1DOSBOX(1)                   General Commands Manual                  DOSBOX(1)
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3
4

NAME

6       dosbox - an x86/DOS emulator with sound/graphics
7

SYNOPSIS

9       dosbox [-fullscreen] [-startmapper] [-noautoexec] [-securemode] [-user‐
10       conf] [-scaler scaler|-forcescaler scaler]  [-conf  configfile]  [-lang
11       langfile]  [-machine  machinetype]  [-socket socketnumber] [-c command]
12       [-exit] [NAME]
13
14       dosbox --version
15
16       dosbox --printconf
17
18       dosbox --editconf [editor]
19
20       dosbox -eraseconf
21
22       dosbox -resetconf
23
24       dosbox -erasemapper
25
26       dosbox -resetmapper
27
28       dosbox -opencaptures program
29

DESCRIPTION

31       This manual page briefly documents dosbox-staging, an x86/DOS emulator.
32
33       The optional NAME argument should be a DOS executable or  a  directory.
34       If  it  is a dos executable (.com .exe .bat) the program will run auto‐
35       matically. If it is a directory, a DOS session will run with the direc‐
36       tory mounted as C:\.
37
38       For an introduction type INTRO inside dosbox.
39

OPTIONS

41       A summary of options is included below.
42
43       -fullscreen
44              Start dosbox in fullscreen mode.
45
46       -startmapper
47              Start  the  internal keymapper on startup of dosbox. You can use
48              it to change the keys dosbox uses.
49
50       -noautoexec
51              Skips the [autoexec] section of the loaded configuration file.
52
53       -securemode
54              Same as -noautoexec, but adds config.com  -securemode at the end
55              of  AUTOEXEC.BAT  (which in turn disables any changes to how the
56              drives are mounted inside dosbox)
57
58       -userconf
59              Load the configuration file located in ~/.config/dosbox. Can  be
60              combined with the -conf option.
61
62       -scaler scaler
63              Uses  the graphical scaler specified by scaler. See the configu‐
64              ration file for the available scalers
65
66       -forcescaler scaler
67              Similar to the -scaler parameter, but tries to  force  usage  of
68              the specified scaler even if it might not fit.
69
70       -conf configfile
71              Start dosbox with the options specified in configfile. This file
72              has a section in which you can put commands you wish to  execute
73              on  startup. Multiple configfiles can be present at the command‐
74              line.
75
76       -lang langfile
77              Start dosbox with the language specified in langfile.
78
79       -machine machinetype
80
81              Setup DOSBox to emulate  a  specific  type  of  machine.   Valid
82              choices are:
83
84              hercules
85                     Hercules Graphics Card (monochrome)
86
87              cga    IBM Color Graphics Adapter
88
89              cga_mono
90                     IBM CGA attached to monochrome display (monochrome)
91
92              pcjr   IBM PCjr
93
94              tandy  Tandy Graphics Adapter (Tandy 1000)
95
96              ega    IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter
97
98              vgaonly
99                     IBM Video Graphics Array (see below)
100
101              vesa_oldvbe
102                     VESA SVGA - VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE) 1.2
103
104              vesa_nolfb
105                     VESA SVGA - VBE 2.0 with Linear Frame Buffer disabled
106
107              svga_paradise
108                     VESA SVGA - Paradise Systems PVGA1A - VBE 2.0
109
110              svga_et3000
111                     VESA SVGA - Tseng ET3000 - VBE 2.0
112
113              svga_et4000
114                     VESA SVGA - Tseng ET4000 - VBE 2.0
115
116              svga_s3
117                     VESA SVGA - S3 Trio - VBE 2.0
118
119              The default is svga_s3.
120
121              For  some  special  VGA  effects  the machinetype vgaonly can be
122              used, note that this disables SVGA  capabilities  and  might  be
123              slower due to the higher emulation precision."
124
125              The  machinetype  affects the video card and the available sound
126              cards.
127
128       -socket socketnumber
129              Passes the socket number socketnumber to  the  nullmodem  emula‐
130              tion. See README for details.
131
132       -c command
133              Runs  the  specified command before running file.  Multiple com‐
134              mands can be  specified.  Each  command  should  start  with  -c
135              though.  A command can be: an Internal Program, a DOS command or
136              an executable on a mounted drive.
137
138       -exit  dosbox will close itself when the DOS program specified by  file
139              ends.
140
141       --version
142              Output version information and exit. Useful for frontends.
143
144       --editconf [editor]
145              Open the default configuration file in a text editor. If no edi‐
146              tor name is given, then use the program from EDITOR  environment
147              variable, otherwise DOSBox will try to guess the name.
148
149       -opencaptures program
150              calls  program with as  first parameter the location of the cap‐
151              tures folder.
152
153       --printconf
154              Prints the location of the default configuration file.
155
156       -eraseconf, -resetconf
157              removes the default configuration file.
158
159       -erasemapper, -resetmapper
160              removes the mapperfile configured in the clean default  configu‐
161              ration file.
162

