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- Num Lock Redefinition Utility
- =============================
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- by
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- Geoffrey Furnish
- Physical Dynamics
- P.O. Box 8556
- Austin, TX 78713
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- FUNCTION
- NM is a program which causes the Num Lock key on IBM PC, AT and extended
- AT keyboards to act as if it was another F1 key. However, the combination
- Shift Num Lock is unaffected, and will still change the Num Lock state.
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- OPERATION
- To initiate the NM program, just place it somewhere that can be accessed
- from your DOS path, and type NM (followed by return/enter). You will be
- greeted by a short salutation, and from that point forward, your Num Lock key
- will function as an additional F1 key. To recover the previous keyboard
- behavior, it is necessary to reboot the machine.
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- SHAREWARE
- Please understand that this program is SHAREWARE. You may share this
- software with your friends (or anyone else), you may upload it to buletin
- boards (please do), and you may of course use it as much as you like.
- However, if you do use this program, then please contribute to my efforts
- financially. I suggest a contribution of $5 for those who intend to only
- use the executable version of this program. Of course, I will certainly accept
- any remuneration, be it more or less than $5. Individuals who would like the
- source code may have it for $10. Please include a specific statement of your
- desire for the source, so that I may distinguish the generous from those who
- would like the source, and please also indicate the size disk you would like
- to receive. Mail to:
- Physical Dynamics / P.O. Box 8556 / Austin, TX 78713
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- MOTIVATION AND USES
- This program was motivated by my frustration at not being able to use
- the Num Lock key for any useful purpose inside application programs. In
- particular, I use the excellent public domain program Kermit quite frequently
- for online connection to VAX computers. This program provides the ability
- to emulate the operation of VT 100 and VT 300 series terminals. On these
- terminals, the key which is in the same position as the PC AT extended
- keyboard's Num Lock, is a very important key (the PF1 key, or the Gold key).
- However, Kermit is not able to actually use the Num Lock key, so it is
- necessary to use some other key to serve the purpose. Many users use
- the F1 key. Also, many other terminal emulation programs which emulate
- the VT 100 series terminals have the same problem.
- This program overcomes this difficulty and causes the Num Lock key to
- behave as if it were the F1 key (the F1 key is unaffected and functions
- normally). Consequently, application programs which respond to the F1 key
- will now respond to the Num Lock key as well.
-
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- USE WITH MS-KERMIT
- To use the Num Lock key in MS-KERMIT version 3.x and 2.32 (it may work
- with earlier versions too, but I'm not sure) you need to do two things.
- 1) Load the NM program by typing NM from the DOS prompt. It
- will not be necessary to keep NM in your current directory,
- as long as it is accessible from the DOS path.
- 2) Issue an appropriate set key command(s) in Kermit. This
- is perhaps most easily accomplished from your MSKERMIT.INI
- file. Here is an excerpt from my kermit initialization file
- which shows how I set up my PC AT extended keyboard:
-
- ;
- ; Setup the key definitions the way I like them.
- ;
- set key \315 \Kgold ; F1 (using NM, Num Lock also serves as GOLD key)
- set key \316 \Kholdscrn ; F2
- set key \317 \Kdos ; F3
- set key \318 \Kexit ; F4
- ;
- set key \4399 \Kpf2 ; grey /
- set key \311 \Kpf3 ; grey *
- set key \330 \Kpf4 ; grey -
- ;
- set key \327 \Kkp7 ; PC keypad 7
- set key \328 \Kkp8 ; PC keypad 8
- set key \329 \Kkp9 ; PC keypad 9
- set key \334 \Kkpminus ; Big grey +
- ;
- set key \331 \Kkp4 ; PC keypad 4
- set key \332 \Kkp5 ; PC keypad 5
- set key \333 \Kkp6 ; PC keypad 6
- set key \2382 \Kkpcoma ; ALT Big grey +
- ;
- set key \335 \Kkp1 ; PC keypad 1
- set key \336 \Kkp2 ; PC keypad 2
- set key \337 \Kkp3 ; PC keypad 3
- ;
- set key \338 \Kkp0 ; PC keypad 0
- set key \339 \Kkpdot ; PC keypad .
- set key \4365 \Kkpenter ; Big grey ENTER
- ;
- set key \322 \26 ; F8 = ^Z
- ;
- ; Now setup the dedicated cursor pad on the PC AT extended keyboard.
- ; Comment out this section if you don't have the extended keyboard.
- ;
- ; First of all, the labels on the keys from the two heyboards are:
- ;
- ; Dec VT 200/300 series PC AT extended keyboard
- ; +----------+----------+----------+ +----------+----------+----------+
- ; | Find | Insert | Remove | | Insert | Home | Page |
- ; | | Here | | | | | Up |
- ; +----------+----------+----------+ +----------+----------+----------+
- ; | Select | Previous | Next | | Delete | End | Page |
- ; | | Screen | Screen | | | | Down |
- ; +----------+----------+----------+ +----------+----------+----------+
- ;
- ; I prefer to ignore the labels on my PC keytops, and use the exact layout
- ; of the Dec keyboards, but you may easily rearrange the following definitions
- ; to keep the functions assigned to the keys with similar names. Suit yourself.
