DVORAK.COM - a generic keyboard remapper, usually for DSK.

Last updated 1993 June 8

Dvorak.Com remaps your AT keyboard to the Dvorak layout.
It is a TSR that takes 288 bytes of RAM.  MASM source is
provided for you to create variants or so you can roll your own
TSRs to swap or rearrange selected keys in ways completely
unrelated to the Dvorak layout.

The code is well commented and serves as a teaching example on
keyboard TSRs.  Limitations: AT only, no XT.  Requires AT-style
INT 15 multiplex BIOS interrupt support.  No hot key
enable/disable.  No safety code to prevent loading twice.

Copyrighted, but may be freely copied for non-military use only.


Roedy Green
Canadian Mind Products
#601 - 1330 Burrard
Vancouver BC, V6Z 2B8
(604) 685-8412

This program may be freely copied and used for any purpose
except military.

Usage:

insert this command near the end of your autoexec.bat file:

Dvorak

It will translate your keyboard to Dvorak layout.  Note it only
works on AT computers.  XT computers require a more complex
method.

NOTE: There is no way to get rid of Dvorak except by rebooting.
There is no hot key to enable or disable it.  There are several
reasons for this:

1.  If you have modified your keyboard to DSK keycap layout, you
    could not type QWERTY on it anyway.  Thus there never any
    need to disable DVORAK.

2.  Leaving out Hot key support keeps the code very small -- under
    1K.

3.  If you really needed to disable it, you could use Mark/Release.

4.  I wanted this code to be a teaching example.  I did not want
    to have any more complications that necessary.

What Dvorak is for
******************

Dvorak lets you use a faster, saner keyboard layout. Also Dvorak
is a skeleton program to write your own compact keyboard
remapping routines.

The foreign language support routines that come with DOS take up
too much RAM.  There is no support for the Dvorak layout.

How Dvorak Works
****************

For the AT we leave a small TSR resident that intercepts the INT
15 4F keyboard remap interrupt that gets triggered by hardware
every time there is a keystroke event (down or up).

We translate the scan code to a different value.

The way XT BIOS is designed, there is no INT 15 4F, so this
program will not work.  You MIGHT have some success with an XT
if you type this first:

C:\DOS\KEYB.COM /E US,437,C:\DOS\KEYBOARD.SYS

For old DOS versions, prior to 5.0, leave out the /E.


The Dvorak Layout
*****************

 Esc     F1  F2  F3  F4  F5  F6  F7  F8  F9  F10  F11  F12


~   !   @   #   $   %   ^   @   *   (   )   |   +   {  Bsp
`   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0   \   =   [

  Tab  "   <   >   P   Y   F   G   C   R   L   ?   }
       '   ,   .   p   y   f   g   c   r   l   /   ]

CapsLock A   O   E   U   I   D   H   T   N   S  ___  Ent
         a   o   e   u   i   d   h   t   n   s   -

      Shf  :   Q   J   K   X   B   M   W   V   Z  Shf
           ;   q   j   k   x   b   m   w   v   z

Ctrl  Alt                  Space                     Alt   Ctrl


The original QWERTY Layout
**************************

 Esc     F1  F2  F3  F4  F5  F6  F7  F8  F9  F10  F11  F12


~   !   @   #   $   %   ^   @   *   (   )  ---  +   !  Bsp
`   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0   -   =   \

  Tab  Q   W   E   R   T   Y   U   I   O   P   {   }
       q   w   e   r   t   y   u   i   o   p   [   ]

CapsLock A   S   D   F   G   H   J   K   L   :   "   Ent
         a   s   d   f   g   h   j   k   l   ;   '

      Shf  Z   X   C   V   B   N   M   <   >   ?  Shf
           z   x   c   v   b   n   m   ,   .   /

Ctrl  Alt                  Space                     Alt   Ctrl

Feel free to modify the translate table to better fit the
eccentricities of your keyboard.

Trouble Shooting
****************

> When I went into Windows, all of a sudden my keyboard went back to
> QWERTY layout.

Windows bypasses the keyboard BIOS routines and goes straight to
the metal, bypassing DVORAK.  Use the control panel in Windows,
go into International and select the US-DVORAK keyboard layout.
It won't exactly match the DVORAK.COM's version, but you can
adjust DVORAK.com or the Windows keyboard driver to match.

> When I went into Microsoft Word, all of a sudden my keyboard went
> back to QWERTY layout.

Like Windows, Word cheats and bypasses keyboard BIOS.  Microsoft
keeps secret how to write Word keyboard drivers, so you are out
of luck.  Ditto for WordPerfect.  Dvorak.Com is just to let you
get your feet wet.  If you are serious, get a Northgate Omnikey
Ultra keyboard that handles the Dvorak/Qwery switching in the
keyboard itself without any software.  It will then work with
any program, even Windows, Word and WordPerfect.  They think it
has a normal QWERTY layout.

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