DOS ain't dead

RS232 to keyboard / interesting keyboard hardware interfaces (Announce)

posted by Arjay, 10.08.2010, 21:11

> I assume that the board was made only because mainboards have only
> one PS/2 keyboard plug anyway.
As the keyboard is a serial protocol it can be interfaced easily elsewhere and just needs an application to support it (not necessarily with a driver).

> (I.e. the board/hardware isn't required for connecting two USB keyboards
> with the same machine.)
I would imagine this depends on how the PC's BIOS provides legacy USB support.

> This means the driver would have to work with specific applications only,
>
> But how could it possibly support the same functionality in DOS? By
> default, there's only one "window" (i.e. full screen) and only one "form"
> because the concept of windows and input forms doesn't even exist
> within the plain DOS user interface!
See above for code snippet example of one of my dual write routines (input routine was similar) which I use to use on the board to support multiple output (as well as input) from 2 users on the same PC, e.g. BBS chat by using RS232 with ANSI (in 80x24 colour) whilst doing exactly the same in 80x25 locally. See any DOS BBS door on Simtel/elsewhere for other examples. There was also a program (TSR?) called "doorway" I think to allow people to convert most DOS programs to be dual headed BBS doors over serial, e.g. command.com

Complete thread:

• CuteMouse v2.1b4 - some fixes - Japheth, 09.08.2010, 07:18 (Announce)
  • CuteMouse v2.1b4 - some fixes - swf, 09.08.2010, 17:33
    • CuteMouse v2.1b4 - some fixes - Japheth, 10.08.2010, 06:54
    • CuteMouse v2.1b4 - support for 2 mice? OptiMAME/OptiMouse - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 09:34
      • CuteMouse v2.1b4 - support for 2 mice? OptiMAME/OptiMouse - bretjohn, 10.08.2010, 18:35
        • CuteMouse v2.1b4 - support for 2 mice? OptiMAME/OptiMouse - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 18:53
          • support for 2 mice? - ecm, 10.08.2010, 19:04
            • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 19:32
              • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - ecm, 10.08.2010, 19:38
                • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 19:53
                  • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - bretjohn, 10.08.2010, 20:20
                    • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - ecm, 10.08.2010, 20:35
                      • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 20:57
                        • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - ecm, 10.08.2010, 21:04
                      • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - bretjohn, 10.08.2010, 21:07
                        • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - ecm, 10.08.2010, 21:15
                    • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 20:48
                      • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - ecm, 10.08.2010, 20:51
                  • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - ecm, 10.08.2010, 20:30
              • support for 2 mice? 3 mice etc. CPNMOUSE for Windows - marcov, 11.08.2010, 15:48
            • RS232 to keyboard / interesting keyboard hardware interfaces - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 20:10
              • RS232 to keyboard / interesting keyboard hardware interfaces - ecm, 10.08.2010, 20:38
                • RS232 to keyboard / interesting keyboard hardware interfaces - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 20:51
                  • RS232 to keyboard / interesting keyboard hardware interfaces - ecm, 10.08.2010, 20:57
                    • RS232 to keyboard / interesting keyboard hardware interfaces - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 21:11
                      • RS232 to keyboard / interesting keyboard hardware interfaces - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 21:20
                      • RS232 to keyboard / interesting keyboard hardware interfaces - ecm, 10.08.2010, 21:22
                        • RS232 to keyboard / interesting keyboard hardware interfaces - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 21:39
                          • RS232 to keyboard / interesting keyboard hardware interfaces - ecm, 10.08.2010, 21:53
                            • RS232 to keyboard / interesting keyboard hardware interfaces - bretjohn, 10.08.2010, 22:35
                          • RS232 to keyboard / interesting keyboard hardware interfaces - bretjohn, 10.08.2010, 22:08
          • Free util that supports dual Monitors under MS-DOS/FREEDOS - Arjay, 16.08.2010, 13:23
            • dual PS2 keyboards (shared output) under MS-DOS/FREEDOS - Arjay, 16.08.2010, 14:19
    • CuteMouse v2.1b4 - some fixes - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 11:08
  • CuteMouse v2.1b4 - an interesting idea from Vintage Computer - Arjay, 10.08.2010, 13:13