First off, this article/post has been redone to conform to the rules of the PCLinuxOS Forums. If anything is
amiss PLEASE contact me - this is a STEP BY STEP installation of DosBox through the repository and usage
via the desktop.
I am a DOS gamer by heart; I cannot find a single game today that was made like the simplistic games from
the Dos ages. So, I've decided to post this for all to share and understand. I hope it helps someone out there
who is DYING to play most of those AWESOME oldies! Enjoy!
Installing DosBox in PCLinuxOS for newbies
from billy7720 via PCLinuxOS forums
This is a STEP BY STEP installation of DosBox through Synaptic Package Manager
along with placement of the "dosgames" folder you will create and place within
PCLinuxOS. I was a newbie myself when I first figured this all out so trust me
that I think you'll be happy if you follow the instructions below carefully.
You'll find the 2nd to last version: v0.73 which can easily be accquired
via the repositories off of Synaptic Package Manager. The package manager
is located at the bottom of the screen; the icon shows a small red box, a
CD and a diskette. Make sure you're online when you click it. Click it.
(more than likely DosBox 0.74 has been updated via Synaptic by now).
Give it a moment to load. After everything loads, goto the "search" button
and click it. A small window will appear called "find". You'll see a small
flashing cursor in the search area of the window. Type in "dosbox" without
the quotes and press ENTER. Give it a moment. Once the packages load, you'll
see a pretty hefty listing of files. At the top of the list of files you'll
see the "package" names. DosBox (in lowercase letters) is now in the window.
The file is "0.73-1pclos2009". On the left side of this is a small square
which should be white. Click on the square and another window will appear.
Check the box "mark for installation". When you do this, it will update the
white box with a small arrow indicating that the file is ready to be down-
loaded and installed on your system.
Now all you have to do is click the button "apply" which is at the top of the
screen. Click it and let Synaptic do it's job. Once it's installed, another
window will appear. Now Synaptic is "appending" or installing the files auto-
matically into your OS. Once this is finished, you can close Synaptic. That is
all there is to it!
DosBox is now installed and now it's ready to use! The program is located in
your "applictaion launcher menu" which is the big "PC" icon at the bottom of
your screen. Click on the big "PC" then scroll up to "more applications" then
scroll over to the right and you'll see "emulators". Once that comes up you'll
see the "dosbox" icon. That's where DosBox is located. Whenever you need to run
DosBox, this is where you will click to start it.
The biggest problem is transferring all your Dos games to PCLinuxOS. This takes
quite a bit of time and can really be boring but if you want to use DosBox in
your new OS, you'll be patient!
Next, we create a new folder to put all those games in once you have transferred
all your Dos games to your PCLinuxOS desktop. Word to the wise: DO NOT make
your dos games folders any longer than 8 characters long. Reason is that PCLinuxOS
will cut the name, add a ~ character and you'll have to type that in if you wish
to access a particular folder for a game. It's up to you.
Left click on the desktop, NOT on an icon and choose "create new" and
then "folder". Click it. A window will appear and name it "dosgames" without
the "". Hit enter.
Now you have a folder called dosgames which is ready for you to place
new dos game folders in. If you have dos games that are already in
folders, just drag and drop and "move" the folders to the dosgames
folder.
Now where you place your dos games: it will require a certain
place for those dos games to be at. The location for newbies is quite
hard to find since Linux does not use drive letters, but I will tell you
where to put the "dosgames" folder.
Once you have your dos games (in separate folders for each game) you'll
need to go to your PC button at the bottom. It's located at the bottom
left side of the screen. Click it. Scroll up to "file tools" and then
go over to "Konqueror - Super User Mode". Click it. A window will pop up and
this is where you must input your password to open it (the one you used when
you first booted). Once this happens, a window will appear.
While in Konqueror - Super User Mode, MAKE SURE you take care of what
you do here. If you delete a file or replace a file, it will be removed
or replaced so just FYI! BE CAREFUL!
Now, once you put your password into Konqueror, it will bring up another
window in which you have FULL ACCESS to your files system via the OS.
On the left side of the screen in this window, you'll see a red folder
called "Root Folder" and below that is the system files. Click on the
folder "home" which is below. Just scroll down. Click on it and another
window will appear. This area now should show your login name folder and
lost + found folder. Click on the folder that is NOT lost + found. It
will open.
