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DOSBox
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DOSBox is an emulator which emulates an IBM PC compatible computer running MS-DOS. It is intended especially for use with old PC games. Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, DOSBox is free software.
ox has been ported for many operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Using the HX DOS Extender, DOSBox can even run in DOS. The source code has also been forked to provide compatibility on a number of non-x86 PC computer platforms, including the Palm OS, PlayStation Portable, Symbian, Internet Tablet OS 2008, and the GP2X, on various computing architectures including PowerPC, SPARC, MIPS and ARM.
lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m2705516",this)' onMouseout='hide("m2705516")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Id_Software">id Software has used DOSBox to re-release vintage games such as Wolfenstein 3D and Commander Keen on Valve's Steam.
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Encyclopedia
DOSBox is an emulator which emulates an IBM PC compatible computer running MS-DOS. It is intended especially for use with old PC games. Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, DOSBox is free software.
Ports
DOSBox has been ported for many operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Using the HX DOS Extender, DOSBox can even run in DOS. The source code has also been forked to provide compatibility on a number of non-x86 PC computer platforms, including the Palm OS, PlayStation Portable, Symbian, Internet Tablet OS 2008, and the GP2X, on various computing architectures including PowerPC, SPARC, MIPS and ARM.
History
id Software has used DOSBox to re-release vintage games such as Wolfenstein 3D and Commander Keen on Valve's Steam. In the process, it was reported they violated DOSBox's license, the GNU GPL, the issue which was reported as an oversight was promptly resolved. Activision Blizzard has used DOSBox too to re-release Sierra Entertainment's DOS games. 2K Games producer Jason Bergman admitted the company used DOSBox for Steam re-releases of certain parts of the X-Com series. GOG.com admits to using DOSBox for some of their releases on their site's "Our Thanks" page. As of July 21 2008, DOSBox has been downloaded 10 million times and is now one of the 50 most downloaded FOSS projects on SourceForge.net.
Features
DOSBox is a command-line program, configured either by a set of command-line arguments or by editing a plain text configuration file. For ease of use, several graphical front-ends have been developed by the user community.
DOSBox is a full CPU emulator, capable of running DOS programs that require the CPU to be in either real mode or protected mode. Other similar programs, such as dosemu or VDMs for Windows and OS/2, provide compatibility layers and rely on virtualization capabilities of the 386 family processors. Since DOSBox can emulate its CPU by interpretation, it is independent of its host CPU. However, on systems which provide the i386 instruction set, the option to use dynamic instruction translation is available in DOSBox. Though this setting is less accurate and reliable, it is faster than interpretive CPU emulation. (If you want to run DOS natively you could use wine, note 8086 DOS does not run on x86_64 processors when running a 64-bit OS. This makes DOSBox's emulation necessary)
DOSBox is capable of emulating many types of graphics and sound hardware. Graphics emulation includes 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 hardware that can be emulated includes the PC speaker, AdLib, Gravis Ultrasound, 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 unofficial builds, but not in the official source code repository due to need for copyrighted ROM images.)
A popular feature of DOSBox is its ability to capture screenshots and record gameplay footage. The video is compressed using the Zip Motion Block Video codec. In its uncompressed state the footage is almost an exact replica of the actual program. The video recording feature was added in version 0.65. In earlier versions, one had to rely on custom modifications and Fraps to record video, but the quality and emulator performance was generally very poor.
A component that differentiates DOSBox from other emulators is its ability to simulate peer-to-peer or Internet/Intranet networking. This includes modem simulation over TCP/IP, allowing for DOS modem games to be played over modern LANs or the Internet, and 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.
DOSBox contains its own internal DOS-like shell, rather than being a fully virtual PC emulator like Bochs. This means that DOSBox can be used without owning a license to any real DOS operating system. Most commands that are typically used in installer batch files are supported, but many of the more advanced commands of later MS-DOS versions (e.g. post-Windows 98 DOS shells) are not. In addition to its internal shell, DOSBox also supports running image files of games and software originally intended to start without any operating system.
DOSBox is capable of timing-compatible implementation of the serial ports, and can run older hardware and software dependent on such; 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.
DOSBox can also be used to run many non-game DOS programs, including Windows 3.1. However, the DOSBox project has a policy of not adding features that are of no use for DOS games. Also, there is no support for the emulation of post-80486 CPU features although some games that require a Pentium or higher run smoothly. Some unofficial CVS versions contain experimental patches that add support for these elements.
See also
External links
- at the official DOSBox Wiki
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