Re: [Freedos-devel] DOS (and BIOS) references

[Mercury Thirteen via Freedos-devel]

Nice! Computer Shopper magazine (although one wonders how such a thick 
periodical tome could be called a "magazine" lol) used to have software called 
TECHHelp! back in the day containing similar information; it appears the site 
you mention is an online recreation of that software. Thanks for sharing!

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‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐
On Wednesday, December 9, 2020 5:00 PM, Aitor Santamaría  
wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Incidentally I came across this DOS/BIOS reference (that I found cool 
> looking) and wanted to share it with you,
>
> [Tech Help! (dos4gw.org)](https://dos4gw.org/)
>
> I don't know how up-to-date it is. I know that this topic pops-up from time 
> to time, but I haven't heard any RBIL update for quite a while (last known 
> version is 61 from year 2000?). These are the sites I know to hold such kind 
> of information, and I was wondering if you knew of more that are worth, or 
> know of any that is being updated to some extent:
>
> RBIL - [Ralf Brown's Files (cmu.edu)](http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ralf/files.html)
> Ctyme - [Ralf Brown's Interrupt List - HTML Version 
> (ctyme.com)](http://ctyme.com/rbrown.htm)
> (sadly, apparently Marc Perkel passed away)
> [RBIL61 - HTML Edition (lod.bz)](https://fd.lod.bz/rbil/) - Bing gave this to 
> me, apparently there's a program called RBILtoHTML
> Delorie - [Ralf Brown's Interrupt List 
> (delorie.com)](http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/doc/rbinter/)
>
> Best,
> Aitor___
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[Freedos-devel] DOS (and BIOS) references

[Aitor Santamaría]

Hello,

Incidentally I came across this DOS/BIOS reference (that I found cool
looking) and wanted to share it with you,

Tech Help! (dos4gw.org) 

I don't know how up-to-date it is. I know that this topic pops-up from time
to time, but I haven't heard any RBIL update for quite a while (last known
version is 61 from year 2000?). These are the sites I know to hold such
kind of information, and I was wondering if you knew of more that are
worth, or know of any that is being updated to some extent:

RBIL - Ralf Brown's Files (cmu.edu) 
Ctyme - Ralf Brown's Interrupt List - HTML Version (ctyme.com)

(sadly, apparently Marc Perkel passed away)
RBIL61 - HTML Edition (lod.bz)    - Bing gave this
to me, apparently there's a program called RBILtoHTML
Delorie - Ralf Brown's Interrupt List (delorie.com)


Best,
Aitor
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Re: [Freedos-devel] changing keyboard layout

[Aitor Santamaría]

No problem!

The original note that Matthias Paul wrote a long time ago was very
interesting, but a very long post too :)


On Wed, 9 Dec 2020 at 20:43, tom ehlert  wrote:

> > * KEYB does not hook int 2Fh just for installation check. KEYB is
> > "codepage aware", as it has produce the appropriate character code
> > for that particular codepage (font), and that is why INT 2Fh/AD81h
> > exists: DISPLAY will call KEYB whenever there's a codepage change
> > request, so that KEYB keeps aligned with the current codepage.
>
> I wasn't aware of this. Thanks for correcting.
>
> Tom
>
>
>
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Re: [Freedos-devel] changing keyboard layout

[tom ehlert]

> * KEYB does not hook int 2Fh just for installation check. KEYB is
> "codepage aware", as it has produce the appropriate character code
> for that particular codepage (font), and that is why INT 2Fh/AD81h
> exists: DISPLAY will call KEYB whenever there's a codepage change
> request, so that KEYB keeps aligned with the current codepage.

I wasn't aware of this. Thanks for correcting.

