PS/2 key code mapping

I’ve recently opened a merge request with some code cleanup, but I have a few questions relating to the key code mappings:

• There’s a section of the tables with mappings for the unreleased Stork laptop, however most of the RISC OS low level keys don’t exist in the list in HdrSrc, and I couldn’t find any references to the PS/2 codes either. Are the Stork key codes documented anywhere, and would they have equivalents on standard keyboards?
• There’s an unused flag called MapWinRToPower which replaces the menu key with another key code that’s also not in HdrSrc, which is described as “this should be true for Funai (1?) build. Off for everyone else”. Does anyone know what this was for?
• E0 5D also seems to be an unknown PS/2 code mapped to an unknown RISC OS key code, which seems to originate from this commit in the Spinner branch. Since most of the RCA keyboard code has since been removed, is there still a use case for it?
• As described here, both PS2Driver and USBDriver map the Yen key on Japanese keyboards to the Pound key code, since it’s in the same position compared to the original Archimedes keyboard. However, there’s now a dedicated Yen key code that’s declared in HdrSrc, but seemingly not documented anywhere else. Which key code should be preferred?
• Is there a formal method for allocating new RISC OS key codes, or is it best to just open a merge request for HdrSrc with additions as needed?

I think you might find a download of “StrongKey” from Fred Graute’s nice list of apps/utilities Here quite useful.
One thing you will find is that pretty much all of the possible, simple(ish) keycodes are already allocated

The Stork keys were:

• On
• Off
• DimBrightness
• Battery
• Toolbox
• ContrastUp
• ContrastDown
• BrightnessUp
• BrightnessDown
• Heart
• Freeze
• Monitor/LCD
• InvertVideo
• AccessLock

These were given keycodes in the RISC OS world that were instead used for multimedia keyboards (MMK – mea culpa) and in some cases Japanese keyboards. So “On” had the same code as Japanese backslash and MMK FastForward. “DimBrightness” was the same as MMK “None” (mute).

There are of course multiple different types of keyboard code, which vary in width depending on API (see the Internal Key Numbers for that machine I’ve forgotten now that has Power=&211, VerticalLine=&20D etc. Pegasus? RAM failure). The old ‘INKEY’ numbers were similarly extended, but in such a way that they’d fail safely if truncated to 8bit. So there is a method if not a process.

The MMK volume INKEYs None, Less and More clash with the Japanese IME keys NoConvert, Convert and Kana for example. My plan to extend internal key codes to 16b (see DeepKeys) and Wimp keypress codes to 32b (so we could have as many virtual keycodes as we wanted) was thwarted by RO4’s Wimp which futzed with the keycodes in order to save a few bytes. Grrr.

The Stork keys were:

Thanks, I managed to find a reference for the Stork key codes in the sources, and have updated the MR accordingly.

https://gitlab.riscosopen.org/RiscOS/Sources/HWSupport/Portable/-/blob/master/hdr/Portable#L203

There is some overlap with the Pandora keycodes, and some of them clash with more established ones, but it might still be useful to have as a reference.

I think you might find a download of “StrongKey” from Fred Graute’s nice list of apps/utilities Here quite useful.
One thing you will find is that pretty much all of the possible, simple(ish) keycodes are already allocated

I’ve given this a go and while it looks like a useful tool, it doesn’t seem to support any of the new keycodes. I’ve emailed the author, so hopefully these might get added at some point.

For completeness (and I don’t know how many of these became standard) the MMK keys are:

68  L Logo
69  R Logo
6A  Menu
6B  Play    (JP:NoConvert)
6C  Stop    (JP:Convert)
6D  Rewind  (JP:Kana)
6E  Forward (JP \|)
6F  Eject   (JP:FN)

73  None    (mute)
74  Less    (quieter)
75  More    (louder)
76  Power
77  Sleep
78  Wake
79  Help
7A  Web     (hotkey with globe)
7B  List    (hotkey with folder)
7C  Link    (hotkey with arrow)
7D  Find    (hotkey with question)

For completeness (and I don’t know how many of these became standard) the MMK keys are:

I’m assuming that you’re referring to this product: https://web.archive.org/web/20000613214353/http://www.astutegrfx.demon.co.uk:80/cerilica/mmk/index.htm

If so, do you know of many applications besides DigitalCD that made use of these keys?