XKeyb
Extended keyboard driver for FreeDOS. XKeyb contains the keyboard driver and several other keyboard utilities. XKEYB Keyboard driver, configure a keyboard for a layout other than standard US layout (codepage 437). Program keys to produce strings to the keyboard buffer. Enables the XKEYB-API, with which you can associate routines to key events. XKEYBRES Reduced version of XKEYB (with a smaller executable size) to increase the probabilities to be loaded into upper memory (with loadhigh). SCANKBD Scans a keyboard layout into a configuration file. KEYMAN Keyboard macro recorder. LISTXDEF Lists the keyboard layout plus the macro definitions. Syntax: XKEYB [/Xnn] [/Q] [/U] <Layout_file> XKEYBRES [/Xnn] [/Q] [/U] OPTIONS /Xnn Allocate nn bytes of memory for Extension Strings (macros). /Q Suppress the output of LIST paragraphs from the configuration file. /U Remove the resident copy of XKEYB from memory (if installed). <Layout_File> Layout and codepage specific file, such as GR.KEY or SP.KEY . A path may be included, and the extension may be omitted. KEY files are searched in current directory, XKEYB program directory and %PATH% environment string. Note: XKEYBRES does not admit the parameter <layout_file> but XKEYB will load the information into XKEYB or XKEYBRES if either of them is already present in memory. You can program FreeDOS so that keyboard is configured at boot time by means of AUTOEXEC.BAT. Append the command line into your AUTOEXEC.BAT to do this.
Country Layout Codepages
Argentina (Latin America) - Australia (US) - Austria (Germany) - Belgium be 850, 858 be-cp437 437 Bosnia-Herzegovina ba 852 ba-cp850 850, 858 Brazil br274 850, 858 br274437 437 Canada cf 850, 858 cf-cp863 863 Chile (Latin America) - Colombia (Latin America) - Croatia hr 852 hr-cp850 850, 858 Czech Republic (Qwertz) cz 852 cz-cp850 850, 858 Denmark dk 850, 858 dk-cp865 865 Ecuador (Latin America) - Finland su 850, 858 su-cp437 437 France fr, fr120 850, 858 fr-cp437, fr120437 437 Germany gr 850, 858 gr-cp437 437 Hungary hu208 852 hu208850 850, 858 Italy it, it142 850, 858 it-cp437, it142437 437 Latin America la 850, 858 la-cp437 437 Mexico (Latin America) - Netherlands nl 850, 858 nl-cp437 437 New Zealand (US) - Norway no 850, 858 no-cp865 865 Poland pl214 852 pl214850 850, 858 Portugal po 850, 858 po-cp860 860 Slovakia (Qwertz) sk 852 sk-cp850 850, 858 Slovenia si 852 si-cp850 850, 858 South Africa (US) - Spain sp 850, 858 sp-cp437 437 Sweden sv 850, 858 sv-cp437 437 Switzerland (French) sf 850, 858 sf-cp437 437 Switzerland (German) sg 850, 858 sg-cp437 437 UK uk, uk168 850, 858 uk-cp437, uk168437 437 US us 437, 858 Venezuela (Latin America) -
Example: To use a German keyboard when your KEYBOARD.SYS file is in the DOS directory on drive C, type the following command: xkeyb gr or alternatively you can use the formula LOADHIGH XKEYBRES /Q XKEYB GR that will load XKEYBRES into upper memory (if upper memory is available). Notes: There are countries listed above for which there are not layouts such as Argentina, Australia and Austria but they are listed here because they are mentioned on MS-DOS© documentation. There is a reference to Ireland on MS-DOS© v6.2x documentation which actually points to the UK layout. There is an irish layout available at the Full Layout Pack. There are references to Canada (English) and Canada (French) but actually both of them point to the same layout. The bosnian, croatian and slovenian layouts are all the same. They match the "YU" layout found at MS-DOS© v6.x which presents a dead key with cedilla and diaresis below the <ESC> key. The modern "YU" layout refers to the Serbian Latin keyboard which presents a deadkey with cedilla and tilde below the <ESC> key and is available on the Full Layout Pack only. "-cp437" layouts are provided for CGA monitors and only when that codepage is listed as primary or secondary for a layout according to the major industry specifications. For instance, the brazilian layout can work with "850, 437" on MS-DOS©. Due to cp437 limitations, there are labeled characters on several keyboards that won't be echoed. SCANKBD and LISTXDEF: Syntax: SCANKBDLISTXDEF SCANKBD scans current keyboard layout (XKEYB or other keyboard driver) to the configuration file, generating a .KEY compatible file. LISTXDEF lists the XKEYB layout and all the macro definitions to console. Most probably you would like to do LISTXDEF > MYFILE.KEY to save all your macro definitions. KEYMAN: KEYMAN is an interactive macro recorder for use with XKEYB. XKEYB must be resident in memory before KEYMAN can be installed. Once installed, press F11 to pop up the KEYMAN window. Enter a macro by pressing the key to assign the macro to (eg. CTRL-D), then the keystrokes to be assigned to the macro, then F11 again to save it. You can delete macro keystrokes using the BACKSPACE key. To enter a BACKSPACE keystroke in the macro, use <ALT>-<Keypad 8>. To change the Hotkey (F11 by default), pop up the KEYMAN window, press the hotkey again, then press the new hotkey. LISTXDEF.EXE can be used to save recorded macros as a configuration file. Please, refer to XKEYB.TXT for further information. Copyright: XKEYB is distributed under the GNU-GPL 2.0 license or later. XKEYB is copyright by Dietmar Hohmann and Aitor Santamaria Merino. XKEYB layout packs are developed by Henrique Peron. XKEYB documentation was started by Ben Berry and maintained by Aitor Santamaria Merino and Henrique Peron. See Also: Chcp
This file copyright © 2002-2003 Aitor SANTAMARIA MERINO Henrique PERON This file is part of FreeDOS HTML Help, and is covered under its terms, see index.htm