DOSBOX Help

[Trebuken]

Can't you use one of the frontends and avoid the DOS prompt altogether?

[Jorpho]

Can't you use one of the frontends and avoid the DOS prompt altogether?

That's exactly what D.O.G. is, in theory.

Are you using a standard US keyboard, Mr. Dgdgagdae ? What's the Input Locale in your Windows Keyboard control panel set to?

[dgdgagdae]

That's exactly what D.O.G. is, in theory.

Are you using a standard US keyboard, Mr. Dgdgagdae ? What's the Input Locale in your Windows Keyboard control panel set to?

Right, and I've tried D.O.G. The problem isn't just at the command line. It's also inside programs that those keys aren't recognized.

In XP, my keyboard is set to "English (United States) - US". I've tried "keyboardlayout=none", "keyboardlayout=us", and "keyboardlayout=ux" in dosbox.conf, all with the same results.

[Jorpho]

I don't suppose you have something else wacky running in the background that might be monitoring those keys for some reason? Perhaps you can try running XP in safe mode? (I'm not sure DOSBox will run at all under such conditions, but it's worth a try.)

As a last resort there's probably a Live Linux CD that includes DOSBox. Maybe that's worth a try anyway, to see if DOSBox at least works properly under those clean conditions.

[-hellvin-]

Can't you use one of the frontends and avoid the DOS prompt altogether?

awww...but that totally kills the nostalgia of DOS altogether =*(. Isn't there a setup.exe, or install.exe in the wing commander folder?? Once you're in the directory of wing commander in dosbox, type in dir /w and see. Once you run the .exe that should tell have config for the button keys.

[Jorpho]

I think when he says "can't even type the install directory without the backslash" means that the keyboard isn't even working correctly on the command line, not just in Wing Commander. (?)

[-hellvin-]

I think when he says "can't even type the install directory without the backslash" means that the keyboard isn't even working correctly on the command line, not just in Wing Commander. (?)

Pardon me, I read the post incorrectly.

Here, I downloaded dosbox just now again and read the couple of Q/As at the beginning and here's the scoop....I don't know if you've read and already tried all this stuff, but just bringing it to your attention if you have not:

Q: I can't type \ or : in DOSBox.
A: This is a known problem. It only occurs if your keyboard layout isn't US.
Some possible fixes:
1. Switch the keyboard layout of your operating system.
2. Use / instead.
3. Open dosbox.conf and change usescancodes=false to usescancodes=true.
4. Add the commands you want to execute to the "configfile".
5. Change the dos keyboard layout (see Section 7 Keyboard Layout).
6. Use ALT-58 for : and ALT-92 for \.
7. for \ try the keys around "enter". For ":" try shift and the keys
between "enter" and "l" (US keyboard layout).
8. Try keyb.com from FreeDOS (http://projects.freedos.net/keyb/).
Look for keyb2.0 pre4 as older and newer versions are known to
have a bug in the loader routines.

[dgdgagdae]

Pardon me, I read the post incorrectly.

Here, I downloaded dosbox just now again and read the couple of Q/As at the beginning and here's the scoop....I don't know if you've read and already tried all this stuff, but just bringing it to your attention if you have not:

Q: I can't type \ or : in DOSBox.
A: This is a known problem. It only occurs if your keyboard layout isn't US.
Some possible fixes:
1. Switch the keyboard layout of your operating system.
2. Use / instead.
3. Open dosbox.conf and change usescancodes=false to usescancodes=true.
4. Add the commands you want to execute to the "configfile".
5. Change the dos keyboard layout (see Section 7 Keyboard Layout).
6. Use ALT-58 for : and ALT-92 for \.
7. for \ try the keys around "enter". For ":" try shift and the keys
between "enter" and "l" (US keyboard layout).
8. Try keyb.com from FreeDOS (http://projects.freedos.net/keyb/).
Look for keyb2.0 pre4 as older and newer versions are known to
have a bug in the loader routines.

Wow, thanks for looking at all of that, but I've already tried. It's not just that I can't type a backslash. When I do, it puts out "]" instead. Typing "]" gives me "[", and typing "[" gives me nothing. I also get nothing from "'" (that's a single quote), and "=". These keys act the same way shifted or unshifted.

I can use the forward slash at the DOSbox prompt, but that of course doesn't work inside of applications as a backslash.

I've tried the other steps, including messing around with keyb.com. It was hard to find (the link provided in the DOSBox FAQ didn't work), and I wasn't having any success with it.

I'll try the recommended steps later for booting into safe mode and the live Linux suggestion. I'd never heard of "live Linux", but a quick Google turns up a bootable distro that includes DOSBox.

I do have one of those HP multimedia keyboards. I killed the task "keyb.exe" that monitors those extra multimedia keys, but that also didn't help.

On the plus side - I was actually able to get Wing Commander running. I used the forward slash to mount to the directory where I wanted to install, so I didn't have to use the backslash in the installer. And those keys don't seem to be required in the game. And - even 17 years later, the game is just as fun as I remembered.

Thanks for everyone's attempt at help, I am going to keep trying. I expect I'll need those keys later on down the line.

[Trebuken]

VMWare or VirtualPC might help.

[Jorpho]

6. Use ALT-58 for : and ALT-92 for \.

I'd forgotten about that one. A rather clever workaround!

To be explicit:
-Hold down either one of your keyboard's ALT keys
-Press (and release) the "9" key on the numeric keypad.
-Without releasing the ALT key, press the "2" key on the numeric keypad.
-Finally, let go of the ALT key.

This works regardless of whether Num Lock is on, but you have to use the numeric keypad. I use that for special characters (particularly °, ALT-0176) frequently - it beats looking them up in Character Map.

I do have one of those HP multimedia keyboards. I killed the task "keyb.exe" that monitors those extra multimedia keys, but that also didn't help.

If you just kill the task while Windows is running, it might not work - you should try taking it out of startup alltogether. A handy utility for disabling such things is Autoruns from http://www.sysinternals.com .

[dgdgagdae]

I'd forgotten about that one. A rather clever workaround!

To be explicit:
-Hold down either one of your keyboard's ALT keys
-Press (and release) the "9" key on the numeric keypad.
-Without releasing the ALT key, press the "2" key on the numeric keypad.
-Finally, let go of the ALT key.

This works regardless of whether Num Lock is on, but you have to use the numeric keypad. I use that for special characters (particularly °, ALT-0176) frequently - it beats looking them up in Character Map.



If you just kill the task while Windows is running, it might not work - you should try taking it out of startup alltogether. A handy utility for disabling such things is Autoruns from http://www.sysinternals.com .

Ack, don't change your avatar like that. Very confusing!

I can't see using Alt-92 for much more than a character on a command line. If it was actually used in-game, that could be a bit tough.

If the safe mode startup works, then I'll look at what I need to disable. I'll keep Autoruns in mind.

[-hellvin-]

Really weird...I hate when inexplicable problems like this arrive with computers. Best of luck to ya fixing your problem though!