavior can never be guaranteed with new applications or new versions of Windows, so the best solution is to use Lao Unicode fonts, and convert old documents to Unicode before printing.

Many thanks to Bastien Laroche, Souliphone Xayavong, and others who have helped to trace this problem.

(John Durdin, May 2009)