Redefine MS-DOS Keyboard Functions?
Posted: 08 Nov 2016 14:59
I'm trying to use an old DOS outlining program from the 80s I bought on eBay.*
I'm having trouble with the way the <Del> and <BkSp> keys behave.
The <Del> now acts like a destructive backspace, i.e., it deletes the character to the left of the cursor instead of the character at the cursor position.
And the <BkSp> now acts like a <Left Arrow> key, i.e., it simply moves the cursor one space to the left, but without deleting the character in the new cursor position.
I'd like to try to figure out some way to change the way those two keys behave so that:
(The Thoughtline program uses the WordStar cursor movement command set, so I have available to me within the program itself the ^G command for deleting the character at the cursor position, and the ^S command for moving the cursor on space to the left).
I'd be grateful if some of you could brainstorm with me to come up with some way to get those keys to behave in the way I expect them to. For example could there be a DOS program that I could run first that would continue runnning in the background that would intercept the <Del> and <BkSp> keys and have them feed these control key combinations to the Thoughtline program?
If so, then perhaps I could run Thoughtline in its own Virtual Box with the keyboard reconfigured to modify those two keys.
Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
BTW: If any of you are interested, the Thoughtline program I'm trying to relearn how to use was written by Norman Worthington:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-06-15/news/8602120848_1_outline-wordstar-paragraph
I had the CP/M version of it back in the 80s, and did a lot of writing with it. But I left it behind when I switched to MS-DOS. Then a while back I discovered on eBay a DOS version of it, which I purchased and have been trying to figure out how to use it ever since. It turns out to be a kind of slap-dash affair, not very well thought out, but still, I think, worth my investing some time in learning how to use, because outlining is such a powerful writing tool.
And as far as I know it is a completely different progam from another DOS program, also called "Thoughtline,"written by Dan E. Burns, which according to a web page I found, was an earlier DOS version of a Windows program called WriteEZ https://www.projectkickstart.com/products/WriteEZ.cfm )
I'm having trouble with the way the <Del> and <BkSp> keys behave.
The <Del> now acts like a destructive backspace, i.e., it deletes the character to the left of the cursor instead of the character at the cursor position.
And the <BkSp> now acts like a <Left Arrow> key, i.e., it simply moves the cursor one space to the left, but without deleting the character in the new cursor position.
I'd like to try to figure out some way to change the way those two keys behave so that:
- 1. The <Del> key deletes the character at the cursor position and...
2. The <BkSp> key moves the cursor one space to the left and deletes the character to the left of the cursor position (in other words, a "destructive backspace").
(The Thoughtline program uses the WordStar cursor movement command set, so I have available to me within the program itself the ^G command for deleting the character at the cursor position, and the ^S command for moving the cursor on space to the left).
I'd be grateful if some of you could brainstorm with me to come up with some way to get those keys to behave in the way I expect them to. For example could there be a DOS program that I could run first that would continue runnning in the background that would intercept the <Del> and <BkSp> keys and have them feed these control key combinations to the Thoughtline program?
- <Del> = ^G
<BkSp>= ^S^G
If so, then perhaps I could run Thoughtline in its own Virtual Box with the keyboard reconfigured to modify those two keys.
Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
BTW: If any of you are interested, the Thoughtline program I'm trying to relearn how to use was written by Norman Worthington:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-06-15/news/8602120848_1_outline-wordstar-paragraph
I had the CP/M version of it back in the 80s, and did a lot of writing with it. But I left it behind when I switched to MS-DOS. Then a while back I discovered on eBay a DOS version of it, which I purchased and have been trying to figure out how to use it ever since. It turns out to be a kind of slap-dash affair, not very well thought out, but still, I think, worth my investing some time in learning how to use, because outlining is such a powerful writing tool.
And as far as I know it is a completely different progam from another DOS program, also called "Thoughtline,"written by Dan E. Burns, which according to a web page I found, was an earlier DOS version of a Windows program called WriteEZ https://www.projectkickstart.com/products/WriteEZ.cfm )
... sorry for that, here is an english version: