Can't change keyboard layout in mode 7

I am trying to make a boot-to-BASIC risc os system, and i have succeeded in booting to BASIC, but BASIC will not respect my US keyboard layout setting.
I can drop into the * prompt and run Keyboard USA, but that will not persist.

I can drop into the * prompt and run Keyboard USA, but that will not persist.

It’s odd that you mention “drop into the * prompt” as BASIC allows you to enter * commands from the > prompt. However, onward…

Enter *Configure Country USA
The keyboard layout should be correct¹ after a reboot.

¹ The command changes the alphabet as well as the keyboard layout, but that should not be a problem for the USA.

Assuming that the boot-to-BASIC scheme involves a “*BASIC” command in an Obey script, putting the “* Keyboard USA” command just before that would have the desired effect without altering the CMOS settings.

If you’re using the CMOS settings themselves to boot directly into BASIC, then pre-cofiguring the CMOS for US keyboard would be sensible, leading to loading the CMOS file doing both kbd and start-up language.

You don’t specify the mechanism of your approach.

I am using *configure mode 7 and *configure language 22.
*configure country usa did not work.

*configure country usa did not work.

Slight error in the supplied info.

*country usa should do the change for you.
For general info, there’s the User Guide (download link at the bottom) content on command line options, plus the hands on bit of *h. commands to give you a list of the available command line options.

Play around with the options, when you have a set that work, then use *SaveCMOS to have that as the options at boot.

I’m totally new to RISC OS, so I don’t know a lot about it.
How do I use SaveCMOS?
What file do I pass to it?

I’m a totally new to RISC OS, so I don’t know a lot about it.

Welcome aboard – I hope you are younger than most of us here.

How do I use SaveCMOS?

just key the command followed by a filename.

*savecmos cmos_saved

The file cmos_saved will be saved in the current working directory – the root of your harddrive if you have not changed it.

I’m a totally new to RISC OS, so I don’t know a lot about it.

That was why I pointed you at the command line help h. is short for *help so in your specific case:

*h. savecmos
==> Help on keyword SaveCMOS
*SaveCMOS saves the computer's configuration to a configuration file
Syntax: *SaveCMOS <file>

*h. Commands
will give a long listing of the CLI commands available grouped by the module that provides them – in which you will notice that there is also a LoadCMOS command

Welcome aboard – I hope you are younger than most of us here.

Definitely!
(I’m still in high school)

I am not sure how *savecmos is supposed to help,
I have tried *savecmos cmos_saved and *savecmos !boot.loader.cmos, but neither of them worked.

I have tried *savecmos cmos_saved

That should save the file to the current directory. Open a Task window, or press F12 to leave the desktop, and type Cat at the prompt. It will show you the content of the current directory, among which your cmos_saved file.

If you specify a special directory, you should type the full path, as found on the title bar if you open that directory in the filer. For example, in my setup that would be: *savecmos scsi::4te2.$.!Boot.Loader.cmos_saved.

Do you mean you aren’t getting the same settings after a power cycle?

The thing to note is that although it says SaveCMOS it isn’t actually saving the settings into a battery backed up CMOS chip – it’s exporting them to a file. If you type *CAT at the command prompt, it will “catalogue” (list) the files in your current directory and one will be the “cmos_saved” file.

That’s because the command ^SaveCMOS CMOS_Saved will do what it says and save the settings you have at that time into a file called “CMOS_Saved” in the directory that you happen to be in at the time of the command.

To reload those settings after another change you want to revert, or a power loss, you need to use the matching command *LoadCMOS cmos_saved or to have saved the file where the system is looking when it boots.

Back in the days when a floppy disc was more than a spinal medical condition, we could save the settings out to a floppy so we could do a quicker recovery from problems like some naff program changing the settings and saving them as something we didn’t normally want. Games programmers topped the list for that.

I have tried *savecmos cmos_saved and *savecmos !boot.loader.cmos, but neither of them worked.

