dosbox

[needhelp]

Hello there,
For some here that don't know what dosbox is, it is supposed to emulate DOS. However, no keyboard or graffiti support is present at the moment, so, everything has to be done through a dosbox.conf file. Also, the writer Voda hasn't post a message for over 4 month on emuboards, so, I was wondering if anyone here has heard from him? This is a great project indeed and if one is to add keyboard support and fix it up so, that it can decently without sound, a lot of old dos games can be played on a palm. Makes you excited, huh ;D
Thanks

[metaview]

Plays it Comanche or WingCommander?

[elpoco]

Commanche 2 and 2 are supported, so I guess the first one also works.
All the DOS Wing Commanders are also supported.

But that's for the standard version, I don't know the PalmOS one. Anyway, if someone wants to work on it, I'll suggest to update it to the 0.7 version, which is WAY faster than the previous one (0.63) on which the PalmOS version is based.
I don't know which performance we might get. Prior to 0.7, I'd say we wouldn't get anything better than a 286, but with 0.7 we can hope for something better.

Anyway, here are the projects:
DosBox : dosbox.sourceforge.net/
PalmDosBox : sourceforge.net/projects/palmdosbox

EDIT: And before some of you start saying that "it can't be done/it won't work because we have to emulate a x86 processor", it's exactly what DosBox is: a Intel x86 PC (with dos) emulator.

[metaview]

Problem is: is the Palm version fast enough for Comanche or WingCommander. I know what DosBox is, I've tried to port it too, but could get it to work without crashing. Same goes for Stratagus.

[elpoco]

I haven't tested it myself (because of that problem of not supporting graffiti for text input, which is quite problematic with Dos), but from what I've read, it barely starts a few old games.

I don't know about Comanche or Wing commander, though. But if they run (which I doubt), I doubt they'll be anything near playable state if it's based on 0.63 or older.

[countbuggula]

I have a ton of ridiculously old dos games (pre-486 era) that I could test if we have even a semi-working build available. I haven't tried it yet because I was hoping for someone to add keypad/graffiti support, but I might have to just bite the bullet and give the existing palm post a try to see what I can get to run. Maybe if I can get decent speed out of some of the older games (Alleycat, Commander Keen?) it might be worth taking another look at?

[angel]

I tested palmdosbox way ago, its a bit hard to use because you have (like in the old time) to configure it each time you want to use a different program.

I was unable to make eye of beholder 2/3 running, but eye of beholder 1 worked fine. Happily, its really not an "action game" because it runs slow, even on a well overclocked TX.

As for the PSX emulator made by tinnus, we can say the raw emulation work, but it need tons of time to make it work properly, which is still the longest...

[countbuggula]

Are you supposed to be able to actually map keys from the launcher? There's a key map option from the drop-down menu but it doesn't do anything.

[needhelp]

There is a palm os version of dosbox if someone here doesn't know. The thing is that there is no keyboard or graffiti support, so, you will need to write a dosbox.conf file. They are not that bad to write, since, a lot of people post up theirs, so, you can take someones and just modify it. However, I did try a game and it did run, but I couldn't play it, since, there is no way to play it plus using a palm tungsten E2 isn't the ideal situation, since, it was slow. If anyone wants my dosbox.conf file (what I wrote in it) or how I fixed dosbox to run, just ask. I am mostly wondering what happened to the author, Voda, though, since, no one has heard from him in some time. There are people who tried different dos games on palmdosbox and got quite some of them working, it's only playing them that's a problem.

[countbuggula]

Meta: Did you try adding the treo keyboard support code when you did your build? What version did you try? How much work as been put into the Palm Dosbox version that differentiates it from the regular Dosbox source, and would we be better off starting over with version .7 since voda's no longer actively involved?

needhelp: So even using th dosbox.conf file to start a program there's no way to map keys yet, making the program unusable?

[angel]

Needhelp : you should really read other poster's message before writing your. I was talking about the last palm version "I tested palmdosbox way ago"...

[needhelp]

angel: I am sorry, but I am not really sure what you are saying by "you should really read other poster's message before writing your. I was talking about the last palm version "I tested palmdosbox way ago"..." . I mean yes, I know that you tested it long time back and it was the last version, I read that part as well as every other post on this topic. I also said that it can be run using the conf file as well and if anyone here wants to try it, I'll tell them what I put in my conf file. I was the one who started the topic about dosbox, because I thought that people might be interested to know that dos can be run on your palm. If you're talking about the "There is a palm os version of dosbox if someone here doesn't know" statement that I made, since, you made a similar statement before, well, it's very easy for people to misread palmdosbox as dosbox. My statement was mostly to remind people that were talking about the palm version of dosbox, not any other version. No reason to get mad over it
countbuggula: Yes, you are correct. There is no way to map buttons yet, however, I mostly like to try it to see how the speed changes with different games plus I usually show it to friends. I mean you have dos in your palm. ;D

[countbuggula]

Calm down people, nobody meant offense. Palm DosBox has been discussed in this forum before, so most of us are aware of it, but it was buried deep in the "Other Emulators" thread so I wouldn't fault you for not seeing that.

needhelp said:

plus I usually show it to friends. I mean you have dos in your palm. ;D

I totally get you here. I showed it to one of the programmers in my department this morning even though it's just the C:\ prompt (I can't load anything else on until I get home and have access to my card reader). He was impressed anyway.

Go ahead and send me your dosbox.conf file though, I could use it as a starting point to at least test compatibility for several older games. You can send it to countbuggula at gmail dot com.

