How can I change keyboard language in DOS 6.22?
August 7th, 2016
I’ve got an English copy of DOS 6.22 on my oldest computer.
I would like change the keyboard settings from English to Swedish, since I only have a Swedish keyboard for my oldest machine. I can’t use any Swedish letters, like �, � and �.
Do you have any ideas?
Thanks a lot in advance!
Use the KEYB command with the keyboard layout code sv for a Swedish keyboard. Syntax: keyb [xx],[yyy],[path][filename][switches]
The first parameter you need has the two-letter country code (referred to in DOS Help as xx). Each language supported by DOS contains its own two-letter code. The Canadian-French language, for example, is represented by the code “cf”; the United States is represented by “us”. The second parameter specifies the code page (referred to in the DOS Help file as yyy). The code page tells DOS which set of characters to use. Most languages supported by DOS contain two code pages, one with the more common character set and a second containing additional special characters. You usually won’t need to specify the code page if you’re using the common character set.
The third parameter is filename, which tells DOS which language file to use with your specified country code. In DOS 6.22, some languages are contained in the Keyboard.sys file; others are in the Keybrd2.sys file. Usually these files are in the DOS directory. If you’re using a country code contained in Keyboard.sys in the DOS directory, you don’t need to specify this file in the command line. When using Keybrd2.sys, or if your language file isn’t in the DOS directory, you must specify this file name and its path. (NOTE: For languages in the Keybrd2.sys file, you can open the Country.txt file, which is usually located in the DOS directory. It contains the same information for languages in the Keybrd2.sys file as DOS Help ).
The final two parameters are infrequently used. The /E switch tells DOS you’re using an enhanced keyboard with older 8088 and 8086 computers. If you have a newer computer, you’ll never need this parameter. The /ID switch is used to accommodate France, the United Kingdom, and Italy, which have more than one keyboard layout available with a single language. You can specify the secondary keyboard layout with the /ID switch followed by these three countries’ keyboard identification numbers (represented by nnn), which are listed in your DOS Help file.