User Commands DOSBOX(1) NNNNAAAAMMMMEEEE dosbox - an x86/DOS emulator with sound/graphics SSSSYYYYNNNNOOOOPPPPSSSSIIIISSSS ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx [[[[-ffffuuuullllllllssssccccrrrreeeeeeeennnn]]]] [[[[-ssssttttaaaarrrrttttmmmmaaaappppppppeeeerrrr]]]] [[[[-nnnnooooaaaauuuuttttooooeeeexxxxeeeecccc]]]] [[[[-ssssccccaaaalllleeeerrrr _s_c_a_l_e_r]]]] [[[[-ffffoooorrrrcccceeeessssccccaaaalllleeeerrrr _s_c_a_l_e_r]]]] [[[[-ccccoooonnnnffff _c_o_n_f_i_g_f_i_l_e]]]] [[[[-llllaaaannnngggg _l_a_n_g_f_i_l_e]]]] [[[[ffffiiiilllleeee]]]] [[[[-cccc _c_o_m_m_a_n_d]]]] [[[[-eeeexxxxiiiitttt]]]] [[[[-mmmmaaaacccchhhhiiiinnnneeee _m_a_c_h_i_n_e_t_y_p_e]]]] ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx ----vvvveeeerrrrssssiiiioooonnnn DDDDEEEESSSSCCCCRRRRIIIIPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNN This manual page briefly documents ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx, an x86/DOS emula- tor. The optional ffffiiiilllleeee argument should be a DOS executable or a directory. If it is a dos executable (.com .exe .bat) the program will run automatically. If it is a directory, a DOS session will run with the directory mounted as C:\. For an introduction type _I_N_T_R_O inside ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx. OOOOPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSSS A summary of options is included below. -ffffuuuullllllllssssccccrrrreeeeeeeennnn Start ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx in fullscreen mode. -ssssttttaaaarrrrttttmmmmaaaappppppppeeeerrrr Start the internal keymapper on startup of ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx. You can use it to change the keys ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx uses. -nnnnooooaaaauuuuttttooooeeeexxxxeeeecccc Skips the [autoexec] section of the loaded configura- tion file. -ssssccccaaaalllleeeerrrr _s_c_a_l_e_r Uses the graphical scaler specified by _s_c_a_l_e_r. See the configuration file for the available scalers -ffffoooorrrrcccceeeessssccccaaaalllleeeerrrr _s_c_a_l_e_r Similar to the -ssssccccaaaalllleeeerrrr parameter, but tries to force usage of the specified scaler even if it might not fit. -cccc _c_o_m_m_a_n_d Runs the specified _c_o_m_m_a_n_d before running ffffiiiilllleeee. Multi- ple commands can be specified. Each _c_o_m_m_a_n_d should start with -cccc though. A command can be: an Internal Program, a DOS command or an executable on a mounted drive. -ccccoooonnnnffff _c_o_n_f_i_g_f_i_l_e Start ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx with the options specified in _c_o_n_f_i_g_f_i_l_e. SunOS 5.10 Last change: Jul 01, 2007 1 User Commands DOSBOX(1) This file has a section in which you can put commands you wish to execute on startup. Multiple _c_o_n_f_i_g_f_i_l_e_s can be present at the commandline. -llllaaaannnngggg _l_a_n_g_f_i_l_e Start ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx with the language specified in _l_a_n_g_f_i_l_e. -eeeexxxxiiiitttt ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx will close itself when the DOS program specified by ffffiiiilllleeeeends. -mmmmaaaacccchhhhiiiinnnneeee _m_a_c_h_i_n_e_t_y_p_e Setup ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx to emulate a specific type of machine. Valid choices are: _h_e_r_c_u_l_e_s, _c_g_a, _p_c_j_r, _t_a_n_d_y, _v_g_a(_d_e_f_a_u_l_t). The machinetype has influence on both the videocard and the available soundcards. -vvvveeeerrrrssssiiiioooonnnn Output version information and exit. Useful for fron- tends. IIIINNNNTTTTEEEERRRRNNNNAAAALLLL CCCCOOOOMMMMMMMMAAAANNNNDDDDSSSS ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx supports most of the DOS commands found in command.com. In addition, the following extra commands are available: MMMMOOOOUUUUNNNNTTTT [[[[-tttt _t_y_p_e]]]] [[[[-ssssiiiizzzzeeee _s_i_z_e]]]] _d_r_i_v_e_l_e_t_t_e_r _s_o_u_r_c_e_d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y [[[[-iiiiooooccccttttllll]]]] [[[[-uuuusssseeeeccccdddd _n_u_m_b_e_r]]]] [[[[-llllaaaabbbbeeeellll _d_r_i_v_e_l_a_b_e_l]]]] [[[[-ffffrrrreeeeeeeessssiiiizzzzeeee _f_r_e_e_s_i_z_e MMMMOOOOUUUUNNNNTTTT -ccccdddd MMMMOOOOUUUUNNNNTTTT -uuuu ddddrrrriiiivvvveeeelllleeeetttttttteeeerrrr Program to mount local directories as drives inside ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx. _d_r_i_v_e_l_e_t_t_e_r The driveletter inside dosbox (eg. C). _s_o_u_r_c_e_d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y The local directory you want to have inside dos- box. -tttt _t_y_p_e Type of the mounted directory. Supported are: dir (standard), floppy, cdrom. -ssssiiiizzzzeeee _d_r_i_v_e_s_i_z_e Sets the size of the drive. See the examples in the README for details. -ffffrrrreeeeeeeessssiiiizzzzeeee _s_i_z_e__i_n__m_b SunOS 5.10 Last change: Jul 01, 2007 2 User Commands DOSBOX(1) Sets the amount of free space available on a drive in MB's. This is a more simple version of -ssssiiiizzzzeeee. -llllaaaabbbbeeeellll _d_r_i_v_e_l_a_b_e_l Sets the name of the drive to _d_r_i_v_e_l_a_b_e_l. Needed on some systems if the cd label isn't read correctly. Useful when a program can't find its cdrom. If you don't specify a label and no lowlevel support is selected (-uuuusssseeeeccccdddd #### and/or -iiiiooooccccttttllll////aaaassssppppiiii): For win32: label is extracted from "Real Drive". For Linux: label is set to NO_LABEL. long as the drive If you do specify a label this label will be kept as is mounted. It will not be updated !! -iiiiooooccccttttllll Forces to use ioctl commands. -uuuusssseeeeccccdddd _n_u_m_b_e_r Forces to use SDL cdrom support for drive number. _N_u_m_b_e_r can be found by -ccccdddd. -ccccdddd Displays all detected cdrom drives and their numbers. Use with -uuuusssseeeeccccdddd. -uuuu Unmounts a mounted drive. Doesn't work on virtual Drives (like Z:\) EEEExxxxaaaammmmpppplllleeee:::: To mount your /home/dos/dosgames directory as C drive in ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx: mount c /home/dos/dosgames MMMMEEEEMMMM Display the amount of free memory CCCCOOOONNNNFFFFIIIIGGGG [[[[-wwwwrrrriiiitttteeeeccccoooonnnnffff]]]] [[[[-wwwwrrrriiiitttteeeellllaaaannnngggg]]]] ffffiiiilllleeee Write the current configuration or language settings to ffffiiiilllleeee, which is located on the local filesystem. Not a mounted drive in ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx. The configuration file controls various settings of ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx: The amount of emulated memory, the emulated soundcards and many more things. It futher allows acces to _A_U_T_O_E_X_E_C._B_A_T. SunOS 5.10 Last change: Jul 01, 2007 3 User Commands DOSBOX(1) The language file controls all visible ouput of the internal commands and the internal dos. See the section FFFFIIIILLLLEEEESSSS for more information. LLLLOOOOAAAADDDDFFFFIIIIXXXX [[[[-ssssiiiizzzzeeee]]]] [[[[pppprrrrooooggggrrrraaaammmmnnnnaaaammmmeeee]]]] [[[[ppppaaaarrrraaaammmmeeeetttteeeerrrrssss]]]] LLLLOOOOAAAADDDDFFFFIIIIXXXX -ffff Program to reduce the amount of memory available. Useful for old programs which don't expect much memory to be free. [[[[pppprrrrooooggggrrrraaaammmmnnnnaaaammmmeeee]]]] The name of the program which is executed after loadfix eats up its memory. [[[[ppppaaaarrrraaaammmmeeeetttteeeerrrrssss]]]] Parameters given to the pppprrrrooooggggrrrraaaammmmnnnnaaaammmmeeee executable. -ssssiiiizzzzeeee The amount of memory to eat up (in kb). Example -32, -64 or -128 -ffff Frees all memory eaten up by loadfix. RRRREEEESSSSCCCCAAAANNNN Make ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx reread the directory structure. Useful if you changed something on a mounted drive outside ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx.