Scan codes: DOSBOX vs DOS/XP \ VOGONS

Scan codes: DOSBOX vs DOS/XP

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First post, by dvwjr

Posted on 2005-02-04, 17:51

dvwjr Offline

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I tried to use the Num Pad '5' key the other day while comparing the functionality of the game "Silent Hunter" under the DOSBOX v0.63 environment versus the native WinXP NTVDM DOS emulation. The keyboard did not function the same as it did under the WinXP NTVDM emulation environment.

I decided to check out any more anomalies in the scan code table built into DOSBOX v0.63 as compared to both an actual DOS and a WinXP NTVDM environment. There are some differences which are not due to the documented dedicated DOSBOX function keys, in fact there are 52 of them.

This will represent the differences between the scan-code recognition of the Windows XP (SP2) NTVDM console and the DOSBOX version 0.63 Win32 release.

There are 52 pair-differences listed below. These are just the scan-codes results from the utility program SCODE.COM which were performed on an IBM 101 key "M"-style keyboard . The testing as performed on the same computer under MSDOS v8.0, the NTVDM DOS emulation environment of Windows XP (SP2) and of course DOSBOX v0.63 on Windows XP (SP2).

This message has an attached ZIP file which contains the following documents and utility program:

a.) Complete scan-code list for IBM keyboard under MsDOS v8.0 and the WinXP (SP2) NTVDM console. The results were identical as for both operating systems long as all seven Windows 'shortcut' key definitions are disabled. There are 363 listed scan-code combinations detailed.

b.) Complete scan-code list for IBM keyboard under DOSBOX v0.63 running under Windows XP (SP2). There are 363 listed scan-code combinations detailed.

c.) Complete listing of the difference between a.) and b.) listed above, minus the dedicated DOSBOX v0.63 function keys. There are 52 pair-differences between the Windows/DOS standard and what appears to be the scan-code table implemented in the current DOSBOX release.

d.) The DOS scan-code utility program SCODE.COM (version 2.2) and documentation freeware by author/programmer Paul Postuma. Many thanks for his utility. Just load it at the DOS prompt and start hitting the keys...

It appears that DOSBOX v0.63 does not define scan-codes for some key combinations or individual keys. In some cases it appears to provide too much information in the AX registers when that particular scan-code information should be restricted to the BIOS data area. There are a few cases where the incorrect scan-codes are provided.

Here are the anomalies:

1  Key-stroke:      Scan code:    ASCII code:     Code in:
2                   hex   dec     hex   dec       AX     BIOS
3-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
41)         F11      00    00      00   00        0000   8500 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
5           F11     Not Defined   Not Defined     0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
6
72)         F12      00    00      00   00        0000   8600 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
8           F12     Not Defined   Not Defined     0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
9
103)   NUM pad 5      00   00       00   00        0000   4CF0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
11     NUM pad 5      4C   76       00   00        4C00   4C00 (DOSBOX v0.63)
12
134)   NUM pad /      35   53       2F   47        352F   E02F (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
14     NUM pad /      35   53       2F   47        352F   352F (DOSBOX v0.63)
15
165)   NUM pad Enter  1C   28       0D   13        1C0D   E00D (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
17     NUM pad Enter  1C   28       0D   13        1C0D   1C0D (DOSBOX v0.63)
18
196)  SHFT - F11      00   00       00   00        0000   8700 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
20    SHFT - F11     Not Defined   Not Defined     0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
21
227)  SHFT - F12      00   00       00   00        0000   8800 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
23    SHFT - F12     Not Defined   Not Defined     0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
24
258)  SHFT Num  /     35   53       2F   47        352F   E02F (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
26    SHFT Num  /     35   53       3F   63        353F   353F (DOSBOX v0.63)
27
289)  SHFT Num Enter  1C   28       0D   13        1C0D   E00D (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
29    SHFT Num Enter  1C   28       0D   13        1C0D   1C0D (DOSBOX v0.63)
30
3110) CTRL - Tab      00   00       00   00        0000   9400 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
32    CTRL - Tab     Not Defined   Not Defined     0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
33
3411) CTRL - Esc      01   1        1B   27        011B   011B (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
35    CTRL - Esc     Intecepted by WinXP, exit DOSBOX     xxxx (DOSBOX v0.63)
36
3712) CTRL -  TU      00   00       00   00        0000   8DE0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
38    CTRL -  TU      00   00       00   00        0000   00E0 (DOSBOX v0.63)
39
4013) CTRL -  TD      00   00       00   00        0000   91E0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
41    CTRL -  TD      00   00       00   00        0000   00E0 (DOSBOX v0.63)
42
4314) CTRL - Ins      00   00       00   00        0000   92E0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
44    CTRL - Ins      00   00       00   00        0000   00E0 (DOSBOX v0.63)
45
4615) CTRL - Del      00   00       00   00        0000   93E0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
47    CTRL - Del      00   00       00   00        0000   00E0 (DOSBOX v0.63)
48
4916) CTRL - NUM Ins  00   00       00   00        0000   9200 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
50    CTRL - NUM Ins  Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
51
5217) CTRL - NUM Del  00   00       00   00        0000   9300 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
53    CTRL - NUM Del  Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
54
5518) CTRL - NUM ND   00   00       00   00        0000   9100 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
56    CTRL - NUM ND   Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
57
5819) CTRL   Num  5   00   00       00   00        0000   8F00 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
59    CTRL   Num  5   Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
60

