Hi, > On May 9, 2024, at 3:53 PM, Eric Auer via Freedos-user > <freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote: > > > Hi! >> Initially I tried Bochs, but found Bochs either cannot go full screen >> using SDL2, or I just haven't found the magical incantation... > > A quick google says "try alt-enter" (to go full screen). In 2011, this > had the side-effect of risking to switch to a resolution DOS dislikes, > I have not googled further to check whether Bochs in 2024 has issues? > >> More research showed DOSEMU out of date and not available on Void Linux > > I agree regarding the first part, but have never heard of Void Linux. > >> distribution here, and/or requiring other self compiled libraries, as >> well as DOSEMU2 requiring additional self compiled libraries, with only >> DOSBOX (intended for games) available on Void Linux. > > For Ubuntu, you can simply add the PPA to your software manager, > > https://github.com/dosemu2/dosemu2 explains the details. > > They also have pre-compiled packages for Fedora and OpenSUSE. > No manual compilation is needed for either of the 3 distros. > >> After more research, found Jim Hall's book tends to sway towards >> suggesting Qemu, a virtualizer rather than an Emulator. I have and >> currently use Virtualbox here, but wanted to remain to the de facto used >> emulator for DOS environments. Regardless, Qemu readily resizes to full >> screen, so that I can finally see and read the font/characters. > > I doubt that there is a "de facto used emulator for DOS". > > Personally, I prefer dosemu2. Windows users often prefer dosbox. > > Various users also like to use software which emulates or > virtualizes a complete PC on which you then install DOS, > but I have no idea why that would be better than dosbox or > dosemu2 which spezicalize on supporting DOS and offer nice > magic like "any Linux DIRECTORY can become your C: DISK". > >> 1) Jim Hall's FreeDOS qemu incantation likely needs some minimal >> updating, for those that desire to get-up and running quickly... >> $ qemu-system-x86_64 -name FreeDOS -machine >> pc-i440fx-4.2,accel=kvm,usb=off,dump-guest-core=off > etc. > > That is a very long command line indeed! An incantation :-o > >> 2) Book or documentation should probably lead or advise users, the >> best (as of date) emulator or virtualizer per their intended use. > > What if the DOS distro installer can be improved, so it no > longer matters which emulator or virtualizer people use? ;-)
As I’ve mentioned many times before, it already does that. And has done that since FreeDOS 1.2. However when it comes to virtual environments, it only has separate config files for DOSBox at this time. It relies on V8Power Tools program VINFO to detect if and what virtual environment it is installing the OS. At present, that is Virtual Box, VMware, QEMU, DOSBox and some others as simply Generic. As you may recall, the installer now uses this information to also determine how to behave when a disk is not partitioned. On real hardware when a drive has no partitions, the installer will prompt to overwrite the MBR. Inside known virtual environments, it just overwrites it and does not bother the user. > >> As they say, the more we keep something simple, the easier >> and more readily we get things done. > > We could provide a disk image with pre-installed DOS. I don’t think we need more types of release media. We already have 5. Big and little USB images, live and legacy CD, plus the floppy edition. > > This would be convenient for users of virtual computers, > because they do not need to worry about installing to > actual disks when their disks are imaginary anyway :-) Sounds similar to what the LiveCD provides. Without the worry of having too small or too large of a disk image for the user’s needs. With enough ram, it relocates itself onto a RAM drive, you can even install and remove packages. Swap the CD out and install other software. The only disadvantages are a slightly longer boot time and changes are not persistent. But the user could have a virtual HD attached to remedy that. > > Regards, Eric > > Jerome > > > _______________________________________________ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
