WangEmu Keyboard Map

The Wang 2200 had a number of different keyboard options during its life. The earliest ones are best described as being more like a calculator keyboard that had the letters retrofitted to it than a keyboard meant for typing. Later ones did have a more or less normal typewriter layout augmented with some dedicated keys for performing common tasks.

One problem most emulators have is deciding how to map the emulated keys onto the keys available on the host computer's keyboard. Many emulator writers attempt to map the emulated keys to the same positions of the keyboard even if the key legend is very different (such that a blindfolded user of the emulated computer would feel at home). WangEmu takes the other tack. As much as possible, if a key with the right legend is available on the host keyboard, that is the one used to represent the equivalent 2200 key.

That still leaves some problems. The PC keyboard has many keys that the 2200 (more correctly, the 2226 keyboard) didn't have, and the 2226 had some keys that the PC keyboard doesn't have. In these cases, WangEmu tries to pick keys that are somewhat mnemonic. Also, not all keys were directly mapped since such a mapping was rarely used and adding it to the emulator would cause more confusion than it was worth (e.g., mapping "RENUMBER" to the shifted comma key, while accurate, would have necessitated moving the "<" symbol to some other obscure location).

Another matter is that there isn't complete standardization on keyboard layouts. Perhaps a future version of the emulator will allow for a user-configurable key map, but for now, changing it requires editing the source code and recompiling.

Special function keys and dedicated keyword keys

Unfortunately, the Wang has 16 special function keys, while most PC keyboards have only 12. Since F13-F15 don't typically exist, WangEmu offers three workarounds.

Below is a complete table of the mappings. In some cases, there are two PC keys or key combinations that are used to emulate a given keystroke. On the 2200, some of the special function keys get a dedicated purpose when in edit mode, shown as the last column of the table.

Wang key 2200 use 2200 use in edit mode PC keys
This edit behavior is for (M)VP OS only
This behavior is for 2200A/B/C/S/T Wang BASIC
§This behavior is for 2236 serial terminals w/(M)VP
SF0 special function 0 n/a ESC
SF1 special function 1 n/a F1
SF2 special function 2 n/a F2
SF3 special function 3 n/a F3
SF4 special function 4 cursor to end of line F4
Ctrl-
SF5 special function 5 cursor down a line F5
SF6 special function 6 cursor up a line F6
SF7 special function 7 cursor to start of line F7
Ctrl-
SF8 special function 8 delete to end of line F8
End
Ctrl-K(ill)
SF9 special function 9 delete char under cursor F9
Delete
Ctrl-D
SF10 special function 10 insert char at cursor F10
Insert
Ctrl-I
SF11 special function 11 cursor right 5 places F11
Shift +
SF12 special function 12 cursor right 1 place F12
SF13 special function 13 cursor left 1 place Ctrl-F9
SF14 special function 14 cursor left 5 places Ctrl-F10
Shift +
SF15 special function 15 recall line Ctrl-F11
Ctrl-F
EDIT enter edit mode n/a Ctrl-F12
Ctrl-E
LINE ERASE clear whole line clear whole line Home
STMT NUMBER next line number Tab
§FN function key Tab
HALT/STEP break/single step n/a Break
Ctrl-S

Pressing the key or key sequence for SF0-SF15 in combination with the SHIFT key will generate the codes for the 2200's special function 16 through 31 keys (the 2226 also had only 16 special function keys, SF0-SF15, and SF16-SF31 were obtained by pressing SHIFT to add 16 to the special function key number).

To recall and edit, say, line 500, either of the following sequences can be used:

500<press ctrl><F12><F11><release ctrl>

500<press ctrl><E><F><release ctrl>

Keyword Keys

The 2226 keyboard had two modes of operation: "Keyword/A" and "A/a". Which mode the keyboard was in was controlled by a toggle switch on the left side of the keyboard. This is controlled in the emulator in any of three ways: the checkbox in the lower left corner of the emulated CRT window, via the Configure/Keyword mode menu item, or with the Alt-K shortcut.

placeholder placeholder placeholder

In "A/a" mode, the keyboard works pretty much like a typewriter, with unshifted keys producing lower case letters and shifted keys producing capital letters. In "Keyword/A" mode, unshifted keys produced capital letters while shifted keys produced BASIC keywords. Most of them have been preserved.

PC key Keyword PC key Keyword
A HEX( N TRACE
B SKIP O STEP
C REWIND P NEXT
D DATA Q COM
E DEFFN R GOSUB
F RESTORE S STR(
G READ T RETURN
H IF U INPUT
I FOR V SAVE
J THEN W DIM
K STOP X BACKSPACE
L END Y REM
M GOTO Z SELECT

In 2236 mode (serial terminal), the Wang keyboard did not have a keyword mode. Instead, the same switch just toggled between normal mode and caps-lock mode.

placeholder placeholder placeholder

For both 2226 (dumb terminal) and 2236 (serial terminal) modes of operation, a few keys couldn't be conveniently mapped to their Wang-like positions and have been mapped to control keys. Each (except CONTINUE) uses the first letter of the word it maps as a convenient mnemonic.

PC key Keyword
Ctrl-C CLEAR
Ctrl-L LOAD
Ctrl-P PRINT
Ctrl-R RUN
Ctrl-Z CONTINUE

A number of other keyboard shortcuts have been added to map keys that don't appear on a PC keyboard, or which are convenient 2nd choices vs using the special function key toolbar. The control key names try to use a mnemonic letter, except for Ctrl-F (SF15/recall). This was chosen because the [edit][recall] sequence is a frequent pair, and so Ctrl-[E][F] is a quick action.

The odd man out is the RESET key, which was mapped to Shift-Alt-R to make it difficult to accidentally trigger.

PC key key
Ctrl-E edit mode toggle
Ctrl-F edit mode recall
Ctrl-D edit mode delete
Ctrl-I edit mode insert
Ctrl-K edit mode kill to end of line
Ctrl-S halt/step
Break halt/step
END ERASE key
Tab STMT NUMBER key (2226)
Tab FN key (2236)
Shift-Alt-R RESET

There are a few keyboard shortcuts that don't map to a real keyboard behavior; rather, these are used to manage the emulation, not the emulated computer.

PC key Function
Alt-G screen grab
Alt-X exit application
Alt-K toggle keyword mode
Alt-Enter toggle full-screen mode

Finally, here is a diagram showing where all the keys are mapped, at least on my keyboard. Certain keys may appear in different locations on different keyboards, especially European keyboards.

placeholder