puh@pecan.sarnoff.com (Patrick U. Hsieh x3145) (02/26/91)
Hi! Hopefully someone out there can help with this. I have a Gateway 386 system with (I believe) the Phoenix BIOS. The problem is that nothing seems to recognize the right Alt key, which is really a pain when trying to use anything like emacs. The key appears to be spitting out the correct codes when depressed, so this sounds like a BIOS problem to me. What's the best way to solve this? Should I write a TSR that intercepts the keyboard interrupt and fiddles with the keyboard status flags appropriately? Oh, I would also be interested in swapping some other keys, namely the Caps Lock and the left Control key. Thanks much! Patrick Hsieh puh@sarnoff.com David Sarnoff Research Center So many adventures couldn't happen today, Alphaville So many songs we forgot to play, "Forever Young" So many dreams swinging out of the blue, We'll let them come true.
jdb@reef.cis.ufl.edu (Brian K. W. Hook) (02/26/91)
In article <944@pecan.sarnoff.com> puh@pecan.sarnoff.com (Patrick U. Hsieh x3145) writes: |>Hi! Hopefully someone out there can help with this. I have a Gateway 386 |>system with (I believe) the Phoenix BIOS. The problem is that nothing seems |>to recognize the right Alt key, which is really a pain when trying to use |>anything like emacs. The key appears to be spitting out the correct codes |>when depressed, so this sounds like a BIOS problem to me. |> |>What's the best way to solve this? Should I write a TSR that intercepts the |>keyboard interrupt and fiddles with the keyboard status flags |>appropriately? Oh, I would also be interested in swapping some other keys, |>namely the Caps Lock and the left Control key. I believe there are a couple of small PD programs that are available that let you switch the Caps Lock and left Control key. You didn't mention what BIOS rev. you are using, and you also didn't mention why the key seems to be spitting out the correct codes when depressed! Assuming that A.) you have a recent Phoenix BIOS and B.) the right Alt key really isn't working, I would say that you have a defective keyboard or keyboard controller chip before I would blame it on the BIOS. I have a Micronics MB with a Phoenix BIOS (the same one they use in a Gateway) and I have a Northgate Keyboard and haven't had any problems. If you want, I would recommend that you get a Northgate keyboard since it works beautifully, feels good, and the Caps Lock and Control keys are in their proper place! Of course, this is a rather expensive solution, but hey, it's worth it. Brian