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Another XT!

dongfeng said:
From what I think is correct, the lauguage=044 makes the date, time and currency British, and the keyb=UK to British keyboard. Let's try it...
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Yes, I think that's correct, although it might work the other way too (I don't have much experience with changing the codepage stuph, since I am American). How's that old joke go? If ya speak three languages, you're tri-lingual, and if ya speak two languages, you're bi-lingual, and if ya speak one language, you're American!

--T
 
The 'country' code does indeed change date format (mm-dd-yyyy vs. dd-mm-yyyy), etc. It also changes the (display) character set for certain keys (# (shifted 3) vs. GBP symbol, f'rinstance). The keyb command re-arranges the keyboard layout to match that used in certain countries (qwerty vs. azerty, etc).

--T
 
I have the country=044 in my config.sys, but it doesn't seem to change the keyboard layout. The time changes to the "right" way though. I can't seem to get the keyboard sorted using keyb, it's giving me messages saying it doesn't understand. More reading in the DOS book I think!
 
I don't have documentation for DOS 3.1, but I'm looking at my 3.3 manual, and it starts with the following disclaimer in the first paragraph:
Note: The keyboard programs provided on previous versions of DOS are not compatible with DOS 3.30 and should not be executed when running under DOS 3.30. (pg. 7-143)
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That said, I dunno how helpful this info is, but there's also a 'KEYBOARD.SYS' file that needs to load in order for the keyb command to work (if I'm understanding this correctly). The manual states (under the 'KEYBOARD.SYS' heading:
The KEYBOARD.SYS file contains tables which direct the KEYB.COM to convert scan codes to ASCII characters. (pg. 7-145)
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Of course, YMMV (did I mention that this type of fiddling shouldn't be attempted without manualage in hand?).

(I'm hoping Mike will jump-in somewhere here and mebbe shed a little more light).

--T
 
AST I/O Mini II card

AST I/O Mini II card

Re the AST I/O Mini II card.
The jumper settings are at http://th99.too.it/
A program to support the RTC may be in amongst the ones in the RTC.zip that I provided in the 'Device Software Request' thread (Jun06).
 
Terry Yager said:
Ain't got a klew, mate. What are the chips?
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According to a chap on the Uncreative Labs XT forum, they are as follows:

Here's what your chips are:
74HCT688N:
8-bit Magnitude Comparator

74LS00N:
Two input NAND gate

DM74LS37N:
Octal D-Type Transparent Latches and Edge-Triggered Flip-Flops

N82S123N:
Sub Data IO 29B.

256-bit TTL bipolar PROM 32 x 8
16 Pin DIP

SN74LS174N:
Hex D-Type Flip-Flops With Clear

Any idea what you could do with that little lot?

====

The keyboard settings - I've worked it out now. config.sys line DEVICE=C:\DOS\KEYBUK

Took a little bit of working out, since my DOS 3.1 manual doesn't seem to tally with the 3.1 files on the HDD...

However, it seems to lose the \ backslash key. Do I have to tell the computer I am using a 102 key keyboard instead of the earlier 83-key?

====

Even if I can't get the RTC working, how to get the serial port on the card to work? At the moment it doesn't, and despite loading drivers the mouse doesn't work in Windows 1.04.

====

Sorry for all the questions... you've all been very helpful so far :D
 
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After a couple of hours carefully dismantling, scrubbing and cleaning... the XT is looking grand!

xt_clean.JPG


I'm not too keen on the Granada Business Centres badges, but I don't want to remove them as they are original. Maybe I'll swap the case cover with my other XT. Or I'll just get used to them :)
 
Is that keyboard original to the machine? I didn't think the XT and the Model M crossed. . . or, more specifically that IBM ever put model M's on the XTs.

Also, what's with the extra funky keys on that thing? You've got a spare key between the " and enter keys (and your enter key is turned the wrong way) and you're missing a key next to the ]. Also, you've got a spare key between the Z and left shift key.

Very odd. ;)
 
The keyboard is certainly original to the machine (it's dated June 1986) - the very last XT's came with 101/102-key keyboards. It's different to the Model M in that it does not have LED indicator lights for caps lock, etc.

The "strange" keys are part of the British layout! The keys where shuffled around slightly to make room for a pound sign £. Goodness knows why they shuffled the rest around though!

I'll snap a photo in a moment...
 
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Here it is:

xt_britishkeyboard.JPG


The blank key to the right of the left-hand Shift key is missing it's cap. It should have a \ and a | on it (the key that is above the Enter/Return key on US models). I'm pretty sure only the XT's with the last revision 1986-dated BIOS can support 101-key keyboards (and 720kB 3.5" floppy drives).

I wonder if the 1986 BIOS XT's could actually support AT keyboards, or whether it's just an AT "style" XT keyboard? I'll try it on my 486 tomorrow!
 
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It's probably original to the machine. As Dong said, the last version of the XT came with a Model M as an option, and the BIOS was enhanced to support the new function keys (F11 and F12). That particular keyboard is probably 1390120, which works on both XT and AT class hardware.
 
It's not a Model M as there are no LED lights on it.

The label on the back states the following:

1389969
55-0078844
13-06-1986
(barcode)
MANUFACTURED IN UNITED KINGDOM
(c) IBM CORPORATION
 
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mbbrutman said:
, but Model M keyboards can certainly not have lights on them.
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According to Upgrading & Repairing PC's (Fifth Edition), some of the 101 keyboards were designed specifically for the XT (with the later BIOS that is). Because the XT motherboard has no bi-directional keyboard interface (eg. required to drive keyboard LEDs), there was no point puting LEDs on those keyboards.
 
dongfeng said:
I wonder if the 1986 BIOS XT's could actually support AT keyboards, or whether it's just an AT "style" XT keyboard?
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A keyboard designed ONLY for the XT will not work in an AT, and vice-versa.

According to Upgrading & Repairing PC's (Fifth Edition), some of IBM's 101 keyboards had a switch to select between XT or AT modes (just like a lot of clone keyboards), and some IBM 101 keyboards autoswitched between XT and AT modes.
 
dongfeng said:
Wa, what a weird card! I have *no* idea what this could be.
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I've seen boards like this in old Novell Netware 2 servers. A bit like a dongle - if the software didn't see it, the software wouldn't play ball.
 
I thought I would post the solutions to my keyboard problems, in case anyone has a similar problem in the future. Also, the information for International keyboard settings prior to the changes made in DOS 3.3 can be hard to find.

To set international layout, just load C:\DOS\KEYBxx.COM in the autoexec.bat, KEYBUK will load the UK keyboard layout (there is also KEYBFR for French, KEYBIT for Italian and so on).

This works perfectly for the original 83-key keyboard, but my problem was using the Enhanced 102 key keyboard the mapping is strange.

The solution is to add /E to the KEYBUK command:

KEYBUK /E

Then the enhanced keys will now work :)

Also on DOS 2.11 and newer you can add COUNTRY=xx (xx being the country number) to your config.sys to set date and time layouts :)
 
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