Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!uwvax!astroatc!vidiot!brown
From: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Sys Req - key.
Keywords: SysReq
Message-ID: <289@vidiot.UUCP>
Date: 8 Dec 89 18:59:10 GMT
References: <187@nmtvax.nmt.edu> <1989Dec5.190738.17084@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <20358@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <1989Dec6.054648.17589@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>
Reply-To: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Organization: Vidiot's Hangout
Lines: 19

In article <1989Dec6.054648.17589@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> trier@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu (Stephen Trier) writes:
<Peter Norton's _Programmer's_Guide_to_the_IBM_PC_and_PS/2_ contains a pretty
<complete description of the Sys Rq key.  The key is apparently meant to be
<used for operating systems, perhaps as a hot key to switch between virtual
<terminals or to suspend a process and return you to a shell.  When it is
<pressed, the BIOS does an Int 15H with AH=85H and AL=00H.  When the key is
<released, it does the same interupt, but with AL set to 01H instead.  That
<way, your program can use it as a shift key, kind of like Alt.
<
<Apparently, very few (if any) programs or operating systems use the key.

IGC's VM/386 uses it.  You do a Alt-SysRq to bring up the menu manager or
to switch to a different partition.  If you don't have the 101 key layout,
then the SysRq key is used by itself.
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