Warning: Unrelated to Slackware! O:-)
Being forced by my better half to make "some" order in accumulated junk
I stumbled on collection of ~200 diskettes from
my DOS days. Backups of course!
Started the emotional journey and found some old games that I would like
to try again.
OK, downloaded dosemu+freedos to run under Slack, it does, so far
everything is good.
But I simple cannot CD to the directories of my Win98 install, properly
mounted on Linux tree, to enjoy it.
And I don't "want" to dual boot for such simple things, that is NOT "my
Linux way".
HHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPP PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks

Stanislaw
Slack user from Ulladulla.

* Stanislaw Flatto <compaid@shoalhaven.net.au>:
> Warning: Unrelated to Slackware! O:-) Being forced by my better half
> to make "some" order in accumulated junk I stumbled on collection of
> ~200 diskettes from my DOS days. Backups of course! Started the
> emotional journey and found some old games that I would like to try
> again. OK, downloaded dosemu+freedos to run under Slack, it does, so
> far everything is good. But I simple cannot CD to the directories of
> my Win98 install, properly mounted on Linux tree, to enjoy it. And I
> don't "want" to dual boot for such simple things, that is NOT "my
> Linux way".
> HHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPP PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!
You may want to try DOSBox:
<http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1>

DOSBox is a PC emulator with builtin DOS.

I've tried it, compiled and installed without any problems. VGA
graphics and sound work. Never crashed or locked up. However, I didn't
find the few games I'd tried running to be very playable at the speed
they would run. Perhaps you'll have better luck with it.

--
James Michael Fultz <xyzzy@sent.as.invalid>
Remove this part when replying ^^^^^^^^

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On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 00:38:03 GMT, James wrote:
> You may want to try DOSBox:
><http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1>
>
> DOSBox is a PC emulator with builtin DOS.
>
> I've tried it, compiled and installed without any problems. VGA
> graphics and sound work. Never crashed or locked up. However, I didn't
> find the few games I'd tried running to be very playable at the speed
> they would run. Perhaps you'll have better luck with it.
>

Did you try hitting CTRL-F12 several times while the game was running? I
think the default settings run the games slowly because there are a lot
of old games that are just unplayable at modern computer speeds. Each
time you hit CTRL-F12 it speeds up emulation, just don't speed it up
faster than your computer will handle or it will become slow again.

Just finished a game of Master of Orion in Dosbox not 10 minutes
ago.

Brad

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On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 00:02:31 GMT, Stanislaw wrote:
> Warning: Unrelated to Slackware! O:-)
> Being forced by my better half to make "some" order in accumulated junk
> I stumbled on collection of ~200 diskettes from
> my DOS days. Backups of course!
> Started the emotional journey and found some old games that I would like
> to try again.
> OK, downloaded dosemu+freedos to run under Slack, it does, so far
> everything is good.
> But I simple cannot CD to the directories of my Win98 install, properly
> mounted on Linux tree, to enjoy it.
> And I don't "want" to dual boot for such simple things, that is NOT "my
> Linux way".
> HHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPP PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!
>

Definitely give DOSBox a try: http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/faq.php
it runs a huge amount of old dos games.

Another old man playing games...
Brad



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* Bradley Reed <bradreed@NOSPAMcomcast.net>:
>> [ games I tried in DOSBox were slow for me ]
>
> Did you try hitting CTRL-F12 several times while the game was running?
> I think the default settings run the games slowly because there are a
> lot of old games that are just unplayable at modern computer speeds.
> Each time you hit CTRL-F12 it speeds up emulation, just don't speed it
> up faster than your computer will handle or it will become slow again.

Yes, I did. It did help but didn't seem to be quite enough for me. I'm
using an Athlon Thunderbird 1400MHz, for reference. I suppose that it
should be fast enough for some of the older games that I have to run in
DOSBox. Perhaps not. I suppose that more experimentation is in order.
;-)

> Just finished a game of Master of Orion in Dosbox not 10 minutes ago.

That's cool. It seems to me that DOSBox could prove useful beyond games
too. If one had an old DOS application that was needed to read some old
data, etc.

--
James Michael Fultz <xyzzy@sent.as.invalid>
Remove this part when replying ^^^^^^^^

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 05:32:22 +0000, James Michael Fultz wrote:

> * Bradley Reed <bradreed@NOSPAMcomcast.net>:
>>> [ games I tried in DOSBox were slow for me ]
>>
>> Did you try hitting CTRL-F12 several times while the game was running?
>> I think the default settings run the games slowly because there are a
>> lot of old games that are just unplayable at modern computer speeds.
>> Each time you hit CTRL-F12 it speeds up emulation, just don't speed it
>> up faster than your computer will handle or it will become slow again.
>
> Yes, I did. It did help but didn't seem to be quite enough for me. I'm
> using an Athlon Thunderbird 1400MHz, for reference. I suppose that it
> should be fast enough for some of the older games that I have to run in
> DOSBox. Perhaps not. I suppose that more experimentation is in order.
> ;-)
>
>> Just finished a game of Master of Orion in Dosbox not 10 minutes ago.
>
> That's cool. It seems to me that DOSBox could prove useful beyond games
> too. If one had an old DOS application that was needed to read some old
> data, etc.

