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1993-04-03
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I. SUMMARY
GREEKVGA 1.3 is a keyboard and screen font enabling users to compose
modern Greek text. It requires an IBM compatible computer,
with a VGA graphics adapter and DOS 2.1 or later.
II. USAGE
The program is composed of the following two modules:
1. GREEKVGA.COM is the VGA screen font loader.
To load it, issue the command GREEKVGA from the DOS prompt or a
batch file. There are no parameters.
2. GREEKKEY.COM is the keyboard driver.
To load it, issue the command GREEKKEY from the DOS prompt or a
batch file. Valid parameters are:
/E Loads an alternative keyboard definition. See part II, below.
/A Uses the Apostrophy key for punctuation. See II, below.
/G Loads GREEKKEY in Greek keyboard mode.
/? Displays some help info and quits.
III. REGISTRATION/COPYRIGHT.
This program is freeware. I would be thankful if those using it
dropped me a line to say so. I can be reached at:
Internet: mpoly@panix.com
I can also be found at the GREEK conference of ILINK. Come join us!
I will TRY to provide technical assistance if needed. No warranties.
IV. KEYBOARD LAYOUT.
The keyboard driver is similar to the layout of a standard Greek Typewriter:
(note: You will need to load GREEKVGA to read the following table)
Standard: Shifted:
\ ¬ £ ¿ ½ ¼ ƒ á ª º [ ] | ¬ ä É Æ ô ç ê Ä Å { }
ÿ ⌐ ¢ ¡ Ü ₧ Ñ í ó · ' Ç æ â ö é å ì ë è : "
¥ « » α Ö ñ ú , . / à ò û ù ü î ï < > ;
After hitting accent key: (\) After hitting shifted accent key: (\)
\ ¬ Γ ¿ ½ τ ƒ σ µ º [ ] \ ┌ ┬ ┐ ± Φ ∩ Σ ° ≈ [ ]
ß ⌐ ¢ ¡ Ü π Ñ í ó · ' │ ├ ┼ ┤ ■ √ ≡ ≤ ≥ · '
¥ « » Θ Ö ñ ú , . / ─ └ ┴ ┘ █ ⁿ ∙ , . /
Hitting ALT and the accent key switches between Greek and English
keyboards. The accent key is normally the backslach (\). Use the
Q key or type \\ to obtain a backslash while in Greek mode. Use
shift-Q or || to obtain a bar while in Greek mode.
Note that some non-standard characters can be obtained by hitting
shift-accent key (normally shift-\), and another character.
Also note that typing a capital letter after hitting the accent
key produces the capital letter unaccented (There is no capitalization
of capital characters in Modern Greek).
Three command line options affect the keyboard layout:
1.The command GREEKKEY /E results in the following re-mappings:
The Q key becomes ç (Theta)
The W key becomes ù (Omega)
The V key becomes ¬ (trailing sigma)
The U key becomes ô (Ypsilon)
This is a non-standard layout, but it is easier for many who are used
to typing Greek using Latin characters. In this layout, the only way
to produce the accent-key characters (\ and |) is to hit the
accent key twice.
2.The command GREEKKEY /A results in the apostrophe (') key being used as
the accent key. This is more standard, but I find the backslash (\) better
placed for quick typing. Unless the E option has also been specified,
the letter Q is remapped to produce the accent key characters (' and ").
3.The command GREEKKEY /G loads GREEKKEY, and switches the keyboard layout
to Greek immediately.
The commands can be combined in any order.
EXAMPLE: GREEKKEY /G/E/A
IV. USAGE/COMPATIBILITY ISSUES:
DOS
You can type Greek on the DOS prompt, but you have to be careful.
There is nothing wrong with giving files Greek names,
but you must switch back to English whenever you want to
type a command like COPY or DEL.
One fix is to use the DOSKEY command of DOS 5.0 to create Greek
commands. For example you could add in your AUTOEXEC.bat the
command
DOSKEY æüôæä=DEL &*
Then everytime you type æüôæä (Erase) you will be in fact executing
the dos DEL command. This works well if you also give your files
Greek names.
