DOSBOX!

[N1LAF]

I have been working DOSBOX version 0.74, and it is pretty solid - ran old DOS programs and games well. Pretty much a wrapper between a FreeDOS environment and the operating system, providing Sound Blaster compatibility and S3 video. Windows 3.1 installed without a hitch, and the popular DOS games ran well, including the Doom, Doom2, Quake, and Duke Nukem's.

As I was rummaging through a box of old floppies, I came across Word for Windows Version 6, and version 1.1. How about them old days. They stayed in the box. I have a student version of Microcap, and handful of communications programs.

DOSBOX: http://www.dosbox.com/
A second or two to download, easy to run and setup.

Before running DOSBOX, I created a folder called/located at C:\DOSBOX
and in DOSBOX is where I copied my game and Win3.1 files

When you run DOSBOX, two windows appear, one will have a Z:\ prompt. At the Z:\prompt enter the following, that will look like this:
Z:\>mount c c:\DOSBOX

You will see a message that says: Drive C is mounted as local directory C:\dosbox\

At the Z:\ prompt, enter C:
Z:\>c:

You will now see...

C:>

You are in dos, at the root directory.

And that's all!

[N1LAF]

After 20 years sitting on the shelf, I have Stellar 7 running again. This game worked well on the older computer systems, I think it last ran on my 286 system, but after 286 systems, the systems were too fast for the game, you will die within the blink of an eye. Thanks to DOSBOX, the game lives. It was a Little;e tricky to run and setup. Apparently, the CDrom needed to be left in the drive. DOSBOX made it easy to mount the CDROM drive. Did the install procedure, and the game ran. But now, want to do without the CDROM.

The install procedure creates the directory named "DYNAMIX" and creates a batch file and another file. The batch file changes drive, calls the program on the CDROM, with a pointer back to the directory on the c drive. What I did was create the folder from root called "Stellar7", copied the stellar7.bat from the DYNAMIX folder to the new Stellar7 folder, renamed to S7.bat. The other file was copied as well. Modified the S7.bat file to not to change directory to D:

Original stellar7.bat in c:\DYNAMIX directory
echo off
D:
STELLAR7 /G:1 /A:5 /S:5 /P:C:\DYNAMIX\
c:

The new S7.bat in the C:\Stellar7 directory
echo off
STELLAR7 /G:1 /A:5 /S:5 /P:C:\STELLAR7\

Copy the contents of the CDROM to C:\Stellar7

Now run DOSBOX, run the S7.bat file from the C:\Stellar7 directory, and it works without CDROM

[w6tmi]

OMG I used to LOVE Stellar 7. I had it on floppies though and chucked it long ago, like the music it played. This sounds cool, although I think most of the games I'd want to play (Doom/II, Duke nukem3d etc) have been open sourced and ported to Linux and or windows.

I think I managed a DOS Virtual machine at one point, but didnt really have anything to run.. lol

[N1LAF]

Yes, download and install DOSBOX and you will relive the Stellar7 days again. The link to DOSBOX is in my first post. DOSBOX is probably the fastest and easiest to install a DOS emulation use. Soundblaster and S3 graphics supported. DOSBOX will be useful to install older dos games like duke nukem and Doom to get the game file(s) for the following loaders....

There are source ports available for Duke Nukem and Doom/Doom2 to play on the latest Windows OS as well as Linux and Macs.

eduke32 - For Duke Nukem, Open GL, resolutions up to 1280 x 1024, 32bit color. The graphics are well rendered, so it does not look pixeled/blocky, almost an unreal feel to it. Controls have been improved. All you need are the DUKE3D.GRP files from the registered and shareware installs, so if you backed them up, you are ready. If not, use DOSBOX to install the Duke games, rename the DUKE3D.GRP, and copy them to the eduke32 folder. This will allow you to select Duke3D 1.3, or the Plutonium pack from the loader. Also select the folder for custom levels to play third party levels. There is another program that supports multiplayer for eduke32(YANG), but I haven't set that one up yet, probably this morning. eDuke32 is available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS-X, FreeBSD, and some handhelds. Does play on netbook computers.
http://www.eduke32.com/

Doomsday - For doom, try Doomsday, available for Windows, Mac OS-X, and Linux(Unix). This program also supports Heretic and Hexen, Doom and Doom2. Copy the DOOM.WAD, DOOM1.WAD, and DOOM2.WAD files into the data folder under Doomsday, the Kickstart loader will find and provide selection. It is suppose to support custom levels, but didn't put into the time to figure it out yet. Multiplayer supported, but I have not tried it yet.
http://dengine.net/

[N1LAF]

The latest version of DOSBOX will run Windows 3.1, 3.11 wfw and does so very well. I still have my Windows 3.11 disks and it loaded just fine. For those who want to 'experiment', I came across this link that talks about windows3.1 iso file http://win-311.tripod.com/ and this site has drivers for DOSBOX on Windows 3.x located here: http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=9405

[NQ6U]

Hey, didn't the Germans make a movie of that? Das Box?

