dosbox(1)
NAME
dosbox - an x86/DOS emulator with sound/graphics
SYNOPSIS
dosbox [-fullscreen] [-startmapper] [-noautoexec] [-securemode] [-userconf] [-scaler scaler] [-forcescaler scaler] [-conf configfile] [-lang langfile] [file] [-c command] [-exit] [-machine machinetype] dosbox -version dosbox -editconf program dosbox -opencaptures program dosbox -printconf dosbox -eraseconf dosbox -resetconf dosbox -erasemapper dosbox -resetmapper
DESCRIPTION
This manual page briefly documents dosbox, an x86/DOS emulator. The optional file 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 INTRO inside dosbox.
OPTIONS
A summary of options is included below.
-fullscreen
Start dosbox in fullscreen mode.
-startmapper
Start the internal keymapper on startup of dosbox. You can use
it to change the keys dosbox uses.
-noautoexec
Skips the [autoexec] section of the loaded configuration file.
-securemode
Same as -noautoexec, but adds config.com -securemode at the end
of AUTOEXEC.BAT (which in turn disables any changes to how the
drives are mounted inside dosbox)
-userconf
Load the configuration file located in ~/.dosbox. Can be
combined with the -conf option.
-scaler scaler
Uses the graphical scaler specified by scaler. See the
configuration file for the available scalers
-forcescaler scaler
Similar to the -scaler parameter, but tries to force usage of
the specified scaler even if it might not fit.
-c command
Runs the specified command before running file. Multiple
commands can be specified. Each command should start with -c
though. A command can be: an Internal Program, a DOS command or
an executable on a mounted drive.
-conf configfile
Start dosbox with the options specified in configfile. This file
has a section in which you can put commands you wish to execute
on startup. Multiple configfiles can be present at the
commandline.
-lang langfile
Start dosbox with the language specified in langfile.
-exit dosbox will close itself when the DOS program specified by file
ends.
-machine machinetype
Setup dosbox to emulate a specific type of machine. Valid
choices are: hercules, cga, tandy, pcjr, ega, vgaonly,
svga_s3(default), svga_et3000, svga_et4000, svga_paradise,
vesa_nolfb, vesa_oldvbe. The machinetype has influence on both
the videocard and the available soundcards.
-version
Output version information and exit. Useful for frontends.
-editconf program
calls program with as first parameter the configuration file.
You can specify this command more than once. In this case it
will move to second program if the first one fails to start.
-opencaptures program
calls program with as first parameter the location of the
captures folder.
-printconf
prints the location of the default configuration file.
-eraseconf, -resetconf
removes the default configuration file.
-erasemapper, -resetmapper
removes the mapperfile configured in the clean default
configuration file.
INTERNAL COMMANDS
dosbox supports most of the DOS commands found in command.com. In
addition, the following extra commands are available:
MOUNT [-t type] [-size size] driveletter sourcedirectory [-ioctl]
[-usecd number] [-label drivelabel] [-freesize freesize]
MOUNT -cd
MOUNT -u driveletter
Program to mount local directories as drives inside dosbox.
driveletter
The driveletter inside dosbox (eg. C).
sourcedirectory
The local directory you want to have inside dosbox.
-t type
Type of the mounted directory. Supported are: dir
(standard), floppy, cdrom.
-size drivesize
Sets the size of the drive. See the examples in the
README for details.
-freesize size_in_mb
Sets the amount of free space available on a drive in
MB's. This is a more simple version of -size.
-label drivelabel
Sets the name of the drive to drivelabel. 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 (-usecd #
and/or -ioctl/aspi):
For win32: label is extracted from "Real Drive".
For Linux: label is set to NO_LABEL.
If you do specify a label this label will be kept as long
as the drive
is mounted. It will not be updated !!
-ioctl Forces to use ioctl commands.
-usecd number
Forces to use SDL cdrom support for drive number. Number
can be found by -cd.
-cd Displays all detected cdrom drives and their numbers. Use
with -usecd.
-u Unmounts a mounted drive. Doesn't work on virtual Drives
(like Z:\)
Example:
To mount your /home/dos/dosgames directory as C drive in dosbox:
mount c /home/dos/dosgames
MEM
Display the amount of free memory
CONFIG [-writeconf] [-writelang] file
CONFIG -securemode
Write the current configuration or language settings to file, which is
located on the local filesystem. Not a mounted drive in dosbox.