…Show last 99 lines

6120) CTRL - NUM NU   00   00       00   00        0000   8D00 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
62    CTRL - NUM NU   Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
63
6421) CTRL - Num  /   00   00       00   00        0000   9500 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
65    CTRL - Num  /   Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
66
6722) CTRL - Num  *   00   00       00   00        0000   9600 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
68    CTRL - Num  *   Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
69
7023) CTRL - Num  -   00   00       00   00        0000   8E00 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
71    CTRL - Num  -   Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
72
7324) CTRL - Num  +   00   00       00   00        0000   9000 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
74    CTRL - Num  +   Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
75
7625) CTRL - Enter    1C   28       0A   10        1C0A   E00A (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
77    CTRL - Enter    1C   28       0A   10        1C0A   1C0A (DOSBOX v0.63)
78
7926) ALT  -   `      00   00       00   00        0000   29F0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
80    ALT  -   `      Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
81
8227) ALT  - BckSp    00   00       00   00        0000   0EF0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
83    ALT  - BckSp   Not Defined    Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
84
8528) ALT  -   [      00   00       00   00        0000   1AF0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
86    ALT  -   [     Not Defined    Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
87
8829) ALT  -   ]      00   00       00   00        0000   1BF0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
89    ALT  -   ]     Not Defined    Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
90
9130) ALT  -   \      00   00       00   00        0000   2BF0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
92    ALT  -   \     Not Defined    Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
93
9431) ALT  -   ;      00   00       00   00        0000   27F0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
95    ALT  -   ;     Not Defined    Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
96
9732) ALT  -   '      00   00       00   00        0000   28F0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
98    ALT  -   '     Not Defined    Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
99
10033) ALT  -   ,      00   00       00   00        0000   33F0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
101    ALT  -   ,     Not Defined    Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
102
10334) ALT  -   .      00   00       00   00        0000   34F0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
104    ALT  -   .     Not Defined    Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
105
10635) ALT  -   /      00   00       00   00        0000   35F0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
107    ALT  -   /     Not Defined    Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
108
10936) ALT  - F11      00   00       00   00        0000   8B00 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
110    ALT  - F11     Not Defined    Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
111
11237) ALT  - F12      00   00       00   00        0000   8C00 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
113    ALT  - F12     Not Defined    Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
114
11538) ALT  -  TL      00   000      00   00        0000   9B00 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
116    ALT  -  TL      9B   155      00   00        9B00   9B00 (DOSBOX v0.63)
117
11839) ALT  -  TR      00   000      00   00        0000   9D00 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
119    ALT  -  TR      9D   157      00   00        9D00   9D00 (DOSBOX v0.63)
120
12140) ALT  -  TU      00   000      00   00        0000   9800 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
122    ALT  -  TU      98   152      00   00        9800   9800 (DOSBOX v0.63)
123
12441) ALT  -  TD      00   000      00   00        0000   A000 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
125    ALT  -  TD      A0   160      00   00        A000   A000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
126
12742) ALT  - Ins      00   000      00   00       00000   A200 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
128    ALT  - Ins      A2   162      00   00        A200   A200 (DOSBOX v0.63)
129
13043) ALT  - Del      00   000      00   00        0000   A300 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
131    ALT  - Del      A3   163      00   00        A300   A300 (DOSBOX v0.63)
132
13344) ALT  - Home     00   000      00   00        0000   9700 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
134    ALT  - Home     97   151      00   00        9700   9700 (DOSBOX v0.63)
135
13645) ALT  - End      00   000      00   00        0000   9F00 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
137    ALT  - End      9F   159      00   00        9F00   9F00 (DOSBOX v0.63)
138
13946) ALT  - PgUp     00   000      00   00        0000   9900 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
140    ALT  - PgUp     99   153      00   00        9900   9900 (DOSBOX v0.63)
141
14247) ALT  - PgDn     00   000      00   00        0000   A100 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
143    ALT  - PgDn     A1   161      00   00        A100   A100 (DOSBOX v0.63)
144
14548) ALT  - Num  /   00   000      00   00        0000   A400 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
146    ALT  - Num  /   Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
147
14849) ALT  - Num  *   00   000      00   00        0000   37F0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
149    ALT  - Num  *   Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
150
15150) ALT  - Num  -   00   000      00   00        0000   4AF0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
152    ALT  - Num  -   Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
153
15451) ALT  - Num  +   00   000      00   00        0000   4EF0 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
155    ALT  - Num  +   Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)
156
15752) ALT - Num Enter 00   000      00   00        0000   A600 (MSDOS 8 & WinXP)
158    ALT - Num Enter Not Defined   Not Defined    0000   0000 (DOSBOX v0.63)

This may be of some help to the DOSBOX authors/programmers, perhaps
also to those who might have run into their own keyboard glitches...

