> On 07/10/2021 18:47, tom ehlert wrote: >> were these 2 layouts dynamically switchable (and actually >> switched)
> They were actually not switchable, mainly due to their implementation: > CP852 was provided by "mode con cp" through MS-DOS, while the Mazovia > codepage was usually loaded through a custom TSR (maz.exe comes to > mind). Hence "switching" required to unload maz.exe and run the > appropriate mode con cp prepare/select combo. And that's what I was > doing whenever I needed to use a program that was assuming CP852. > But now, since Mazovia and CP852 are both supported by FreeDOS, they can > be easily switched without relying on any exotic TSRs. > The full story is that when the IBM PC came to Poland, it wasn't > handling Polish glyphs at all, so Poles had to come up with their own > codepage when creating their IBM PC clone (Mazovia 1016). It was first > burned in custom ROMs, and later - with VGA cards - loaded to the VGA > memory through TSRs. > Then, later, Microsoft/IBM decided to support Polish, and did so by > cramming most of east-European glyphs into CP852... Which not only led > to a poorly usable codepage (garbled Norton Commander semigraphics!), > but also introduced chaos in the way Poles were exchanging text. Some > started using the Microsoft 852 page, since it was meant to be the "new > standard", and others kept using Mazovia since it was superior and > well-established... Ah, those good times. so there would be 2 polish keyboard layouts: PLMAZ and PL852. still no way to communicate this between KEYB and DISPLAY and PRINTER. maybe just switch to Windows/Linux and UTF-whatever ;) Tom _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
