do you use the dynamic core ?

Sorry, but what is that and how do I get to know wether I use it?

What I can tell you is, that I used a plain version from CVS without any extra patches.

It's an option in dosbox.conf, should be set to "normal".

Works fine for me under XP, what qbasic did you use
(from which dos version)?

I use the normal core. Changing to dynamic does not change anything.

I tried version 1.1 of qbasic and 4.5 of QuickBasic, but the effect is the same. After starting keyb typing the program name just gives me a new prompt without anything happening.

The problem is the same if I try to start keyb.exe for a second time, so I think it is not related to qbasic.

I really need a point to collect more data, but don't know, where to start from. Any idea?

Sorry, didn't notice this before:
> It even looks like no application at all is running

Try some older version of keyb (if you're using the newest one,
otherwise the other way round), also see if using loadfix or LH
make it work (start loadfix, then keyb, then some app; or
type "LH keyb ..." then start the app).

If you're handy with the debugger, enter it (pause key) and type
"bpint 21 4b" (break on program exec), keyb already loaded. Then
start the app, the debugger should break in, and trace a few lines
with the F11-key (the next callback should load the executable,
and the IRET give control to that program).

hth

Happens with kb2pre3, seems to be a typo in keyb.pas where it reads

1    mov     ah, $58          { set alloc strategy }
2    mov     al, 1
3    xor     bx,allocs
4    int     $21

The xor should be a mov. It doesn't bother freedos/msdos
because they remove invalid settings in int21/ax=5801,
but dosbox doesn't. Maybe this will be changed so dosbox
behaves similar (just a few lines).

Attached a patched executable (upx-unpacked, 1 byte changed)
for convenience, will try to contact the keyb author for
more information about this.

> Try some older version of keyb (if you're using the newest one,
> otherwise the other way round), also see if using loadfix or LH
> make it work (start loadfix, then keyb, then some app; or
> type "LH keyb ..." then start the app).

I tried LH for first and it works well.

> If you're handy with the debugger, enter it (pause key) and
> type "bpint 21 4b" (break on program exec), keyb already
> loaded. Then start the app, the debugger should break in, and
> trace a few lines with the F11-key (the next callback should
> load the executable, and the IRET give control to that
> program).

I also tried this for fun, but I'm not familiar with assembler and interupts too much. ): Perhaps I can contirbute something more another time.

Thanks a lot for helping!

You can download the modified keyb.exe that i posted above,
or do the required changes yourself, should work fine
(let me know if it doesn't).