Strange issue with my laptop \ VOGONS

Strange issue with my laptop

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First post, by Zachski

Posted on 2009-03-14, 00:56

Zachski Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 12
Joined: 2008-01-01, 22:49

Ok, so I downloaded Dosbox for my laptop, and it loads up fine and stuff.

There's just one minor problem that's turning out to be quite major...

whenever I try to type \, it comes out as ]. And if I try to type ], it comes out as [. Typing [ produces nothing.

Yet if I type \ in notepad or, obviously, in this forum, it comes out as... \.

What's the issue here? This is an important symbol, so there must be an issue with the emulation and my keyboard. Also, if it's relevant, I'm running Windows Vista Home Premium.

Any idea for a solution or at least what's wrong?

Reply 1 of 4, by ADDiCT

Posted on 2009-03-14, 01:03

ADDiCT Offline

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Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1170
Joined: 2007-02-02, 15:07
Location: Retroland

You have to buy a new notebook. And a real operating system.

This question has been asked so many times it's not even funny anymore. RTFM.

Reply 2 of 4, by Zachski

Posted on 2009-03-14, 01:08

Zachski Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 12
Joined: 2008-01-01, 22:49

Great. Now send me $1000 so I can do that.

RTFM, huh? Which manual?

Don't get angry at me because other people are asking.

EDIT: Okay, I found a single topic that talks about this. It wasn't on the front page, and there was nothing about it in any of the FAQs. So, I think your attitude was quite uncalled for. I hope nobody else here is like you.

Anyways, I found the driver/device that's apparently, the problem... but they say to simply "change" it, and I can't find that option. Yeah, REAL helpful... telling me to do something without explaining how.

Reply 3 of 4, by Dominus

Posted on 2009-03-14, 01:28

Dominus Offline

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Rank: DOSBox Moderator
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Joined: 2002-10-03, 09:54
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The manual sometimes isn't called manual but ReadMe...

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
60 seconds guide to DOSBox
DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 4 of 4, by ripa

Posted on 2009-03-14, 13:17

ripa Offline

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Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 559
Joined: 2005-04-18, 00:53
Location: Finland

README.txt:

1Q: I can't type \ or : in DOSBox.
2A: This is a known problem. It only occurs if your keyboard layout isn't US.
3   Some possible fixes:
4     1. Switch the keyboard layout of your operating system.
5     2. Use / instead.
6     3. Open dosbox.conf and change usescancodes=false to usescancodes=true.
7     4. Add the commands you want to execute to the "configfile".
8     5. Change the DOS keyboard layout (see Section 7 Keyboard Layout).
9     6. Use ALT-58 for : and ALT-92 for \.
10     7. for \ try the keys around "enter". For ":" try shift and the keys 
11        between "enter" and "l" (US keyboard layout).
12     8. Try keyb.com from FreeDOS (http://projects.freedos.net/keyb/).
13        Look for keyb2.0 pre4 as older and newer versions are known to
14        have a bug in the loader routines.

You can also try the keymapper (CTRL-F1 in Dosbox).

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