Version 1.0 of GreekVGA did not work with well with DOS 5.0. Seems that
Microsoft has decided to use the ASCII character 224 (α) for some
undocumented function in the keyboard buffer. Version 1.2 fixes this
problem.
WordPerfect.
GreekVGA works GREAT with Wordperfect 5.1. For best results, use the
following tips:
1) Start WP with the command
WP /CP=8510 etc etc
This makes WP aware that you are using the Greek keyboard. WP files
produced this way are 100% compatible with all other versions of
WP on other platforms, including WP/Windows and the Greek edition of
WP DOS. You need a late (1991-) version of WP to use this feature.
When starting WP with the /CP=8510 option you will also be able to
import/export ASCII files typed using GREEKVGA.
You will also be able to print files in Greek if your printer is able
to print graphic characters.
2) One small problem with WP and GreekVGA is that the Greek keyboard driver
may interfere when typing WP commands, (for example Sh-F7,F to print). You
have 2 options:
a. Use numbers instead of letters to enter WP commands (like Sh-F7,1)
b. Switch to English mode when entering WP commands
Qedit.
This excellent ASCII Text editor is great for short letters, email messages,
and programs. GREEKVGA was written using Qedit. It is shareware with a
reasonable registration fee, and is easy to learn.
Since QEDIT accepts all its commands as CTRL and ALT keystrokes, there is
no need to switch to english to issue a command.
WordStar
Works ok. One hint: Use all CTRL characters to type commands when in
Greek mode.
For example, ^KD will not work, but ^K^D will do just fine. Many
Wordstar-emulation programs work this way, including the Borland
Turbo language editors.
dBase III
No problem. Haven't tested it with dBase IV, though.
Communications programs.
You can enter Greek characters in a modem session if you have an
8-bit connection, and your host and local software support 8-bit
characters. IBM mainframes connected through 7171 or other protocol
converters do not; many BBS systems however do.
Do not forget that the person on the other side of the connection
must also have GreekVGA or another emulator to read your messages.
So give them a copy!
Lotus 1-2-3
Nope. 1-2-3 uses it's own character set, and it is not very fond of
people trying to stuff things to the keyboard buffer. There is no
crash, but you cannot type in some of the characters.
TSR's
I have taken the high road of using only recomended DOS/BIOS interrupts.
As a result, GreekVGA may be pre-empted by a "Naughty" TSR that
plays by its own rules. Loading GreekVGA after the offending TSR often
fixes the problem. GreekVGA works well with Sidekick in place, but you
cannot type Greek characters in Sidekick's notepad.
Other programs
Any program that accepts high-ASCII input should work well with GREEKVGA.
One problem arises from the fact that while many programs can accept
high-ASCII as data, they expect program commands in English. The best
solution then is to remember to switch back to the English keyboard
before issuing the command. Programs that accept commands as ALT and
CTRL keystrokes do not suffer from this problem.
Very rarely do programs use the keystroke ALT-\ for anything. If that
happens, try using Shift-Alt-\ instead to perform the same function.
You may also try using the /A switch, which causes GREEKVGA to use
ALT-' instead of ALT-\ as the language toggle.
A few programs bypass the BIOS when re-setting the screen mode, resulting
in the Greek screen font being lost temporarily. If this happens, return
to DOS, and issue the command MODE CO80, which should re-set the font.
Windows
Windows bypasses the DOS interrupt and VGA fonts, so that GREEKVGA will
do nothing for it. You can use GREEKVGA in DOS programs running in
full-screen sessions, but I have encountered limited cases where the
screen does not look right. It does not hurt to experiment.
One problem with Windows is that I do not possess the artistic skills
required to design a TrueType Greek font, and there are legal implications
to simply modyfying the Symbols font and calling it my own. If anyone out
there knows of a good public-domain Greek font, please drop me a line.
Printing
You are on your own. If you use WP or WP/Win you can import any GreekVGA
ascii file to WP and print it out, if your printer allows it. Otherwise
you will need a printer with Greek support.
(c) 1992 Michael S. Polymenakos