IBMKBD.SYS

The IBM Keyboard Device Dependent Driver (IBMKBD.SYS) is one of the two separate drivers for the keyboard physical device driver. It handles the hardware interrupts and keyboard hardware commands. This driver also passes notification of a hot-plug and scan codes to KBDBASE.SYS (the device-independent driver).

CONFIG.SYS
Provides support for your keyboard. Some tools e.g. the Ctrl-Alt-Del Commander form Perez Computing or the Process Commander from Stardock are replacing KBDBASE.SYS by their own version. Whenever you deinstall these tools manually be sure to revert to the original KBDBASE.SYS.

It has been reported that Process Commander fails with later kernel versions (WSeB and Warp 4 Fixpak 13 or higher) BASEDEV=IBMKBD.SYS

Parameter:


 * /NONE:Assumes a keyboard is installed even if a keyboard is not attached. Starts OS/2 even when no keyboard is attached. Useful for unsupervised operation.
 * /NUMON:Turns the numeric keys on your keyboard on. This switch works only on some configurations, it depends on what a keyboard you have and what codepage you use.
 * /NUMOFF:Turns the numeric keys on your keyboard off.

TIP: For the mostly sold so called 'Win95-Keyboards' there are two replacement drivers: One by Robert Muchsel, Release is Ver 2.00 (winkey02.zip), or (w95k210.zip)

TIP: By Kovacs Istvan: If you try BASEDEV=IMBKBD.SYS /NUMON numlock could turned on like with the utility 'jshifter'. Works only with some releases of the IBMKBD.SYS delivered with Warp. According to the mails I've got it seems that the parameter doesn't work on nearly most keyboards, (but one some) so you have still to use 'JShifter' (jshif162.zip), or 'numlock' by Peter Engels (numl_on.zip).

TIP: If you prefer a so called Dvorak keyboard layout (a keyboard which tends to arrange the characters more ergonomic than the qwerty type - which was a need when constructing mechanical typewriters at the end of the 19th century - since Fixpak 8 for Warp 4 (maybe earlier, but this was the first time I was aware of its existence) go to your keyboard settings in the System Setup folder and simply select Dvorak (for left and righthanded!, but only in English). Now you only need a keyboard with a Dvorak layout (or one of these old but beautiful IBM keyboards with a 'click' and 'solid as a rock', here you can pull the caps and place em where you want). This is another new goodie in OS/2 IBM never speaks of.

Source Code
The source code of this file is included on the IBM Developer Connection Device Driver Kit for OS/2. It can not be open sourced, but the source code is available for IBM DDK customers and a free/paid binaries can be released.