We've tried it for just that. I work in a hospital, and it'a amazing how
many dos based apps there are still around...Many from the government,
like for reporting statistics.
DOSBox/DOSEMU work reasonably well for some, but we have had issues with
keymappings and font display with some apps. Some work "out of the box",
some not. At one point I even got one running that needed to connect to
an old Netware server...Had Novell client running in Dosemu, and launching
the app. It worked, but had just enough quirks that we couldn't put it in
production.
But we have 2 that are running full-time on Linux boxes, which means users
can telnet to them from any of the workstations, instead of us having to
set them up on the individual machines.

Anyway, my point...DOS emulation does work pretty well in alot of
situations. Very cool.


--
- Matt -

On 06-11-2004, in alt.os.linux.slackware,
Stanislaw Flatto <compaid@shoalhaven.net.au> wrote:

> Warning: Unrelated to Slackware! O:-) Being forced by my better
> half to make "some" order in accumulated junk I stumbled on
> collection of ~200 diskettes from my DOS days. Backups of course!
> Started the emotional journey and found some old games that I
> would like to try again. OK, downloaded dosemu+freedos to run
> under Slack, it does, so far everything is good. But I simple
> cannot CD to the directories of my Win98 install, properly mounted
> on Linux tree, to enjoy it. And I don't "want" to dual boot for
> such simple things, that is NOT "my Linux way".
> HHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPP PPPPPPPPP!!!!!!

Well, umm...

[I'm assuming you use dosemu as mostly user, haven't compiled it all
from source, and don't plan on using it in a system wide config -->
full root privs for direct hardware access]

Since you mentioned mounting the Win98 partition properly from
linux, a quick-fix here is to use the 'lredir' command supplied by
dosemu. Example:

1. Mount the Win98 partition as you normally do. Note the mount
point!
2. Fire up dosemu or xdosemu.
3. Under the dosemu command line type 'lredir help' for info. Type
'lredir' to see the drive redirections (Probably only see C: and
D: [D: should be pointing to $HOME]). Next, type something
similar to the following:

lredir e: linux\fs/mnt/win98
lredir [drive-letter]: linux\fs/[mount-point]

Note: Maintain the forward & back slashes. Change the drive
letter to anything you want to use. Change the mount point to
suit your system. You'll see error messages if you muck this up
or don't have a valid mount point.
4. Check it all by typing e:/ and dir. Enjoy...
5. *When in doubt, ~/.dosemu/boot.log yields debug info. Change the
debug level in ~/.dosemurc. You'll need to RTFM for the values!

As I stated, this is only a quick-fix. There are other ways of
handling this. Your best bet is to RTFM if you seriously plan on
using dosemu. Snag the sources for more docs and grab whatever info
they have on the website [Even the old stuff]. You might want to
consider a full-blown system wide setup of dosemu. This last option
is both good and bad. Read up on it.

BTW - My opinion here is dosemu out performs dosbox overall.
Disadvantage is it won't run all the software dosbox does. As luck
would have it, the software that won't run will be ones most
favorite dos games.

Now that I think about it, you can also install said diskette based
dos games (assuming you have dosemu working near perfect) straight
unto your linux partition. I did this with the the 4-6 disks from
DOOM II. All it took was me mounting and unmounting the floppy drive
when the install program asked for a new disk. I was stunned to see
it actually worked. Got similar results with a few newer dos games
that came on cdrom.

Beast of luck.

Max

--
____ ____ ____
||M |||A |||X ||
||__|||__|||__||
|/__\|/__\|/__\|

"James Michael Fultz" <xyzzy@sent.as.invalid> wrote in message
news:abfc5696caae4fe5d5c2c5db08561ad1@news.teranew s.com...
> * Bradley Reed <bradreed@NOSPAMcomcast.net>:
> >> [ games I tried in DOSBox were slow for me ]
> >
> > Did you try hitting CTRL-F12 several times while the game was running?
> > I think the default settings run the games slowly because there are a
> > lot of old games that are just unplayable at modern computer speeds.
> > Each time you hit CTRL-F12 it speeds up emulation, just don't speed it
> > up faster than your computer will handle or it will become slow again.
>
> Yes, I did. It did help but didn't seem to be quite enough for me. I'm
> using an Athlon Thunderbird 1400MHz, for reference. I suppose that it
> should be fast enough for some of the older games that I have to run in
> DOSBox. Perhaps not. I suppose that more experimentation is in order.
> ;-)
>
> > Just finished a game of Master of Orion in Dosbox not 10 minutes ago.
>
> That's cool. It seems to me that DOSBox could prove useful beyond games
> too. If one had an old DOS application that was needed to read some old
> data, etc.

Well, heck - you could just cave, and boot DOS from a floppy. Of
course, if you want a C: drive, you'll have to have a fat or vfat
partition. (or probably others, but you get my point.)

Cheers!
Rich