Good ol’ days of DOS games are here again

DosBox

Macintosh OS X, Linux, Microsoft Windows

Download it at:…

DosBox

Macintosh OS X, Linux, Microsoft Windows

Download it at: www.sourceforge.net.

Do you remember those old DOS favorites? Those excellent games you never wanted to stop playing, but somehow left?

Your parents decided to upgrade the family computer to Windows 95, then to Windows 98, then to Windows XP. As the operating systems advanced, the old DOS games became less and less playable. You may have thought you grew out of them, migrating to more graphically advanced games like “Counter Strike,” “Battlefield 1942” and “F.E.A.R.”

But let’s face it. DOS had some of the best games ever written, and if you could, you would go back to them and begin playing them all over again.

Anyone who has attempted to run old DOS games on Windows, however, will tell you how obscenely difficult getting them to work can be. Many games were designed to utilize the main computer processor for graphics – they were often written before separate graphics cards were included in computers.

With a Pentium IV or a new dual core chip, the games can run too well, displaying the graphical animations too fast for reliable play. Some DOS games simply do not display on Windows XP because it’s the first Microsoft operating system not directly dependent upon a DOS core.

There are some games that have been ported. Fans of the “Doom” series by I.D. Software have the option to buy “Doom 95,” a Windows 95 and Windows XP compatible version of the old “Doom” games. Many other titles, however, have not been ported. As an example, the old game “Chex Quest,” distributed freely in Chex cereal, were never fully ported. Running games such as these on Windows XP can lead to strange glitches and thus proves quite problematic.

Fortunately, many gamers have run into the DOS compatibility problem, and many bright minds have set their sights on a solution. In the open-source world, a solution came in a nice little utility called DosBox.

DosBox is completely open-source, freely distributable and highly reliable. Its main function is to emulate the processor and operating system code of a DOS-enabled computer. In other words, it slows your modern “fancy” processor and allows DOS applications and games all the comforts of home.

With DosBox, users can import and load almost any native DOS application. It allows for direct mapping and utilization of a modern Windows hard drive, allowing you to run DOS games from your computer’s local hard drive with little to no fuss. DosBox takes care of the emulation of both graphics and sound (for most sound cards) and can be set to emulate any type of old IBM-compatible processor with any type of processor speed.

DosBox provides for easy-to-use and powerful emulation. With a little cajoling, DosBox can be set to run Microsoft Windows 3.1, an early version of the Microsoft Windows series. This capability allows users to run later DOS games that require the visual libraries of Windows to function properly. With the correct drivers and a bit of fiddling with configuration files, DosBox can incorporate the functions of a joystick or game pad, bringing new life to the popular flight and driving simulators of the ’90s.

For Macintosh users who remember the days of their old 486 IBM, DosBox runs a highly efficient and easy-to-install Macintosh OS X port. For Linux users, DosBox can be easily compiled for any distribution. And for good old Windows users, DosBox installs by means of a nice setup wizard.

This is all well and good, you may be thinking. But where are the DOS games? No one is selling them anymore, right? Not entirely true.

DOS games are available online in many formats. Some were originally distributed as shareware and are thus available for free download. Others are not considered “abandonware.”

The original “Grand Theft Auto” is now considered abandonware and is available for free download. Many games and programs are still copyrighted, requiring payments for legal play. Windows 3.1, although not fully supported by Microsoft, is still copyrighted and must be purchased to be legal. Since it is no longer a supported operating system, however, the chances of finding it on the Internet cheaply are very high. There are also Web sites on the Internet that specialize in older DOS games. A simple Google search for DOS games will yield excellent results.

If you get the urge to play one of your favorite old DOS games or find a disk for one in the attic, try downloading DosBox. It can be downloaded through a simple search on www.sourceforge.net.

The package for DosBox is fully operable right from download. To change the settings, simply follow the helpful instructions online or do a Google search for DosBox hacks. Go ahead. Revisit some of the best games ever written for the personal computer.