-securemode
Switchesdosbox to a more secure mode. In this mode the
internal commands MOUNT, IMGMOUNT and BOOT wont work.
Its not possible either to create a new configfile or
languagefile in this mode. (Warning you can only undo
this mode by restarting dosbox.)
The configuration file controls various settings of dosbox: The amount
of emulated memory, the emulated soundcards and many more things. It
further allows access to AUTOEXEC.BAT.
The language file controls all visible output of the internal commands
and the internal dos. See the section FILES for more information.
LOADFIX [-size] [programname] [parameters]
LOADFIX -f
Program to reduce the amount of memory available. Useful for old
programs which don't expect much memory to be free.
[programname]
The name of the program which is executed after loadfix
eats up its memory.
[parameters]
Parameters given to the programname executable.
-size The amount of memory to eat up (in kb). Example -32, -64
or -128
-f Frees all memory eaten up by loadfix.
RESCAN
Make dosbox reread the directory structure. Useful if you changed
something on a mounted drive outside dosbox.(CTRL-F4 does this as
well!)
IMGMOUNT
A utility to mount disk images and CDROM images in dosbox.
Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
BOOT
Boot will start floppy images or hard disk images independent of the
operating system emulation offered by dosbox. This will allow you to
play booter floppies or boot to other operating systems inside dosbox.
Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
IPX
You need to enable IPX networking in the configuration file of dosbox.
All of the IPX networking is managed through the internal dosbox
program IPXNET. For help on the IPX networking from inside dosbox, type
IPXNET HELP and the program will list out the commands and relevant
documentation.
Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
KEYB
Keyb can change the keyboardlayout and the codepage used inside dosbox.
Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
FILES
Configuration and language files use a format similar to Windows .ini files. If no configfile is specified at the commandline, a file named dosbox.conf (if present in the current directory) will be loaded automatically. If a configfile is specified at the commandline that one will be used instead. If no configfile is specified or found in the current directory then dosbox will load one from ~/.dosbox/. It will try to create one if there is none.
SPECIAL KEYS
ALT-ENTER Go full screen and back.
ALT-PAUSE Pause emulation.
CTRL-F1 Start the keymapper.
CTRL-ALT-F5 Start/Stop creating a movie of the screen.
CTRL-F4 Swap mounted diskimage (Only used with imgmount).
Update directory cache for all drives!
CTRL-F5 Save a screenshot.(png)
CTRL-F6 Start/Stop recording sound output to a wave file.
CTRL-ALT-F7 Start/Stop recording of OPL commands.
CTRL-ALT-F8 Start/Stop the recording of raw MIDI commands.
CTRL-F7 Decrease frameskip.
CTRL-F8 Increase frameskip.
CTRL-F9 Kill dosbox.
CTRL-F10 Capture/Release the mouse.
CTRL-F11 Slow down emulation (Increase dosbox Cycles).
CTRL-F12 Speed up emulation (Decrease dosbox Cycles).
ALT-F12 Unlock speed (turbo button).
These are the default keybindings. They can be changed in the
keymapper.
Saved/recorded files can be found in current_directory/capture
(can be changed in the configfile). The directory has to exist
prior to starting dosbox else nothing gets saved/recorded !
Note: Once you increase your dosbox cycles beyond your
computer's maximum capacity, it will produce the same effect as
slowing down the emulation. This maximum will vary from
computer to computer, there is no standard.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Fast machine. My guess would be Pentium-2 400+ to get decent emulation of games written for an 286 machine. For protected 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. To run resource-demanding games dosbox emulates the CPU, the sound and graphic cards, and some other stuff, all at the same time. You can overclock dosbox 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 dosbox unless you reduce the load generated by the non-CPU parts of dosbox. So: Close every program but dosbox. Overclock dosbox until 100% of your CPU is used.(CTRL-F12) Since VGA emulation is the most demanding part of dosbox 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.
NOTES
While we hope that, one day, dosbox will run virtually all programs ever made for the PC... we are not there yet. At present, dosbox 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 dosbox.
BUGS
Not all DOS programs work properly. dosbox will exit without warning if an error occurred.
SEE ALSO
The README in /usr/share/doc/dosbox
AUTHOR
This manual page was written by Peter Veenstra
<H.P.Veenstra@student.rug.nl> and James Oakley
<jfunk@funktronics.ca>, for the Debian system (but may be used
by others).
Feb 26, 2010 DOSBOX(1)
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