Virtual Machine with DOS

[Gunther]

I'm running Windows XP Mode under VirtualPC in my Windows 7 as host computer. That works fine. But some old DOS programs don't work, because I cant switch the console with Alt+Enter into the full screen modus.

So, I would like to make a new virtual machine for a native DOS. What is the best choice to do that? Has anyone experiences? Help is welcome.

By the way, I found a funny video here. Have fun.

Gunther

[anunitu]

You might try dosbox for running dos,it also runs freedos and it is very close to the original Dos.

[Gunther]

Hi  anunitu,

thank you for the fast reply.

You might try dosbox for running dos,it also runs freedos and it is very close to the original Dos.

Is that VirtualBox or another emulator? Do you have a download link?

Gunther

[sinsi]

If you want to play old games, dosbox is the way to go - it's what gog.com give you to play things like Blake Stone.
It emulates DOS but doesn't have any DOS programs, just the kernel. Emulates the Sound Blaster too.

If you want to do other DOS-type stuff (or write your own 64-bit DOS ) VMware player is good and probably the fastest.
You will need a copy of DOS though.

[dedndave]

i suspect the reason that 64-bit windows does not support 16-bit code is registry virtualization

if you go back in time a little, you may remember that the registry had a layer of virtualization
to make 32-bit windows compatible with older 16-bit windows

when ms came out with 64-bit windows, they required another layer of virtualization,
to make 64-bit windows compatible with 32-bit windows

they decided that having all the layers, 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit was too much   :P
probably would have made the registry overly-complex
so - they dropped 16-bit support

i think that is one difficulty you will face if you try to make a 64-bit version run 16-bit code

[FORTRANS]

Hi,

   In the thread "Re: Help i'm new" Reply #13;

Just installed DOSBOX and all the examples and my program work :icon_cool:

   Some of the examples were my DOS graphic programs in modes
12H and 13H.

Regards,

Steve N.

[Gunther]

That sounds interesting. I'll give DOSBOX a try.

Gunther

[Gunther]

So, it's time to give an interim report.

I've installed DOSBOX (nothing changed).

Some of the examples were my DOS graphic programs in modes 12H and 13H.

Regards,

Steve N.

Steve, that's true; your programs working fine. Furthermore, most of my Protected Mode stuff works well. Only some VESA modes didn't work (using the linear frame buffer); that's PowerBASIC code mixed with assembly language. It seems also that DOSBOX doesn't support XMS support, so some very old applications (my XMS manager for PowerBASIC from 1991) didn't work. But that's no tragedy. It might be that I've to change some configuration files.

If you want to play old games, dosbox is the way to go - it's what gog.com give you to play things like Blake Stone.
It emulates DOS but doesn't have any DOS programs, just the kernel. Emulates the Sound Blaster too.

If you want to do other DOS-type stuff (or write your own 64-bit DOS ) VMware player is good and probably the fastest.
You will need a copy of DOS though.

Sinsi, one question: Is it really possible to switch into the LongMode as guest? Will the host allow that? The CPU is virtualized, but the entire code must be morphed and passed to the host.

Anyway, DOSBOX is very good, because the data exchange between host and guest isn't a point. Under VirtualBox is that a problem. Sure, one can install hardware extensions, but the guest must have, for example, appropriate drivers to use USB devices. Not so easy in that case.

Gunther

[MichaelW]

The attachment contains some simple test apps created with FreeBASIC DOS. You control them by pressing the spacebar key to continue to the next test or the escape key to exit. Other keys are ignored so you can use Alt+Enter without disturbing the application. There is one app to test the QB/FB modes 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, corresponding to VGA modes 10h, 0fh, 11h, 12h, and 13h, and two others that test the FB modes 17 and 18, corresponding to VESA modes 100h and 101h. I didn't include tests for any of the higher resolution VESA modes because VBE could not identify the modes.

Running under the Windows XP NTVDM, on two different systems, all of the tests run full-screen only, Alt+Enter minimizes to the task bar, and restore returns to full-screen. One anomaly on the newer system was that the FreeBASIC graphics library substituted a mode that was reported as 30h for what should have been VGA mode 13h.

The display adapters in my test system are more or less old so they support the old lower-resolution modes, but I suspect that some of the recent hardware may lack support for these modes.

[Dubby]

Hi Gunther,
a hint you might want to read the manual and also the config file of DosBox..

also dosbox comes with integrated debugger.. in specialized version...
which you can find it here:
http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=7323

[FORTRANS]

Hi Gunther,

   Look at LxPic at the site http://hplx.pgdn.de/.  It is a DOS image
viewer (JPG, BMP, PCX, and GIF mostly).  You can test a number of
VESA modes with it.  I have a number of VESA programs, but nothing
as nice as LxPic for what it does.

Cheers,

Steve N.

[Gunther]

Michael,

The attachment contains some simple test apps created with FreeBASIC DOS. You control them by pressing the spacebar key to continue to the next test or the escape key to exit. Other keys are ignored so you can use Alt+Enter without disturbing the application. There is one app to test the QB/FB modes 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, corresponding to VGA modes 10h, 0fh, 11h, 12h, and 13h, and two others that test the FB modes 17 and 18, corresponding to VESA modes 100h and 101h. I didn't include tests for any of the higher resolution VESA modes because VBE could not identify the modes.

Running under the Windows XP NTVDM, on two different systems, all of the tests run full-screen only, Alt+Enter minimizes to the task bar, and restore returns to full-screen. One anomaly on the newer system was that the FreeBASIC graphics library substituted a mode that was reported as 30h for what should have been VGA mode 13h.

The display adapters in my test system are more or less old so they support the old lower-resolution modes, but I suspect that some of the recent hardware may lack support for these modes.

your test programs are working fine under DOSBOX. They need a DPMI host. Is it for using the linear frame buffer or has it to do with the BASIC dialect?

Dubby,

a hint you might want to read the manual and also the config file of DosBox..

also dosbox comes with integrated debugger.. in specialized version...
which you can find it here:
http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=7323

yes of course, I've to do: RTFM. But I've installed it in the middle of the night and hadn't enough time to do it. But thank you for the link.

Steve,

Look at LxPic at the site http://hplx.pgdn.de/.  It is a DOS image viewer (JPG, BMP, PCX, and GIF mostly).  You can test a number of VESA modes with it.  I have a number of VESA programs, but nothing as nice as LxPic for what it does.

Cheers,

Steve N.

I'll check it. Thank you for the hint.

Gunther

[Dubby]

Dude, I'm just referring to the right direction...

the link I've provided is the link to debugger enabled build of dosbox, which not by default provided by official download..

[Gunther]

Hi Dubby,

Dude, I'm just referring to the right direction...

that's clear, no offending.

the link I've provided is the link to debugger enabled build of dosbox, which not by default provided by official download..

That was my point. Good hint, thank you again.  :t

Gunther

[Dubby]

No offense taken.. I'm sorry, I'm not suppose to post something in the middle of the night...
my head is already populated with so many un-arranged memories..
my deep apologies to you sir...