I would like to bring this to the attention of the DOSBox Developers Forum. Originally I was running DOSBox within Microsoft Windows 2000 w/ Service Pack 4 with no problems. After upgrading my box to Windows XP Media Center I continued to experience no problems at all. After a time of running DOSBox I realized that the [, ], and \ keys weren't working correctly. I read the FAQ that I could and found that having a non-standard keyboard layout may cause the problem. I compiled a quick WIN32 app to query the system as to what keyboard layout I was using and it properly returned U.S. English. That quickly ruled out an improper keyboard layout. I shrugged it off as a Microsoft Update that somehow affected DOSBox and hoped this would be addressed in an update. After playing Star Trek Bridge Commander on the same machine, I noticed the exact same keyboard layout problem. As this program would not surface in applications like AIM, Internet Explorer, MS Word, or even an alternate operating system like Ubuntu Linux, I began to look into this problem in more detail.

As of this date, I have determined the cause of the problem. The Microsoft Media Center Remote Control that interfaces with my computer via USB is the cause of the layout malfunction. I had recently rebuilt my computer and inadvertently forgot to connect the remote control. After installing Windows XP Media Center Edition, all the drivers, and all the patched, I installed DOSBox, and noticed that it had been working properly. The night before, I reconnected my Media Center Remote and went to bed. The next day when I opened DOSBox I realized that the [, ], and \ keys were incorrectly mapped again. On a hunch I closed DOSBox, disconnected the remote, reopened DOSBox and interestingly enough the keys were properly mapped again. To ensure the problem was reproducible, I closed DOSBox, reconnected the remote, opened DOSBox, and the keys were again, mismapped.

There is an apparently incompatibility between the input API used by DOSBox and the Microsoft Media Center Remote Control. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I am willing to bet that DOSBox uses DirectInput, the input API of DirectX, as the primary input source from the keyboard. If this is the case that would explain why there could be a conflict between the remote and any application that uses DirectInput, such as Star Trek Bridge Commander.

If this is outside the scope of the developers of DOSBox the blame falls on Microsoft; and as such I believe it is our responsibility as developers to tell them they have a problem with the DirectInput API when it comes to interfacing with the Media Center Remote. If this is a problem addressable by the DOSBox developers, I would like to thank you for taking it upon yourselves to research into this bug. It is only a minor inconvenience to have to disconnect my remote every time I wish to use DOSBox, however, I feel it is an issue that needs to be addressed. I duly appreciate the effort put into this project and feel that everyone who uses it should give back to the community that developed it.

Following are the hardware specifications of the system affected by what I believe is a DirectInput glitch:

ABit FATAL1TY AN8-SLI Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+
2GB PC3200 OCZ RAM - Dual Channel Configuration
BFG GeForce 7800GTX OC 256MB
Seagate Barracuda 160GB 7200RPM SATA HDD
Maxtor MaxLine Plus II 250GB 7200RPM SATA HDD
Lite-On 52x Max CD-ROM Drive
3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive
Antec NeoHE 550W PSU

Thank you all again for the continued effort into this fantastic emulator.