Keyboard equivalent or Character codes

[Rick]

I'm not even sure what to call this.
As an example, when I was using Windows 98 I could press
the Alt key down and type 0179 to get a greater than or
equal sign while using the symbol font. This information
was displayed in the character map accessory.

I now have Windows 2000 and most of these codes are not
listed, however I can still use the ones I took note of
while using W98. Is there an easy way to insert special
characters with the Unicode? Bouncing back and forth to
the character map and copying and pasting is very
cumbersome.

Also, when viewing the same Excel spreadsheet on my Mac,
the special characters are not interpreted correctly. Will
using the Unicode fix this?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I'm not even sure what to call this.
As an example, when I was using Windows 98 I could press
the Alt key down and type 0179 to get a greater than or
equal sign while using the symbol font. This information
was displayed in the character map accessory.

I now have Windows 2000 and most of these codes are not
listed, however I can still use the ones I took note of
while using W98. Is there an easy way to insert special
characters with the Unicode? Bouncing back and forth to
the character map and copying and pasting is very
cumbersome.

Also, when viewing the same Excel spreadsheet on my Mac,
the special characters are not interpreted correctly. Will
using the Unicode fix this?

This feature has not changed. In Win98, you had to select
the "Symbol" character set in order to obtain the greater/equal
character against Alt+0179. It's the same in Win2000.

 

[Gary Smith]

I now have Windows 2000 and most of these codes are not
listed, however I can still use the ones I took note of
while using W98. Is there an easy way to insert special
characters with the Unicode? Bouncing back and forth to
the character map and copying and pasting is very
cumbersome.

Unfortunately, there's no easy way short of acquiring a custom keyboard
layout. Once you've located a character in the character map, you can
convert the hex code shown to decimal and write it down for later use, but
I don't really consider that an easy way.

Also, when viewing the same Excel spreadsheet on my Mac,
the special characters are not interpreted correctly. Will
using the Unicode fix this?

Probably not. My understanding is that the Mac is not Unicode compliant
and uses its own special character set.