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'DOSBox' is an x86 emulator which creates a DOS-like environment intended for running MS-DOS-based IBM PC compatible programs, especially computer games, which may not run properly on newer PCs and may not run at all on non-IBM PC compatibles (e.g. PowerPC Macintosh). It also allows such games to be run on other operating systems that do not normally support DOS programs or run them too fast with normal compatibility layers. DOSBox is open source and available for many operating systems, such as Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Windows 9x, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP (32-bit and 64-bit), Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Mac OS X, OS/2, Palm OS, RISC OS, and BeOS. It has also been ported to PlayStation Portable and the GP2X device.^[1]

Contents

Features

Issues

Frontends

See also

References

External links

Features

★ DOSBox is a full CPU emulator, not just a compatibility layer like dosemu or the VDMs of Windows and OS/2, which rely on virtualization capabilities of the 386 family processors. It does not require an x86 CPU or a copy of MS-DOS or any other DOS to run, and it can run games that require the CPU to be in real mode or protected mode.

★ Dynamic CPU core: On systems which have the i386 instruction set, dynamic instruction translation can be used. This is significantly faster than interpretive CPU emulation, but is less accurate and reliable.

★ Graphics emulation: Text mode, Hercules, CGA (including composite and 160x100x16 tweaked modes), Tandy, EGA, VGA (including Mode X and other tweaks), VESA, and full S3 Trio 64 emulation.

★ Sound emulation: AdLib, Gravis Ultrasound, PC speaker, Tandy, Creative Music System/GameBlaster, Sound Blaster 1.x/2.0/Pro/16, MPU-401, and Disney Sound Source. (MT-32/CM-32L emulation is included in some builds[1], but not in the main build due to need for copyrighted ROM images.)

★ Network emulation: Modem simulation over TCP/IP, allowing for DOS modem games to be played over modern LANs or the Internet. IPX network tunneling, which allows for old IPX DOS multiplayer games to be played as UDP/IP over modern LANs or the Internet. Win32 and Linux specific builds support direct serial port access.

★ Shell: It contains its own internal DOS-like shell, rather than being a fully virtual PC emulator like Bochs. Most commands that are typically used in installer batch files are supported, but many of the more advanced commands of later MS-DOS versions are not.

★ Bootable images: In addition to its internal shell, DOSBox also supports running image files of games and software originally intended to start without any operating system.

★ Serial Port: timing compatible implementation of the serial ports, runs several old hardware and software which depend on that; however some USB devices that are supported by the host OS can act as a replacement for older serial port devices when using the emulator.

Issues

As with most programs that emulate systems, DOSBox requires substantially more computing (particularly processor) power than the original systems, greatly affected by what software the user is running in the emulated system at the time. This weakness can be sometimes greatly reduced by using an OpenSource substitute of the most common protected mode memory extender DOS/4GW (the much smaller and faster DOS32a). Moreover, DOS programs that run in protected mode, which include most games released after 1995, may not perform as well as in other emulators such as VMware or Virtual PC, since those programs mostly virtualize the processor instead of emulating it like DOSBox.
Since the GP2X port for DOSBox has suboptimal controls for certain DOS games that require a significant portion of the keyboard, some text-input utilities have been created to suit the limitations of the GP2X and take advantage of the classic features of DOS emulated on the GP2X port.^[2] Also, some prescripted games for the GP2X version of DOSBox have been made to take advantage of the emulator.^[3] These games and demos for the GP2X version of DOSBox are mostly compiled with QuickBASIC 4.5.^[4]

Frontends

DOSBox is configured by editing a plain text-file. While pretty straight forward and natural for people that have grown up with DOS-based PCs, many new users are used to a graphical point-and-click interface for such tasks. Frontends can also be advantageous for experienced users with large collections of games, since they often allow for easy sorting by game title, developer, publisher, etc.
Over the years, several such graphical frontends have been developed for both Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, including:

★ D-Fend

★ DBGL

★ D.O.G.
A more complete list of available frontends can be found at the DOSBox wiki.

See also

★ Comparison of virtual machines

★

★ MS-DOS

★ COMMAND.COM

References

1. gp2x.de
2. archive.gp2x.de
3. archive.gp2x.de
4. wiki.gp2x.org

External links

★ Official website

★ Official DOSBox Forum

★ DOSBox wiki – With FAQs and more

★ A Beginner's Guide to DOSBox

★ DBGL - Multi-platform, open source DOSBox frontend

★ D.O.G. - Windows OS (Win 2K/XP)

★ DOS32a - OpenSource DOS4GW substitute