Hope this helps,

dvwjr

Attachments

Filename

ScanCodeInfo.zip

File size

28.31 KiB

Downloads

394 downloads

File comment

Text file with scan codes and DOS utility program.

File license

Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 1 of 9, by MiniMax

Posted on 2005-02-04, 18:24

MiniMax Offline

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Thanks dvwjr - I am sure that list will prove useful.

Reply 2 of 9, by dvwjr

Posted on 2005-02-04, 19:41

dvwjr Offline

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Posts: 359
Joined: 2002-11-23, 23:32

I should have added:

Windows XP (SP2) NTVDM, MSDOS v8.0, DOSBOX v0.63
Scancodes for IBM 101 keyboard.

There are 363 possible scan-codes, of which 13 are undefined
and 10 are used for special character entry.

1Abbreviations used:
2
3TL = Tee-Arrow Left    NL = Num Pad Arrow Left
4TR = Tee-Arrow Right   NR = Num Pad Arrow Right
5TU = Tee-Arrow Up      NU = Num Pad Arrow Up
6TD = Tee-Arrow Down    ND = Num Pad Arrow Down

dvwjr

Reply 3 of 9, by wd

Posted on 2005-02-04, 20:45

wd Offline

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At least win9x did some remapping to the keys, so you
should NOT use anything else than real dos on a
real machine to check keyboard things.
This does not mean that dosbox has all scancodes
100% correct though.

Reply 4 of 9, by dvwjr

Posted on 2005-02-05, 23:00

dvwjr Offline

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Posts: 359
Joined: 2002-11-23, 23:32

At least win9x did some remapping to the keys, so you
should NOT use anything else than real dos on a
real machine to check keyboard things.

True, that is why the IBM keyboard scan-codes were checked in three cases:

1.) MSDOS v8.0 (the DOS from WinXP when you create a boot floppy, it is from Windows ME put there by Microsoft)

2.) The Windows XP (SP2) NTVDM native DOS emulation

3.) The DOSBOX v0.63 DOS/PC emulation environment.

The results were that MSDOS v8.0 and WinXP NTVDM provided identical results, that is Microsoft provides an exact duplication of a real DOS keyboard environment in their WinXP NTVDM subsystem. This means that all programs written to the DOS keyboard standard will function as far as the keyboard inputs in the NTVDM environment.

DOSBOX v0.63 however has some changes needed to be exactly compatible with the DOS keyboard standard. They are listed in the first message in this thread and in the attached ZIP file. Perhaps also it might be possible to put a syncronization routine in the DOSBOX product or its underlying libraries to support the Num Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll lock keys. If the focus is taken off a DOSBOX window and the status of the NumLock key is changed the sync is lost. The other thing to consider would to copy the Windows NT/2K/XP/2003 NTVDM idea of being able to have an option to disable the so called seven "windows shortcut keys" (ALT-ENTER, ALT-TAB, etc) so that the dedicated DOSBOX function keys (CTRL-F7, CTRL-F8, etc) are no longer functional and trapped by DOSBOX for a particular session.

When DOSBOX has exact compatibility with the DOS keyboard standard it will be well positioned to be THE Dos/PC emulation environment when Windows transistions to a 64-bit code-base and finally dumps any 16-bit compatibility overboard.

dvwjr

Reply 5 of 9, by Qbix

Posted on 2005-10-18, 18:09

Qbix Offline

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bump to not forget.

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

Reply 6 of 9, by fish

Posted on 2005-10-18, 18:25

fish Offline

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Joined: 2005-01-03, 13:11

I thought the winxp boot console was derived from win NT cmd rather than dos/win9x command.com/io.sys et al.

The Sole Survivor.
Find me on efnet #oldgames

Reply 7 of 9, by ih8registrations

Posted on 2005-10-18, 19:44

ih8registrations Offline

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Regardless, there's no reason to add the extra variable of using dos from xp/me/etc with original dos images readily available.

Last edited by ih8registrations on 2005-10-18, 21:28. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 8 of 9, by HunterZ

Posted on 2005-10-18, 20:10

HunterZ Offline

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There's no harm in throwing it in for comparison, but it's true that it's unlikely to yield any meaningful results.

Reply 9 of 9, by `Moe`

Posted on 2005-10-19, 07:30

`Moe` Offline

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fish wrote:
I thought the winxp boot console was derived from win NT cmd rather than dos/win9x command.com/io.sys et al.

The boot console (also known as recovery mode) is NT-based. Bootable _diskettes_ (as created by the disk formatting program) are good old DOS, and thus yield perfectly valid results.

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