INTERNAL COMMANDS

164       dosbox supports most of the DOS commands found in command.com. In addi‐
165       tion, the following extra commands are available:
166
167       MOUNT [-t type] [-size size] driveletter sourcedirectory [-label drive‐
168              label] [-freesize freesize]
169
170       MOUNT -u driveletter
171
172       Program to mount local directories as drives inside dosbox.
173
174              driveletter
175                     The driveletter inside dosbox (eg. C).
176
177              sourcedirectory
178                     The local directory you want to have inside dosbox.
179
180              -t type
181                     Type  of the mounted directory. Supported are: dir (stan‐
182                     dard), floppy, cdrom.
183
184              -size drivesize
185                     Sets the size of the  drive.  See  the  examples  in  the
186                     README for details.
187
188              -freesize size_in_mb
189                     Sets  the  amount  of  free space available on a drive in
190                     MB's. This is a more simple version of -size.
191
192              -label drivelabel
193                     Sets the name of the drive to drivelabel. Needed on  some
194                     systems if the cd label isn't read correctly. Useful when
195                     a program can't find its cdrom. If you  don't  specify  a
196                     label:
197
198                     For win32: label is extracted from "Real Drive".
199
200                     For Linux: label is set to NO_LABEL.
201
202                     If you do specify a label this label will be kept as long
203                     as the drive
204                            is mounted. It will not be updated !!
205
206              -u     Unmounts a mounted drive. Doesn't work on virtual  Drives
207                     (like Z:\)
208
209       Example:
210
211       To mount your /home/dos/dosgames directory as C drive in dosbox:
212              mount c /home/dos/dosgames
213
214       MEM
215
216       Display the amount of free memory
217
218       CONFIG [-writeconf] [-writelang] file
219
220       CONFIG -securemode
221
222       Write  the current configuration or language settings to file, which is
223       located on the local filesystem. Not a mounted drive in dosbox.
224
225              -securemode
226                     Switches dosbox to a more secure mode. In this  mode  the
227                     internal  commands  MOUNT,  IMGMOUNT and BOOT won't work.
228                     It's not possible either to create a  new  configfile  or
229                     languagefile  in  this  mode.  (Warning you can only undo
230                     this mode by restarting dosbox.)
231
232       The configuration file controls various settings of dosbox: The  amount
233       of  emulated  memory,  the emulated soundcards and many more things. It
234       further allows access to AUTOEXEC.BAT.
235
236       The language file controls all visible output of the internal  commands
237       and the internal dos.  See the section FILES for more information.
238
239       LOADFIX [-size] [programname] [parameters]
240
241       LOADFIX -f
242
243       Program  to reduce the amount of  memory available. Useful for old pro‐
244       grams which don't expect much memory to be free.
245
246              [programname]
247                     The name of the program which is executed  after  loadfix
248                     eats up its memory.
249
250              [parameters]
251                     Parameters given to the programname executable.
252
253              -size  The  amount of memory to eat up (in kb). Example -32, -64
254                     or -128
255
256              -f     Frees all memory eaten up by loadfix.
257
258       RESCAN [-All] [Drive:]
259
260       Make dosbox reread the directory structure. Useful if you changed some‐
261       thing on a mounted drive outside dosbox. (Ctrl+F4 does this as well!)
262
263              -All   Reread directory structure for all drives.
264
265              Drive: Reread directory structure for drive Drive:
266
267       If both -All and Drive: are missing, then the current drive is used.
268
269       IMGMOUNT
270
271       A utility to mount disk images and CD‐ROM images in dosbox.
272
273       Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
274
275       BOOT
276
277       Boot  will  start  floppy images or hard disk images independent of the
278       operating system emulation offered by dosbox.  This will allow  you  to
279       play booter floppies or boot to other operating systems inside dosbox.
280
281       Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
282
283       IPX
284
285       You  need to enable IPX networking in the configuration file of dosbox.
286       All of the IPX networking is managed through the internal  dosbox  pro‐
287       gram  IPXNET.  For  help on the IPX networking from inside dosbox, type
288       IPXNET HELP and the program will list out  the  commands  and  relevant
289       documentation.
290
291       Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
292
293       KEYB
294
295       Keyb can change the keyboardlayout and the codepage used inside dosbox.
296
297       Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
298

FILES

300       Configuration  and  language files use a format similar to Windows .ini
301       files.  If no configfile is specified at the commandline, a file  named
302       dosbox.conf  (if present in the current directory) will be loaded auto‐
303       matically. If a configfile is specified at  the  commandline  that  one
304       will  be  used  instead.  If no configfile is specified or found in the
305       current directory  then dosbox will load one from $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/dos‐
306       box/    (which  defaults to ~/.config/dosbox/). It will try to create a
307       new default config file if it does not exist yet.
308

