Dosbox- A leap into the past

I am back again! Let's start our journey of Discussbytes with a topic which is which is not commonly talked about. I am talking about DOSBox-an emulator which can run applications and games designed for DOS(Disk Operating System introduced back in 1981). It works on assembly language. This article would also include basic tutorial on how to use DOSBox.

                      Photo: DOSBox

DOSBox enables systems with latest operating system to use applications designed for old hardware and software. 

Setting up DOSBox on your pc is simple and it will take hardly a few minutes. You can even install DOSBox for Windows 10. To download and install DOSBox in your pc kindly head over to https://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1 and click on DOSBox version for your pc for DOSBox download.

After then run DOSBox installer.

Now after successful installation of DOSBox we need to set a folder in C in which we can mount our games and applications. Name your folder Games at local disk C.

How to use DOSBox-Mounting DOSBox 

Type  mount A C:\Games

Press enter and then type

            A:

and then press enter

DOSBox Full Screen

If you want to use DOSBox in full screen you can simply use Alt + Enter. 

Running a game

There are a number of websites which offer DosBox games. I would recommend you using Abandonware to download games which support DOSBox. After downloading the game,  you need to extract the zip file. You can simply drag and drop a particular game application file to run it. For more help on how to play games on DOSBox, you can go to Abandonware .

RUNNING DOSBOX ON MAC OS X

1. Go to DOSBox and click on the DOSBox version for Mac OS X .
2. After downloading, unzip the folder and paste the contents into a folder(You can give that folder any name of your choice e.g. Dos)
3. Paste Dos folder into applications folder.
4. Search for DOSBox in Finder and click to run it.
5. Mount drive C as explained in the procedure given above. 

RUNNING DOSBOX ON ANDROID

Having a phone and want to use DOSBox?  Now this is possible with help of certain apps available on Play Store. Most of them are paid like DOSBox Turbo. You can also use DOSBox for free (Although the app was last updated years ago). All you need to do is to download games from websites like DOSGAMES. Load these games into your phone SD card and enjoy playing.

You also play DOS games online: Play now

DOSBox Android download for your smartphone

LEARNING ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE

For beginners, I would suggest you to go to programology channel in YouTube. It contains a good playlist for better understanding of assembly language and DOSBox tutorials and DOSBox commands. You will surely find it helpful.

Channel Link: Programology

I will be adding more information on DOSBox in future.

Your comments are appreciated. Please tell me how I can improve on this post. Thanks for reading.

NOTE: I WILL UPDATE MORE ON RUNNING DOSBOX IN OTHER OPERATING SYSTEMS IN FUTURE.