- ;
- set key \4434 \kdecfind ; PC cursor keypad insert -> Dec Find
- set key \4423 \kdecinsert ; PC cursor keypad home -> Dec Insert Here
- set key \4425 \kdecremove ; PC cursor keypad pg up -> Dec Remove
- set key \4435 \kdecselect ; PC cursor keypad delete -> Dec Select
- set key \4431 \kdecprev ; PC cursor keypad end -> Dec Prev Screen
- set key \4433 \kdecnext ; PC cursor keypad pg dn -> Dec Next Screen
- ;
- ; Now define some keys for rolling around screen memory.
- set key \5522 \kupone ; PC cursor keypad ctl insert
- set key \5495 \khomscn ; PC cursor keypad ctl home
- set key \5508 \kupscn ; PC cursor keypad ctl pg up
- set key \5523 \kdnone ; PC cursor keypad ctl delete
- set key \5493 \kendscn ; PC cursor keypad ctl end
- set key \5494 \kdnscn ; PC cursor keypad ctl pg dn
- ;
-
- Note that these definitions are intended to be used on a
- PC AT extended keyboard which has the separate dedicated
- cursor keypad. If you don't have such a keyboard, the last
- few lines (for redefining the dedicated cursor keypad keys)
- may not be of use to you.
-
- Note also, that the only thing here which specifically relates
- to the NM program, is the use of the F1 key as the GOLD key
- (first line of my example ini file). All of the other mappings
- will work whether you use NM or not. But if you do use NM
- then whenever you strike the Num Lock key, Kermit will transmit
- the GOLD (PF1) key to the host. This provides extremely close
- compatibility with the Dec VT 100 and VT 300 series terminals.
- The only remaining incompatibility is the oversized grey + key
- on the PC. I use ALT GREY + to be the Dec keypad comma key.
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- USE WITH OTHER PROGRAMS
- I have tested NM with some other keyboard redefinition / keystroke macro
- utilities, but not very many. I have encountered no dificulties so far. The
- only type of programs which I anticipate there may be difficulties with, are
- those which seek to enlarge the keybaord buffer from the paltry 16 character
- buffer that IBM graced us all with, to something larger. With such programs
- there is a possibility that the order of loading may affect whether NM will
- function correctly or not. I have not been able to test this to date. If you
- have experiences either good or bad with using NM with such programs, I would
- be interested in the details.
- Other programs, which do not enlarge the keystroke buffer, should function
- with no trouble. In particular, you should be able to use NM with other
- VT 100/200/300 series terminal emulation software to map Num Lock to F1 and
- thus to PF1. If you have problems with a specific piece of software, I will
- of course try to help out.
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- ABOUT PHYSICAL DYNAMICS
- Physical Dynamics is a company which I have formed for the sole purpose
- of generating income for myself and my family while I am in graduate school.
- Those of you who are or have been in graduate school, will appreciate the
- need for extra money. Those who are considering going to graduate school
- should be advised that the economics of putting yourself through grad school
- are very demanding indeed.
- In any event, it is my intention to develop various programs which
- demonstrate the action (dynamics) of various interesting physical systems.
- As of this writing (April 90) I have a program which demonstrates the action
- of the logistic map, almost ready to post. Specifically, this program
- introduces the user to iterated function systems, the idea of a nonlinear
- paramater, and some of the first principles of "Chaos Science". This program
- will be of interested to highly motivated high school students in physics and
- math, or to college age science students who would like a hands on introduction
- to the much talked about field of nonlinear dynamics (NLD), more commonly
- referred to as Chaos. If you are interested in this program, please write.
- Future plans for additional Physical Dynamics products are still very
- much up in the air. If you have an idea for a physical system which can be
- modelled numerically by computer, and which has educational value, and which
- would be of interest to a reasonable number of people (by which I mean that
- it would be profitable!) then please let me know. If a substantial number
- of requests are made for similar sounding items, that would probably influence
- my development efforts.
- One thing I am considering is a solar system / generalized gravitational
- many body simulator. Another idea I am considering is a simple introduction
- to motions of charged particles in E and B fields, maybe even going as far
- as simple plasma simulations. There are several books on these topics, but
- most of them are addressed at the PhD physicist, and not at a level more
- accessible to upper secondary / beginning college students. I am of the
- oppinion that the physics education in our high schools could be greatly
- improved by taking time to introduce students to interesting and complicated
- problems, (perhaps with certain simplifying assumptions), and letting them
- do "computer experiments". Many high schools have PC type hardware, and I
- believe, many of our high school students are capable of this type of learning.
- If you have comments or suggestions on these or other matters, then
- please write. If you would like to support endeavors such as these, then
- please consider supporting Physical Dynamics financially.