DOSBox is a DOS emulator with versions for Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Windows, and more. The emulator aims to create an environment where older DOS applications and games can be used on modern operating systems without compatibility issues.
Because of my passion for microprocessors, I've sometimes needed a program called MICRO in an MS-DOS version , and I've run into problems trying to run it. DOSBox has saved me, and now I'll explain how.
The first step is to install it . For Debian-based distributions, you can use the following command. For those based on RPM packages or others (for openSUSE you can go to this link and click the Direct Install button), you can look for the appropriate alternative (if you wish, you can also download it from the website www.dosbox.com or use tools like Aptitude):
sudo apt-get install dosbox
Once installed, you can use it by running the program. DOSBox will allow you to run MS-DOS programs or video games with .exe, .com, and .bat extensions . If you want to know how to do this, just type the following to start it:
dosbox
Once running, you can use DOS commands to navigate it. Now you can create a directory called “programasdos” in /Home and save the DOS executables you want to run there. If the executable is already there, you can type the following in DOSBox (Z:\> is the DOSBox prompt that appears and you don't need to type it):
Z:\> mount C /home/usuario/programasdos
If everything went well, you'll see the message "Drive C is mounted as local directory /home/user/dosprograms" in our case. This mounts the directory where your DOS executables are located, and it's ready to use. Now we need to run the DOS program or game we want to use. Type:
Z:\> C:
The prompt will now have changed to C:\>, and if you wish, or if you don't remember the names of the executables, you can use DIR and other DOS commands to navigate. For example, if the executable is located within another subdirectory, you can navigate to that directory by typing:
C:\> cd nombre_directorio
In our case, it's not like that, since the executable is located directly in programasdos. We continue by typing the full program name and pressing ENTER, just as in MS-DOS. For example, imagine you want to run micro.exe, which is located in the created directory; you would type:
C:\> micro.exe
And after pressing ENTER, it will open. Remember that there are some keyboard shortcuts for performing certain operations within DOSBox, such as Ctrl+F9 to exit DOSBox, Alt+Enter to switch to full-screen mode, Ctrl+F5 to take a screenshot, and Ctrl+F10 to release or capture the mouse to control the DOS application. There are more; you can consult the DOSBox manual.