[needhelp]

Sorry, I am not sure what the "other emulators" thread is, do you mean the general thread?
The conf file is really small, I can either post it here or send it to you. I'll post it here though, incase someone else wants to try it.
[dos]
xms=true
dms=true
umb=true

[autoexec]
@echo Off
Mount C "/DOSBOX"
Set Path=C:\DOS;Z:\
C:\DAVE.EXE
Make sure to put this file on the root directory of your SD card. Also, make sure to make a folder called DOSBOX on your SD card and put your games there. After that, make sure to change "C:\DAVE.EXE" to "C:\game name.exe", where game name is the EXACT name of the exe file. I haven't done much modifications yet, but I do plan to modify this file more, so, maybe I can get a bigger screen, etc...
Hope that helps

[countbuggula]

Hmm...DOSBOX for windows supports scaling through the fullresolution command, but it needs to be implemented on the device for it to work. We could try adding fullresolution=320x320 to the dosbox.conf file to see if it does anything.

By the way the thread I was referring to is here

[needhelp]

Hmmm, I went through that thread some time back, when I first joined this website, so, I can't recall much from it and you're right it is indeed deeply nested in the thread. Anyways, we could try that line in the conf file. There is a page on the web that tells you all the commands of DOSBOX for windows, but I am sure that some will work for DOSBOX for palm. If I find it, I'll post the link here

[countbuggula]

Doesn't look like fullresolution does anything - it says it's an unknown operation. Looks like that will need to be coded in specifically in the build.

[countbuggula]

Ok, I tested Palm Dosbox with Alleycat, which is a 1984 game, uses 320x200 CGA resolution, and PC speaker for sound. It ran, but from what I see in the introduction screen it's very slow. Granted, this is based off of an old version of Dosbox, but unless we're able to get some speed optomization I don't think much is going to be playable.

Between using version .7 and if we could get an ARM-based dynamic core like this guy is trying to make we might be able to squeeze much more speed out though. Does anyone have any experience with the PocketPC versions of DosBox? What kinds of speeds are they able to get on that platform? Would any of the ARM-based source for that version apply to a PalmOS version, saving some work?

[metaview]

Well, DosBox is maybe nice to have, but Atari (CaSTaway) or Amiga (PalmUAE or MyUAE) are much more usable and speaking about the kind of game which are usable, much more ahead than the PC version at this time.

[needhelp]

Hello metaview,
I know that this isn't the right place to ask this, but it's a simple question, so, no need for a whole post on it. Just wondering, does Duke3D support the IR keyboard like Doom does and in Doom, if you try to configure the IR keyboard, when you get to the -, it gives a fatal error and a soft reset is needed.
Thanks

[elpoco]

Looks like the GP2X version of DosBox 0.7 has about the speed of a 386... So I guess that's what you can hope to get with a PalmOS port of the same version.

I don't know if the GP2X version uses any ASM code. I guess it could run faster with these... but you'll have to find someone fluent enough with ARM ASM, and with enough free time, to do that...

[angel]

Needhelp : I dont get mad, perhaps your writing let me think you only posted "as it" and dont read i spoke about configuration files and some working game by repeating, in other terms, all i said. I pointed it, that's all. (when i get mad i use cuss words, no worries )

Metaview : I use castaway since long. A great work was made to this program (i feel closer to the Atari than the Amiga as i got one years ago).

But dosbox can have some good use for some "oldies".

Most people think they'll be able to run doom, raptor, warcraft I or such game with a dos emulator that is surely something we will never see.
But some games like eye of beholder, bard's tale trilogy or ultima [1..8] could be usable on such an emulator if the future if it get some improvement... who know ?

[metaview]

ZDoomZ fixed...

[countbuggula]

angel said:

Most people think they'll be able to run doom, raptor, warcraft I or such game with a dos emulator that is surely something we will never see.
But some games like eye of beholder, bard's tale trilogy or ultima [1..8] could be usable on such an emulator if the future if it get some improvement... who know ?

Absolutely. 386 performance would be plenty for me, as it would give me enough to play the original Civilization and plenty other old DOS games that aren't very graphics intensive. I guess I just lean more towards DOS emulation than Atari or Amiga because I played all the games on a DOS machine and still have lots of those old games, while I'd have to go search for them on the other platforms.

It's just nostalgia, that's all.

[astroraptor]

Wow, people care. The topic's pretty dead on EmuBoards. This thing really needs to be worked on. It's already starting up fine, it just needs keyboard support. Like countbuggula mentioned, it doesn't matter how slow it is. There's LOTS of a fun old DOS games, it doesn't matter if you can't run Windows 95 and play games like Duke Nukem 3D and Tomb Raider. Just the command-line itself can be someting quite interesting to have.

[needhelp]

I fully agree with you astroraptor. I was quite surprised that the topic died down at emuboards, since, there was a LOT of people who were interested. I agree with you on the project as well. It's doing well so far and we shouldn't just brush it aside. The only problem is who would be willing to continue working on it? Also, thanks for the fix metaview, I'll try it soon

[elpoco]

I think that's the problem with most of PalmOs development. There is a lot of people to be interested in something, to ask for ports and so on, but there are only a few who actually do something.

And even then, you have to be pretty good to work efficiently on such projects.

[astroraptor]

Anyone interested in simply adding keyboard support? I want to at least see this emulator get that far. There was some talk on how to implement it but no further development. Since September I've been checking for any news on this on an other forum and now on this since someone started a thread.

[countbuggula]

I think Metaview said earlier that he couldn't get it to compile, but he may have been going off of an old version.

I'll throw another donation his way if he gives it another try though

[elpoco]

Looks like Voda stopped developping Palmdosbox because it was too slow to be of any use. He's now trying to port Qemu, a Virtual Machine that can emulate a x86. He expects it to play dos games faster than palmdosbox.

www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg10497.html