Dosbox-X
Version: Web: http://bit.ly/dosbox-x
There was a time when we almost dared to include a Dosbox review here in HotPicks, but finally put the idea to one side because Dosbox hadn’t been updated since 2012, and it really looked like the project had frozen in time.
However, no one could ever label Dosbox as a classic example of abandonware, because millions of users still run this great emulator to play retro games and launch ancient DOS apps. We were extremely happy to come across Dosbox-X, a revived and extended Dosbox fork with more features and more love for older apps from the 1990s.
The project’s goal is to provide a more accurate hardware emulation, ensure there’s an accurate historical preservation of what used to dominate the MS-DOS market in days gone by, and to provide a working environment for retro coding. Dosbox-X isn’t limited to DOS only, it also supports Windows 3.11 and Windows 9x included Windows ME, which makes it work like a virtual machine (no need to fire up Virtualbox in order to run ancient Windows versions and games for it).
When you start working with Dosbox-X, it feels like a continuation of the old Dosbox software. The new Dosbox-X supports the same config file syntax as its predecessor, and looks practically the same, too. If you’re new to both, don’t overlook the official Dosbox 0.74 manual that comes bundled with Dosbox- X and contains useful commands and tips that enables you to mount your Linux directories as DOS drives, connect older input devices and much more. By default, Dosbox-X doesn’t use any configuration file, so you’ll probably need to set it up manually. Type the following inside the DOS shell: CONFIG.COM –all –wcd dosbox.conf Now you’ll have a sample config file in your current Linux directory. Tell Dosbox-X to read settings from there: $ dosbox-x –conf /path/to/dosbox.conf And you’re done. Happy retro gaming and coding!
“The project’s goal is to provide a more accurate hardware emulation”