1DOSBOX(1) General Commands Manual DOSBOX(1)
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6 dosbox - an x86/DOS emulator with sound/graphics
7
9 dosbox [-fullscreen] [-startmapper] [-noautoexec] [-scaler scaler]
10 [-forcescaler scaler] [-conf configfile] [-lang langfile] [file] [-c
11 command] [-exit] [-machine machinetype]
12 dosbox -version
14
16 This manual page briefly documents dosbox, an x86/DOS emulator.
17 The optional file argument should be a DOS executable or a directory.
19 If it is a dos executable (.com .exe .bat) the program will run auto‐
20 matically. If it is a directory, a DOS session will run with the direc‐
21 tory mounted as C:\.
22 For an introduction type INTRO inside dosbox.
24
26 A summary of options is included below.
27 -fullscreen
29 Start dosbox in fullscreen mode.
30 -startmapper
32 Start the internal keymapper on startup of dosbox. You can use
33 it to change the keys dosbox uses.
34 -noautoexec
36 Skips the [autoexec] section of the loaded configuration file.
37 -scaler scaler
39 Uses the graphical scaler specified by scaler. See the configu‐
40 ration file for the available scalers
41 -forcescaler scaler
43 Similar to the -scaler parameter, but tries to force usage of
44 the specified scaler even if it might not fit.
45 -c command
47 Runs the specified command before running file. Multiple com‐
48 mands can be specified. Each command should start with -c
49 though. A command can be: an Internal Program, a DOS command or
50 an executable on a mounted drive.
51 -conf configfile
53 Start dosbox with the options specified in configfile. This file
54 has a section in which you can put commands you wish to execute
55 on startup. Multiple configfiles can be present at the command‐
56 line.
57 -lang langfile
59 Start dosbox with the language specified in langfile.
60 -exit dosbox will close itself when the DOS program specified by
62 fileends.
63 -machine machinetype
65 Setup dosbox to emulate a specific type of machine. Valid
66 choices are: hercules, cga, pcjr, tandy, vga(default). The
67 machinetype has influence on both the videocard and the avail‐
68 able soundcards.
69 -version
71 Output version information and exit. Useful for frontends.
72
74 dosbox supports most of the DOS commands found in command.com. In addi‐
75 tion, the following extra commands are available:
76 MOUNT [-t type] [-size size] driveletter sourcedirectory [-ioctl]
78 [-usecd number] [-label drivelabel] [-freesize freesize]
79 MOUNT -cd
81 MOUNT -u driveletter
83 Program to mount local directories as drives inside dosbox.
85 driveletter
87 The driveletter inside dosbox (eg. C).
88 sourcedirectory
90 The local directory you want to have inside dosbox.
91 -t type
93 Type of the mounted directory. Supported are: dir (stan‐
94 dard), floppy, cdrom.
95 -size drivesize
97 Sets the size of the drive. See the examples in the
98 README for details.
99 -freesize size_in_mb
101 Sets the amount of free space available on a drive in
102 MB's. This is a more simple version of -size.
103 -label drivelabel
105 Sets the name of the drive to drivelabel. Needed on some
106 systems if the cd label isn't read correctly. Useful when
107 a program can't find its cdrom. If you don't specify a
108 label and no lowlevel support is selected (-usecd #
109 and/or -ioctl/aspi):
110 For win32: label is extracted from "Real Drive".
112 For Linux: label is set to NO_LABEL.
114 If you do specify a label this label will be kept as long
116 as the drive
117 is mounted. It will not be updated !!
118 -ioctl Forces to use ioctl commands.
120 -usecd number
122 Forces to use SDL cdrom support for drive number. Number
123 can be found by -cd.
124 -cd Displays all detected cdrom drives and their numbers. Use
126 with -usecd.
127 -u Unmounts a mounted drive. Doesn't work on virtual Drives
129 (like Z:\)
130 Example:
132 To mount your /home/dos/dosgames directory as C drive in dosbox:
134 mount c /home/dos/dosgames
135 MEM
137 Display the amount of free memory
139 CONFIG [-writeconf] [-writelang] file
141 Write the current configuration or language settings to file, which is
143 located on the local filesystem. Not a mounted drive in dosbox.
144 The configuration file controls various settings of dosbox: The amount
146 of emulated memory, the emulated soundcards and many more things. It
147 futher allows acces to AUTOEXEC.BAT.
148 The language file controls all visible ouput of the internal commands
150 and the internal dos. See the section FILES for more information.
151 LOADFIX [-size] [programname] [parameters]
153 LOADFIX -f
155 Program to reduce the amount of memory available. Useful for old pro‐
157 grams which don't expect much memory to be free.
158 [programname]
160 The name of the program which is executed after loadfix
161 eats up its memory.
162 [parameters]
164 Parameters given to the programname executable.
165 -size The amount of memory to eat up (in kb). Example -32, -64
167 or -128
168 -f Frees all memory eaten up by loadfix.
