Play Old DOS Games on Raspberry Pi
YOU’LL NEED THIS
RASPBERRY PI 4/400 Plus a microSD card or other compatible storage, a game controller, and some games you already own.
THOSE OLD DOS GAMES gathering dust in a cupboard can be given a new lease of life through an emulator, but why stop there? Why not build a retrogaming box that’s got wireless controller support, connects to your TV through HDMI, and leaves your PC free to do other things?
You can do just this with a Raspberry Pi. There’s a whole operating system, RetroPie, dedicated to the playing of retro games, and while emulating consoles means skirting around the edge of the law, playing the DOS games you already own is much more legally pleasing, and there’s the bonus of several very good games being made available as freeware, too.
Installing RetroPie is the same as any other Raspberry Pi operating system—you can let the Raspberry Pi Imager app take the strain. All you’ll need is a blank microSD card, or a USB SSD if you’ve updated your Pi’s bootloader to boot from USB. Doing this can decrease loading times and make your Pi more responsive, but it’s not really necessary for this project because the Pi’s loading times from microSD are already far ahead of the machines that DOS games originally ran on. –IAN EVENDEN
1 GET RETROPIE
The Raspberry Pi Imager ( www.raspberrypi.org/software) is a useful tool. It will format a memory card as FAT32 when Windows won’t but it’s really for use with a Raspberry Pi. You can choose your build of RetroPie from the Imager, under “Choose OS > Emulation and game OS > RetroPie,” where you’ll find versions for different boards, or you can download an image from https://retropie.org.uk/download/— again choose the right one for your hardware—and install it from “Choose OS > Use custom in the Imager.” Insert a microSD card you don’t mind erasing into your PC’s card reader, and let the Imager do its thing.
2 INITIAL SETUP
Insert the microSD you’ve prepared into your Pi, make sure no other bootable drives are attached, and throw the power switch. RetroPie is Linux with a controllerfriendly skin on top and a bunch of console emulators pre-installed, so as it boots you’ll see a load of scrolling text on the screen. Eventually, you’re prompted to get a controller set up [ Image A], unless you want to use a mouse and keyboard. Wired peripherals are the easiest to use—just plug them in. If you want to play point and click games, you’re going to want a mouse. If you’ve got a PlayStation 4 or 5 controller, you can connect this to the Pi with a USB cable and use it, setting up Bluetooth later to use it wirelessly. Otherwise, connect a keyboard (a wireless dongle is fine) to one of the Pi’s USB ports and set up controller inputs using its keys [ Image B].
RetroPie uses the East face button (the circle on a PlayStation pad; B on Xbox) as commit, and the South button (cross on PlayStation; A on Xbox) as cancel.
3 WIRELESSNESS
You’ll want to connect the Pi to your wireless network. The RetroPie background screen is actually a button, and pressing it opens the config menu [ Image C]. From here, you can connect Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Wi-Fi is at the bottom. Choose it, and you may get an error message that your location isn’t set. Launch the Configuration Tool when prompted, and prepare to peer closely at your screen (and attach a keyboard). The
Location tool is a tiny box in the center, and the US is a long way down the list. Choose your location, press “Finish,” and the Pi reboots. Get back into the config menu and choose “Wi-Fi” again. You’ll get another tiny menu, but this one allows you to connect: Choose your network, input the password. Press “Exit” to leave.
>> To connect a Bluetooth controller, select “Bluetooth” from the list, and you’re back in tiny menu world. Put your controller into pairing mode, and use your keyboard to tell the Pi to search for Bluetooth devices. After what seems almost too long, a list of local Bluetooth devices will appear. Choose your controller, follow the instructions, it should work.
4 DOSBOX To play DOS games, you need to install DOSBox. Open the config menu and select “RetroPie Setup.” Choose “Manage Packages > Manage Optional Packages > Dosbox,” then “Install from Source > Yes.” RetroPie then contacts the repository and does the rest itself with a screen full of scrolling text. Now do the same for ScummVM, which takes ages. Restart.
5 TRANSFER GAMES An emulation station is no good without games, and there’s a couple of ways to get your ROMs on to it. The easiest is over the network. RetroPie presents itself on your local network as a Samba share when connected to the Wi-Fi, so open a new Explorer window on your PC, and type \\ retropie in the address bar. It should pop up with a list of folders. Open “Roms” and add two new folders: “PC” and “PCdata.” Within “PCdata,” add new folders for your games, but keep their names under eight characters, as this is all DOS supports. Then copy the files over. You may need to add more folders, for example “ScummVM.” With your legal console ROMs, you can then drop them into the appropriate system folder.
>> The other way to get games on to the Pi is to use a USB drive. You need to format it as FAT32, so use the Imager if Windows isn’t being helpful. Create a folder on the stick called “retropie” and
plug it into the Pi. Wait. If the stick has an activity light, wait until it has stopped flashing. If not, guess. Remove the stick, and plug it into your PC. The Pi will have added some folders, so copy your games to the appropriate folder—create “PC” and “PCdata” if needed —and plug it back into the Pi. Wait again as it copies all the files off the stick. Many DOSBox games require a script file in the “PC” folder to configure DOS every time it runs—see the boxout below. Remove the stick, restart the Pi, and your games should now show up in the interface.
6 PLAYING To actually play one of the games, just select the name of the host system from RetroPie’s main menu, then choose a game from the list.