[W3MIV]

Hey, didn't the Germans make a movie of that? Das Box?

Marlene Dietrich's bio. Leni Riefenstahl held the rights to it.

[WØTKX]

copy con:config.sys
files=50
buffers=20
device=c:\mouse.sys
^Z

1 File Copied

[W4BD]

Well I downloaded DosBox and installed in on my XP puter and I can run SUPER MORSE 4.16 on it now with sound. A VERY good program. I have DosBox on 3 puters now so I can run some old DOS stuff. The SuperMorse is the most important program I wanted to run so I can keep trying to get my speed up.

[N1LAF]

It's an excellent program. Anyone who has those old DOS ham radio programs may want to look at this...

[kf0rt]

Not trying to be obtuse here, but got a question...

Won't those old DOS programs just "run from the command line" under modern versions of Windows? Is it the ansi.sys stuff that requires this? Hardware abstraction of serial ports? Graphics?

I still run a number of old DOS programs at work (mostly assemblers, compilers, linkers and such), but have fired up an old text-based game or two under XP and they seem to run okay (once you get the files off the 5-1/4" floppy). MASM freakin' screams on a quad Xeon under XP.

Offhand, I can't think of a DOS program I'd want to run that doesn't already/still work.

ETA: Wonder if they have an Apple ][ ROM Basic emulator for the Mac. It'd be a hoot to run the old Morse program I wrote back in 1979, but I doubt I have enough remnants left to fire it up.

[KC2UGV]

Not trying to be obtuse here, but got a question...

Won't those old DOS programs just "run from the command line" under modern versions of Windows? Is it the ansi.sys stuff that requires this? Hardware abstraction of serial ports? Graphics?

I still run a number of old DOS programs at work (mostly assemblers, compilers, linkers and such), but have fired up an old text-based game or two under XP and they seem to run okay (once you get the files off the 5-1/4" floppy). MASM freakin' screams on a quad Xeon under XP.

Offhand, I can't think of a DOS program I'd want to run that doesn't already/still work.

ETA: Wonder if they have an Apple ][ ROM Basic emulator for the Mac. It'd be a hoot to run the old Morse program I wrote back in 1979, but I doubt I have enough remnants left to fire it up.

There are some that wont run. Mainly those that fire up the proc's Protected Mode, and other that require direct access to hardware.

[N1LAF]

Not trying to be obtuse here, but got a question...

Won't those old DOS programs just "run from the command line" under modern versions of Windows? Is it the ansi.sys stuff that requires this? Hardware abstraction of serial ports? Graphics?

I still run a number of old DOS programs at work (mostly assemblers, compilers, linkers and such), but have fired up an old text-based game or two under XP and they seem to run okay (once you get the files off the 5-1/4" floppy). MASM freakin' screams on a quad Xeon under XP.

Offhand, I can't think of a DOS program I'd want to run that doesn't already/still work.

ETA: Wonder if they have an Apple ][ ROM Basic emulator for the Mac. It'd be a hoot to run the old Morse program I wrote back in 1979, but I doubt I have enough remnants left to fire it up.

Have you seen this?
http://www.virtualapple.org/ <<== Works great on the PC. Reads Apple disk files. Played Sundog on it tonight.
http://applewin.berlios.de/

Virtual ][ is a program that emulates the vintage Apple II computer on your Mac. Virtual ][ requires Mac OS X 10.4 or better.
http://www.virtualii.com/

[w6tmi]

Some time ago I had an apple ][ emulator for linux, when you fired it up it even made the noise the apple 2 made when you boot it up and had a disk drive. Dunno if that's still around I dont remember even what it was called.

[N1LAF]

OMG I used to LOVE Stellar 7. I had it on floppies though and chucked it long ago, like the music it played. This sounds cool, although I think most of the games I'd want to play (Doom/II, Duke nukem3d etc) have been open sourced and ported to Linux and or windows.

I think I managed a DOS Virtual machine at one point, but didnt really have anything to run.. lol

Recognize this?

http://felgate.net/images/stellar7.jpg

[N1LAF]

Some time ago I had an apple ][ emulator for linux, when you fired it up it even made the noise the apple 2 made when you boot it up and had a disk drive. Dunno if that's still around I dont remember even what it was called.

This is available...

http://felgate.net/images/apple2e-1.jpg
http://felgate.net/images/apple2e-2.jpg

[w6tmi]

Recognize this?

http://felgate.net/images/stellar7.jpg


lol! Vaguely It's been years. Probably would more recognize the actualy gameplay screen.

Might be a hoot for a few minutes, but I'm not that into older games.

God the hours I played Descent & DescentII over Kali though...