Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!linac!att!news.cs.indiana.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!phil From: phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Phil Howard KA9WGN) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Re: Problems with NUMLOCK key .. part 2 Message-ID: <1991Feb4.193529.25290@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Date: 4 Feb 91 19:35:29 GMT References: Distribution: comp.sys.ibm.pc.harsware Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 29 rfrost@spam.ua.oz.au (Richard Frost) writes: >BUT, why is it, that by unplugging a keyboard after enabling NUMLOCK and >then plugging it back in, that it is possible to get NUMBERS to come >from the EXTENDED arrow keys as though they are keypad keys (the >keypad arrow keys put out numbers also). Surely the computer >can differentiate by looking at the E0 prefixes! Sounds to me like a BIOS bug that didn't expect, and was not tested with, this "unusual" situation. Does the NUMLOCK light come back on when the keyboard is reattached? Do things start working "right" again once the NUMLOCK key is pressed again to reestablish numlock? >The above situation was observed on all the keyboards we have at work, >all designed by different manufacturers. I might have to try this with my IBM Xstation 120 which uses the same keyboard as my PS/2. >## I would like to hear from people who have been involved with ## >## DESIGNING IBM keyboards and software for the micros that go in them ## >## as they would have come across this problem. ## Can't help here. I did once write a program that did its own interpretation of the key up/down codes, but I never tried unplugging the keyboard. -- --Phil Howard, KA9WGN-- | Individual CHOICE is fundamental to a free society | no matter what the particular issue is all about.