DOSBOX - Tech Tuesday

Hey everyone! :) How are you all doing?! :D I'm great and today's exam went on nicely. I got one more exam, which is on Friday and then HOLIDAYS! :D The much awaited Holidays! haha! :D :D :D :D



So it's Tuesday, The Tech Tuesday on my Blog! :D I know it's almost over, but hey! it's NOT YET OVEr! :P What I have got to share today with you people is DOSBOX. So have you people heard of it before? I guess some of you might have, but most of you haven't. Let me do a little briefing for you all then! :)



DOSBox is a DOS-emulator that uses the SDL-library which makes DOSBox very easy to port to different platforms. DOSBox has already been ported to many different platforms, such as Windows, BeOS, Linux, MacOS X. Don't confuse yourself if you don't get what is a SDL-Library, etc. Just understand that it is an emulator of DOS. What I mean by emulator is that, any software which provides platform replica of one kind on another platform of altogether different kind is called an emulator. If you people have played Contra Shattered Soldier or Tekken 3(PS Version) on the PC, then you must be knowing that you used a PS Emulator. A PS Emulator was used since those games were for PS and we were trying to run them on PC. So we needed our PC to behave as PS for the game so that the games are unable to know that they are not running on PS, rather PC! Don't call it cheating please!(Though, it's nothing else than that in crude sense. Hahahahaha! :D) So a DOS-Emulator runs DOS inside your Windows, so what it calls for? CHEERS! :D hahahaha! :D

Technical :P :P :P - DOSBox also emulates CPU:286/386 realmode/protected mode, Directory FileSystem/XMS/EMS, Tandy/Hercules/CGA/EGA/VGA/VESA graphics, a SoundBlaster/Gravis Ultra Sound card for excellent sound compatibility with older games.



You can "re-live" the good old days with the help of DOSBox, it can run plenty of the old classics that don't run on your new computer! DOSBox is totally free of charge and OpenSource, that means it is legal to download and install it without paying for it so don't worry :) Why is it said that you can relive the good old days is the fact that certain super-cool games were made during the era of 1980s which no longer run on our systems being modern, and our Operating Systems being too modern for them too, for example the Windows 7. So DOSBOX comes to the rescue in such cases.

For example, in our college, they still teach us the programming basics of C and C++ in that age-old compiler, Borland Turbo C++. Since it doesn't run on Windows 7 natively(though it runs in some cases when you find a copy that is cracked to run on Windows 7), you can run it using DOSBOX. A special problem exists with those too old Graphics which are not supported by Windows 7. Thus we need DOS to run such Graphics Programs(Made using graphics.h header file). So again we find DOSBOX application.

Now the bigger thing. Above all, Why am I sharing DOSBOX on my blog? We have evolved to Windows 7, who needs that age-old crap? Well I DO! :P Just like I cited a few examples, they are plenty more, although let's restrain ourselves from discussing more applications. Let's turn our attention majorly to DOSBOX.

Certain screenshots I found on Google that show that, YES! YOU CAN RELIVE THE GOOD OLD DAYS! :D







Now let's get back to our discussion again! :) I like DOSBOX since I was able to play Road Fighter again due to it. Moreover, as I Said, the Computer Graphics course of our college still teaches us that no-longer-in-use graphics, so I had to make the programs using DOSBOX only. I was out of choice. Though most of this work can be done using Windows XP too, but the performance on native platform is always better. The next thing is that, since my computer RAM is 8GB and if I would use WinXP 64-Bit to support it, you know that would be foolish since WinXP 64-bit SUCKS BIGTIME! >_< So in any case I want Windows 7 on my PC and next, I can;t do without DOSBOX either. The main advantage of DOSBOX is that it's simple and easy to use and moreover it doesn't use too much resources either. Also, it is just a few MB(It took 4.49 MB on my PC) LOL!! :D So what are you waiting for? It is safe to use, so go ahead and try it! :) Do read the manual, I'm not providing instructions here. Though if you people like, you may comment and I'll do it next time! :) I would try to find some legitimate links to download the DOS games too and if successful would share them on Saturday! :)

Useful Links:

DOWNLOAD LINKS HERE (For all platforms, choose yours to download!)

Official Website

DOSBOX Manual

DOSBOX Installation Instructions, etc.

Now, let me take a leave my friends. I'm extremely tired after the day's tussle with the exam. So see you all later. Have a great evening, or day, whatever on your side! :D All comments and suggestions are always welcomed. Feel free to comment! :)