(CTRL-F4 does this as well!) IIIIMMMMGGGGMMMMOOOOUUUUNNNNTTTT A utility to mount disk images and CD-ROM images in ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx. Read the RRRREEEEAAAADDDDMMMMEEEE of ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx for the full and correct syntax. BBBBOOOOOOOOTTTT Boot will start floppy images or hard disk images indepen- dent of the operating system emulation offered by ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx. This will allow you to play booter floppies or boot to other operating systems inside ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx. Read the RRRREEEEAAAADDDDMMMMEEEE of ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx for the full and correct syntax. KKKKEEEEYYYYBBBB Keyb can change the keyboardlayout and the codepage used inside dosbox. Read the RRRREEEEAAAADDDDMMMMEEEE of ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx for the full and correct syntax. SunOS 5.10 Last change: Jul 01, 2007 4 User Commands DOSBOX(1) FFFFIIIILLLLEEEESSSS Configuration and language files use a format similar to Windows .ini files. First ~/.dosboxrc (if present) will be loaded. If no configfile is specified at the commandline, a file named ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx....ccccoooonnnnffff (if present in the current directory) will be loaded automatically afterwards. If a configfile is specified at the commandline that one will be used instead. SSSSPPPPEEEECCCCIIIIAAAALLLL KKKKEEEEYYYYSSSS Fast machine. My guess would be pentium-2 400+ to get decent emulation of games written for an 286 machine. For pro- tected mode games a 1 Ghz machine is recommended and don't expect them to run fast though!! Be sure to read the next section on how to speed it up somewhat. TTTToooo rrrruuuunnnn rrrreeeessssoooouuuurrrrcccceeee-ddddeeeemmmmaaaannnnddddiiiinnnngggg ggggaaaammmmeeeessss ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx emulates the CPU, the sound and graphic cards, and some other stuff, all at the same time. You can overclock ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx by using CTRL-F12, but you'll be limited by the power of your actual CPU. You can see how much free time your true CPU has by various utils (top). Once 100% of your real CPU time is used there is no further way to speed up ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx unless you reduce the load generated by the non-CPU parts of ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx. So: Close every program but ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx. Overclock ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx until 100% of your CPU is used.(CTRL-F12) Since VGA emulation is the most demanding part of ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx in terms of actual CPU usage, we'll start here. Increase the number of frames skipped (in increments of one) by pressing CTRL-F8. Your CPU usage should decrease. Go back one step and repeat this until the game runs fast enough for you. Please note that this is a trade off: you lose in fluidity of video what you gain in speed. NNNNOOOOTTTTEEEESSSS While we hope that, one day, ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx will run virtually all programs ever made for the PC... we are not there yet. At present, ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx run on a 1.7 Gigahertz PC is roughly the equivalent of a 25MHz 386 PC. While the 0.60 release has added support for "protected mode" allowing for more complex and recent programs, but note that this support is early in development and nowhere near as complete as the support for 386 real-mode games (or earlier). Also note that "protected mode" games need substantially more resources and may require a much faster processor for you to run it properly in ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx. SunOS 5.10 Last change: Jul 01, 2007 5 User Commands DOSBOX(1) BBBBUUUUGGGGSSSS Not all DOS programs work properly. ddddoooossssbbbbooooxxxx will exit without warning if an error occurred. SSSSEEEEEEEE AAAALLLLSSSSOOOO The README in /usr/share/doc/dosbox AAAAUUUUTTTTHHHHOOOORRRR This manual page was written by Peter Veenstra and James Oakley , for the Debian system (but may be used by others). AAAATTTTTTTTRRRRIIIIBBBBUUUUTTTTEEEESSSS See aaaattttttttrrrriiiibbbbuuuutttteeeessss(5) for descriptions of the following attri- butes: box; cbp-1 | cbp-1 l | l . ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE = Availability SUNWdosbox = Interface Stability Volatile NNNNOOOOTTTTEEEESSSS Source for dosbox is available on http://opensolaris.org. SunOS 5.10 Last change: Jul 01, 2007 6