SPECIAL KEYS

310       Alt+Enter   Switch between fullscreen and window mode.
311
312       Alt+Pause   Pause/Unpause emulator.
313
314       Ctrl+F1     Start the keymapper.
315
316       Ctrl+F4     Swap mounted disk‐image (only used with  imgmount).  Update
317                   directory cache for all drives.
318
319       Ctrl+F5     Save a screenshot.(png)
320
321       Ctrl+F6     Start/Stop recording sound output to a wave file.
322
323       Ctrl+F7     Start/Stop recording video output to a zmbv file.
324
325       Ctrl+F9     Kill dosbox.
326
327       Ctrl+F10    Capture/Release the mouse.
328
329       Ctrl+F11    Slow down emulation (Increase dosbox Cycles).
330
331       Ctrl+F12    Speed up emulation (Decrease dosbox Cycles).
332
333       Alt+F12     Unlock speed (turbo button).
334
335       These  are  the default keybindings. They can be changed in the keymap‐
336       per.
337
338       Saved/recorded files can be found in current_directory/capture (can  be
339       changed in the configfile).  The directory has to exist prior to start‐
340       ing dosbox else nothing gets saved/recorded !
341
342       Note: Once you increase your dosbox cycles beyond your computer's maxi‐
343       mum  capacity, it will produce the same effect as slowing down the emu‐
344       lation.  This maximum will vary from computer to computer, there is  no
345       standard.
346

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

348       Fast  machine. My guess would be Pentium-2 400+ to get decent emulation
349       of games written for an 286 machine.  For protected mode games a 1  Ghz
350       machine  is  recommended  and don't expect them to run fast though!! Be
351       sure to read the next section on how to speed it up somewhat.
352
353   To run resource-demanding games
354       dosbox emulates the CPU, the sound and graphic cards, and some  other
355       stuff,  all  at  the  same  time.  You  can  overclock  dosbox by using
356       Ctrl+F12, but you'll be limited by the power of your  actual  CPU.  You
357       can  see  how  much free time your true CPU has by various utils (top).
358       Once 100% of your real CPU time is used there  is  no  further  way  to
359       speed  up  dosbox  unless  you reduce the load generated by the non-CPU
360       parts of dosbox.
361
362       So:
363
364       Close every program but dosbox.
365
366       Overclock  dosbox until 100% of your CPU is used. (Ctrl+F12)
367
368       Since VGA emulation is the most demanding part of dosbox  in  terms  of
369       actual  CPU  usage,  we'll  start  here.  Increase the number of frames
370       skipped (in increments of one) by  pressing  Ctrl+F8.  Your  CPU  usage
371       should  decrease.  Go back one step and repeat this until the game runs
372       fast enough for you.  Please note that this is a trade off: you lose in
373       fluidity of video what you gain in speed.
374

ENVIRONMENT

376       Any configuration option can be override using an environment variable.
377       Environment variables starting with prefix DOSBOX are processed and in‐
378       terpreted as follows: DOSBOX_SECTIONNAME_PROPERTYNAME=value
379
380       For example, you can override render aspect this way:
381
382       $ DOSBOX_RENDER_ASPECT=false dosbox
383

NOTES

385       While  we  hope  that,  one day, dosbox will run virtually all programs
386       ever made for the PC...  we are not there yet. At present,  dosbox  run
387       on  a  1.7  Gigahertz  PC  is roughly the equivalent of a 25MHz 386 PC.
388       While the 0.60 release has added support for "protected mode"  allowing
389       for  more  complex  and  recent programs, but note that this support is
390       early in development and nowhere near as complete as  the  support  for
391       386 real-mode games (or earlier). Also note that "protected mode" games
392       need substantially more resources and may require a much faster proces‐
393       sor for you to run it properly in dosbox.
394

BUGS

396       To report a bug, please visit https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-
397       staging/issues
398
399

SEE ALSO

401       You'll  find   long   and   detailed   manual   in   README   file   in
402       /usr/share/doc/dosbox-staging
403
404

AUTHOR

406       DOSBox  Staging  project  is  maintained  by  the  DOSBox  Staging Team
407       (https://dosbox-staging.github.io/)
408
409       This manual page  was  written  by  Peter  Veenstra  <H.P.Veenstra@stu‐
410       dent.rug.nl>  and  James  Oakley <jfunk@funktronics.ca>, for the Debian
411       system  (but  may  be  used  by  others),  updated  by   Patryk   Obara
412       <dreamer.tan@gmail.com> for dosbox-staging project.
413
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415
416                                 Jan 23, 2021                        DOSBOX(1)
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