Some examples of codepages are 437 (International), 850 (Multilingual), 852 (Slavic), 860 (Portuguese), 863 (Candian, French), 865 (Scandinavian).
People in Belgium will probably use either codepage 437 (International) or codepage 850 (Multilingual).
Some Belgians prefer codepage 437 because it displays the symbol (Ø) «correctly» as a diameter sign (while codepage 850 displays it as an Ý, an uppercase accented Y). On the other hand, the superscript 3 (³, Alt-252) exists only in codepage 850. If one of these two symbols is important, then the choice of codepage matters.
I personally use codepage 850 because it has the Estonian special characters õ and Õ (o and O with tilde) which is not available in codepage 437. But this argument is probably not important for most other people.
| Symbol | cp437 | cp850 |
| Diameter (Ø) | Alt-237 | - |
| Sigma (Σ) | Alt-228 | - |
| superscript 3 (³) | - | Alt-252 |
| õ and Õ | - | Alt-228 |
On Win2K, Windows NT and Windows XP you can switch from one codepage to the other by simply typing chcp 850 (or chcp 437) in a DOS prompt. This quick switching works only when your DOS prompt is in fullscreen mode.
«Only the OEM code page installed with Windows NT will display correctly in a command prompt window using Raster fonts. Other code pages will display correctly only in full-screen mode or command prompt windows that are using TrueType fonts.» (chcp syntax)
If you want a windowed TIM to use another codepage, then you should specify to use a TrueType font for the TIM window: click the Window menu of a running TIM and change this property, also for future calls.
If you really need to see your preferred codepage also using a raster font when TIM is in a non-fullscreen window, then it seems that you must edit the Windows Registry in a very dangerous place. sites.inka.de/sites/rwi/nt-tips/codepage.html This last trick is not tested. Don't do this manually. Find somebody who knows more than me. scilnet.fortlewis.edu/tech/NT-Server/registry.htm