Are you sure?

list the files in those locations (use *CAT) and note the time stamp, repeat the savecmos and check the timestamp again to be sure it is saving where you think.

I am not sure how *savecmos is supposed to help

In the olden days, the machine configuration was stored in non-volatile memory called CMOS. With the advent of the RPi, this was no longer possible. An initial fudge tacked it onto the end of the ROM image, but now it is saved as a separate file in the !Boot:Loader directory (the bit you shouldn’t tamper with) as a file called, unsurprisingly, CMOS.

This is reloaded during boot.

The idea is that, once you have the m/c how you want it, you save its configuration state by saving the CMOS file.

The flaws in this are that this should happen automagically on shutdown anyway, and by saving a CMOS file separately you have to substitute it for the one in the bit you shouldn’t really mess with.

Perhaps it isn’t working because you haven’t been shutting down properly – which of course you can’t really do from the BASIC prompt!

So the idea is that you have to save a CMOS file yourself and use it to replace the existing one.

An easier approach in my opinion would be to use an obeyfile in Boot:Tasks to do all the work for you in setting-up what you want from the Desktop, then auto-switching to BASIC. Noting Steve’s correction on the Country command, putting all your required OS commands in a simple Obeyfile and making the last line “BASIC” to switch to that language would get you to where you want without involving explicitly saving CMOS settings or messing where you shouldn’t.

In fact, doing your keyboard and country settings at the command prompt (F12) from the desktop then shutting down properly from the “switcher” iconbar icon menu (extreme right) should make these settings stick anyway, so adding your Obeyfile to “Tasks” saying just “BASIC” as a command should work. Oh, you’ll still need to switch to MODE 7!

Of course, I may be wrong, as we all reserve the right to be!

I’m assuming you are using a Raspberry Pi here. If not, tell us what you are using…

It needs a line in the config.txt file just before loading the ROM to ensure the CMOS information is in memory so the system can see it

Does the $.!Boot.Loader.CONFIG/TXT file refer to it at all?
(or \CONFIG.TXT if seen as a FAT partition on another machine).

Update (at my Pi now):

The last three lines of the CONFIG file should be something like:

ramfsfile=CMOS
ramfsaddr=0x508000
kernel=RISCOS.IMG

There should be a CMOS RAM file (created using the aforementioned *SaveCMOS command) called “CMOS” in the Loader/FAT part so it can be seen and loaded before RISC OS itself starts. Using the *LoadCMOS command won’t be useful as a lot of state is determined during startup (keyboard, language, filing system, etc etc) so this must be present as described here.

How did you come to set up your RISC OS machine, as I’m a little bit surprised that one of the available SD card images (either here or Direct) doesn’t have this already set up.

Therefore:

• Set up your machine as you would like it to be.
• Use the command: *SaveCMOS $.!Boot.Loader.CMOS
• Ensure the CONFIG file makes reference to it (ramfsfile/ramfsaddr as described above).
• You’re booting from the µSD card (it’s the SDCMOS module that keeps the settings up to date, and that only knows about the µSD card).

If all four conditions are met, you should be good to go.

He might have used the PICO (not to be confused with rp2040) download that was here a while ago.

I tried it at the time and had many of the same problems.

It didn’t use a RISC OS file system at all and just booted to BASIC in FAT32FS. There was a updated version of BASICEdit (*armbe) kicking around at the time too which had more screen modes and went really well with this on a PI but I remember the file system must have been a bit dodgy because bits of files would get left off when you save.

I was never sure if this was a bug or just a buffer flushing problem but the whole thing, while a neat idea was practically unusable.

but BASIC will not respect my US keyboard layout setting. I can drop into the * prompt and run Keyboard USA, but that will not persist.

After a very brief session I came to the conclusion that the keyboard configuration is read at some point as !Boot runs. Booting directly into BASIC, which does not run !Boot, means that the setting is never read and the keyboard is stuck at UK.

Persuade !Boot to go to BASIC rather than the Desktop and the keyboard is indeed set to USA. (That was a test here and not a realistic suggestion.)