NOKEYB for Highscreen Handy Organizer

Everything about vintage DOS based Palmtops goes in here...
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bttr
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Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jun 10, 2021 7:33 pm
Location: Berlin, Germany
Favorite Palmtop: Highscreen-Handy-Organizer
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NOKEYB for Highscreen Handy Organizer

Post by bttr »

Hi all!

I'd like to let you know, that I created NOKEYB:
NOKEYB prevents loading the standard DOS keyboard driver KEYB.COM in C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT on the Vobis external link Highscreen Handy Organizer palmtop PC. This allows using a custom keyboard driver or no driver at all to save precious RAM. (KEYB.COM uses 6,208 bytes.)

Files C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT and D:\DOS\KEYB.COM are in ROM (read-only memory) on this palmtop PC. That prevents editing, renaming, or deleting. So I came up with this tiny 'fake' device driver to intercept the DOS 'load and execute' function.

When the palmtop PC boots and DOS tried to run d:\dos\KEYB.COM (from C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT) NOKEYB disables itself, leaving a RAM footprint of 80 bytes only.

Home: https://www.bttr-software.de/products/nokeyb/
NOKEYB R2 announcement: https://www.bttr-software.de/forum/boar ... p?id=17830
NOKEYB R1 announcement: https://www.bttr-software.de/forum/boar ... p?id=17749 (Also has info about a workaround to disable executing C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT)

I'm currently working on a second driver. This time to redirect file access to C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT to E:\AUTOEXEC.BAT.
Update 2021-07-02: The second driver has been released a few days ago: C2EAUTO for Highscreen Handy Organizer
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