Once again, the window will open again. This is the area that the folder
"dosgames" will be dropped into. Once you have placed all your game
folders within the dosgames folder, you can drag and drop it into the
open folder via Konqueror. Once you drag and drop it into the Konqueror
window, choose "copy here" and the files will be placed within the proper
area, along with your documents, music, pictures, downloads, templates and
etc which are also in this window.
Once you have placed the "dosgames" folder into position, then close
Konqueror. You've placed your dosgames in the correct area!
If you've gotten this far, the above is the biggest battle. The above
things to do are the biggest pain in the arse you'll ever deal with. Yes,
I know Windows was easier to deal with but why play on an inferior OS?
Now, since you've installed DosBox in Synaptic, click on your PC button, scroll
up to More Applications and move over to Emulators. Find DosBox and click
on it, opening the DosBox window.
Okay, now you have DosBox running. If it's running you'll see a Z:\>
cursor which is waiting for the user to type in what must be done to use
DosBox correctly. Now comes the easier part as I'm going to tell you how
to properly activate DosBox to run those dosgames you placed in your home
folder.
At the Z:\> prompt you'll type in the following:
mount c ~ (then press the ENTER key)
Yep, it's wierd but that's because Linux does not use drive letters. But
the above is what you use to start DosBox. Yes, you see the above right;
that is a "tilde" after the c. I won't ask.
After the above is done, it will tell you it's ready and mounted. So,
our next command is:
c: (then press the ENTER key)
Which tells DosBox to goto our actual drive c which Linux is currently
on. Our next command now is:
cd\dosgames (then press the ENTER key)
Which now tells DosBox where your games have been placed. once there,
you can always type DIR which will bring up your "catalog" of the games
in which you placed in DosBox.
If you wish to go to a particular game, you'll simply type:
cd\dosgames\GAMEFOLDER (then press the ENTER key)
Where GAMEFOLDER is is the name of the dos game that you want to open.
It is the folder in which that particular game is. To launch your game, make
sure you know the game's boot file which usually has the extension of one of them
following:
.EXE
.COM
.BAT
ANY of the three combinations above WILL BOOT a game once you have setup the game
setup files (if it has any). Type in the file name (without the extension) and
voila, the game will boot. If you have problems, go back to the folder in which
the game is located and see if you missed any setups. If so, do your setups and
THEN run the boot file name and try again. This can happen so patience!
You can always go back to another folder by typing in:
cd\dosgames
Which in turn will return you to the original state in which you started
to look for other games via your dosgames folder.
REMEMBER: If any of your older dos games require a setup, you'll have to do
this to make the game function properly in DosBox. You'll also have to remember
to keep track of the .EXE file names to run the game in DosBox. Some of the much
older dos games do not run using an .EXE file extension so you must figure out
what file name it does use to run the game. Don't forget to find any files that
are normal for dos such as "setsound.exe" and "setup.exe" and run them BEFORE
you run a game! You want sound in your games don't you?
Here is a quick run down of what I must do to access my dosgames folder and run
Psycho Pinball (Codemasters 1995) on my desktop:
1. Click on the "PC" icon.
2. Scroll up to "More Applications"
3. Scroll over to "Emulators"
4. Scroll over to "DosBox" and click it.
5. DosBox loads and is at the Z:\> cursor.
6. I type: MOUNT C ~ and press enter.
7. I type: C: and press enter.
8. I type: cd\dosgames\PP and press enter.
9. I type: PP and press enter which starts Psycho Pinball!
10. I then press ALT and ENTER at the same time to access FULL SCREEN. You can
always press the same keys again to shrink it back to the way it was.
IMPORTANT: If you ever exit a Dos game and have no mouse control via your desktop,
you can always type EXIT at the cursor to close DosBox. This will return your
system to it's natural state of use! Sometimes the mouse will be stuck in DosBox
and you can't use it but exiting out of DosBox with typing in EXIT and hitting
enter will exit you to your normal desktop. Just FYI!
That's it. Trust me, not all your dos games are going to work in DosBox, but it
sure is nice to play some of the old games you missed in the past.
Any other questions can be directed to me via my online name at the
PCLinuxOS forums: billy7720.