Tom



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Re: [Freedos-devel] changing keyboard layout

[Aitor Santamaría]

In addition to what Tom said (and regarding KEYB):
*   int 09 calls int 15h/4Fh is guaranteed for PC/ATs. For older keyboards
where it does not happen,  /9 option will hook the int9h handler to
precisely add this call to the present int9h handler.
* KEYB does not hook int 2Fh just for installation check. KEYB is "codepage
aware", as it has produce the appropriate character code for that
particular codepage (font), and that is why INT 2Fh/AD81h exists: DISPLAY
will call KEYB whenever there's a codepage change request, so that KEYB
keeps aligned with the current codepage.

Maybe you can find out more on this topic here:

'Re: [fd-dev] Changing codepages in FreeDOS' - MARC


Aitor


On Wed, 9 Dec 2020 at 19:40, tom ehlert  wrote:

>
> > After installing new layout and calling int 15h/4Fh manually,
> > causes correct scan code / ascii code pair is enqueued into the
> > keyboard buffer and carry flag isn't set because something is
> > changed this time. In short, this function is responsible for
> > changing keyboard layout, obviously. But how? I mean, how do
> > keyb.com know where exactly code page is in memory.
>
> KEYB doesn't know. AT ALL.
>
> KEYB translates scan codes (as transmitted form the keyboard) to
> 8 bit codes according to the keyboard language.
>
> ascii is the wrong term here.
> ASCII is defined (mostly) for the lower 128 of 256 characters, like
> the usual aAbBcB...zZ1..9.,;:...  that are common to most languages.
>
> as there is not enough space above 128 to have all possible russian,
> greek, spanish, indonesian, ...  codepages where invented.
>
> codepages assume a particular character set which differs for each
> language.
>
> most likely (I am no language expert) the code 0x31 will display
> identical (as '1') in all codepages, but 0x99 will display differently
> for greek and russian. it's probably best to think of 'codepages' as
> 'fonts'.
>
> Tom
>
>
>
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Re: [Freedos-devel] changing keyboard layout

[tom ehlert]

> After installing new layout and calling int 15h/4Fh manually,
> causes correct scan code / ascii code pair is enqueued into the
> keyboard buffer and carry flag isn't set because something is
> changed this time. In short, this function is responsible for
> changing keyboard layout, obviously. But how? I mean, how do
> keyb.com know where exactly code page is in memory.

KEYB doesn't know. AT ALL.

KEYB translates scan codes (as transmitted form the keyboard) to
8 bit codes according to the keyboard language.

ascii is the wrong term here.
ASCII is defined (mostly) for the lower 128 of 256 characters, like
the usual aAbBcB...zZ1..9.,;:...  that are common to most languages.

as there is not enough space above 128 to have all possible russian,
greek, spanish, indonesian, ...  codepages where invented.

codepages assume a particular character set which differs for each
language.

most likely (I am no language expert) the code 0x31 will display
identical (as '1') in all codepages, but 0x99 will display differently
for greek and russian. it's probably best to think of 'codepages' as
'fonts'.

Tom



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[Freedos-devel] changing keyboard layout

[Bora Akaydin via Freedos-devel]

Hi everybody, 
I would like to know what things are happening in the background when I change 
keyboard layout in FreeDOS. 

Normally, each time I press a key int 09 is called as a consequence of irq 1 
and int 09 calls int 15h/4Fh, which has no effect when no layout is installed. 
So, if it is called sets carry flag on return when nothing changed. I read the 
source of keyb.com (I noticed, I had become quite rusty with Pascal) and found 
out it hooks to int 15h in order to take possession of 4Fh function. It 
additionally hooks to int 2Fh as well as int 16h. From my understanding, 
hooking to 2Fh is just for 0AD80h function (keyb.com installation check), 
please correct me if I am wrong. I did not understand why int 16h is changed. 

After installing new layout and calling int 15h/4Fh manually, causes correct 
scan code / ascii code pair is enqueued into the keyboard buffer and carry flag 
isn't set because something is changed this time. In short, this function is 
responsible for changing keyboard layout, obviously. But how? I mean, how do 
keyb.com know where exactly code page is in memory. And how does this whole 
mechanism work? (In case it is long to explain, please point me a document for 
that if possible). 

Any help would be appreciated. 

Kind regards,
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