170 RESCAN
172 Make dosbox reread the directory structure. Useful if you changed some‐
174 thing on a mounted drive outside dosbox.(CTRL-F4 does this as well!)
175 IMGMOUNT
177 A utility to mount disk images and CD-ROM images in dosbox.
179 Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
181 BOOT
183 Boot will start floppy images or hard disk images independent of the
185 operating system emulation offered by dosbox. This will allow you to
186 play booter floppies or boot to other operating systems inside dosbox.
187 Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
189 IPX
191 You need to enable IPX networking in the configuration file of dosbox.
193 All of the IPX networking is managed through the internal dosbox pro‐
194 gram IPXNET. For help on the IPX networking from inside dosbox, type
195 IPXNET HELP and the program will list out the commands and relevant
196 documentation.
197 Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
199 KEYB
201 Keyb can change the keyboardlayout and the codepage used inside dosbox.
203 Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
205
207 Configuration and language files use a format similar to Windows .ini
208 files. First ~/.dosboxrc (if present) will be loaded. If no config‐
209 file is specified at the commandline, a file named dosbox.conf (if
210 present in the current directory) will be loaded automatically after‐
211 wards. If a configfile is specified at the commandline that one will be
212 used instead.
213
215 ALT-ENTER Go full screen and back.
216 ALT-PAUSE Pause emulation.
218 CTRL-F1 Start the keymapper.
220 CTRL-ALT-F5 Start/Stop creating a movie of the screen.
222 CTRL-F4 Swap mounted disk-image (Only used with imgmount).
224 Update directory cache for all drives!
225 CTRL-F5 Save a screenshot.(png)
227 CTRL-F6 Start/Stop recording sound output to a wave file.
229 CTRL-ALT-F7 Start/Stop recording of OPL commands.
231 CTRL-ALT-F8 Start/Stop the recording of raw MIDI commands.
233 CTRL-F7 Decrease frameskip.
235 CTRL-F8 Increase frameskip.
237 CTRL-F9 Kill dosbox.
239 CTRL-F10 Capture/Release the mouse.
241 CTRL-F11 Slow down emulation (Increase dosbox Cycles).
243 CTRL-F12 Speed up emulation (Decrease dosbox Cycles).
245 ALT-F12 Unlock speed (turbo button).
247 These are the default keybindings. They can be changed in the
249 keymapper.
250 Saved/recorded files can be found in current_directory/capture
252 (can be changed in the configfile). The directory has to exist
253 prior to starting dosbox else nothing gets saved/recorded !
254 Note: Once you increase your dosbox cycles beyond your com‐
256 puter's maximum capacity, it will produce the same effect as
257 slowing down the emulation. This maximum will vary from com‐
258 puter to computer, there is no standard.
259
261 Fast machine. My guess would be pentium-2 400+ to get decent
262 emulation of games written for an 286 machine. For protected
263 mode games a 1 Ghz machine is recommended and don't expect them
264 to run fast though!! Be sure to read the next section on how to
265 speed it up somewhat.
266 To run resource-demanding games
268 dosbox emulates the CPU, the sound and graphic cards, and some
269 other stuff, all at the same time. You can overclock dosbox by
270 using CTRL-F12, but you'll be limited by the power of your
271 actual CPU. You can see how much free time your true CPU has by
272 various utils (top). Once 100% of your real CPU time is used
273 there is no further way to speed up dosbox unless you reduce the
274 load generated by the non-CPU parts of dosbox.
275 So:
277 Close every program but dosbox.
279 Overclock dosbox until 100% of your CPU is used.(CTRL-F12)
281 Since VGA emulation is the most demanding part of dosbox in
283 terms of actual CPU usage, we'll start here. Increase the number
284 of frames skipped (in increments of one) by pressing CTRL-F8.
285 Your CPU usage should decrease. Go back one step and repeat
286 this until the game runs fast enough for you. Please note that
287 this is a trade off: you lose in fluidity of video what you gain
288 in speed.
289
291 While we hope that, one day, dosbox will run virtually all pro‐
292 grams ever made for the PC... we are not there yet. At present,
293 dosbox run on a 1.7 Gigahertz PC is roughly the equivalent of a
294 25MHz 386 PC. While the 0.60 release has added support for
295 "protected mode" allowing for more complex and recent programs,
296 but note that this support is early in development and nowhere
297 near as complete as the support for 386 real-mode games (or ear‐
298 lier). Also note that "protected mode" games need substantially
299 more resources and may require a much faster processor for you
300 to run it properly in dosbox.
301
303 Not all DOS programs work properly. dosbox will exit without
304 warning if an error occurred.
305
307 The README in /usr/share/doc/dosbox
308
310 This manual page was written by Peter Veenstra <H.P.Veen‐
311 stra@student.rug.nl> and James Oakley <jfunk@funktronics.ca>,
312 for the Debian system (but may be used by others).
313 Jul 01, 2007 DOSBOX(1)