Altering Keys

This section describes Epsilon's facilities for internally altering the keys you type. You might need to do this to make Epsilon for DOS work with a TSR program or to force it recognize a nonstandard key combination. Epsilon has a general-purpose low-level facility called the keytran array to do this (see Keys). The program-keys command presents a menu of options, listing some typical customizations you may need to do.

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Under DOS, Epsilon uses several "nonstandard" keys such as the Alt-<Period> key and the Ctrl-<Up> key. A few resident utility programs (also known as keyboard enhancers, Pop-up utilities, and TSR's) use the same nonstandard keys that the DOS version of Epsilon uses. Normally, Epsilon keeps these keys for its own use, and resident programs won't see them. The numbered options of program-keys instruct Epsilon to release the conflicting keys used by several resident programs. Epsilon will then pass these keys to the resident program instead of using these keys itself.

A

Both DOS and OS/2 allow you to enter graphic characters by holding down the Alt key and typing their decimal codes on the numeric keypad. However, Epsilon normally binds commands to these keys. The "A" options tells Epsilon you want to enter graphic characters numerically in this way. (Note: Epsilon for Windows always acts as if you had selected this option. So does Epsilon for OS/2, when running in an OS/2 Presentation Manager window.) You can also enter a character by its decimal code using the insert-ascii command.

I

Use this option if you must alter the translations of individual keys. Epsilon will ask you to press a key, show you the current translation of that key, and ask for a new translation.

To replace one key with another, use the I option to determine the numeric code of the replacement key. Then use the I option again and press the key you want to modify. Press Y to enter a new translation for the key. Then enter the numeric code of the replacement key.

You can also use this facility to defeat the automatic replacement that the computer's BIOS does (in the DOS version), forcing Epsilon to distinguish between two keys when the BIOS considers them identical. To do this, use the I option to select the key you want to modify. When Epsilon asks for the new translation value, type in the same number shown as the key's code. For example, to make Epsilon distinguish Shift-<GreyPlus>, shown as key number 579, change its translation from the default value of -1 to 579.

Sometimes you have to do just the opposite. By default, a key like Alt-< (key number 316) has a translation code of 316, telling Epsilon to retain the key and not pass it to the BIOS (DOS version only). Epsilon does this because the BIOS ignores this key combination. Similarly, the BIOS normally changes the key combination Alt-# (key number 291) into Alt-3 (the unshifted form). So Epsilon sets its translation to 291 so the BIOS never sees it. But sometimes TSR programs watch for a particular key combination, typically one the BIOS doesn't recognize. You may have to tell Epsilon to pass such a key combination through, so that the TSR program can see it. Do this by setting the key's translation to -1. The numbered options of program-keys described above do this, for the special keys used by some common TSR programs.

There are a few other things you can do with key translation codes. See the description of the keytran array in Keys for more details.

D

This option restores Epsilon to its default state, undoing all the changes you've made with these options.

Q

This option exits the program-keys command.

Standard bindings:

program-keys

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