Homebrew Why no MSDOS emulator for th DS

[bluemidget666]

Why isn’t there a Dos emulator for the DS as Pocket PCs use Arm processors and are capable of running dos emulators for years now, would it be possible to modify a pocket pc dos emulator to run on a DS as most flash carts use the fat file system.

 

[ediblebird]

why did you post two threads?

 

[Icarus]

Because no one made one, that's why.

 

[Zombie_Mario]

hax

 

[bluemidget666]

Coz I didnt refresh the page so my post didnt show and i thought id forgoten to pres the post button ... sory

 

[Magnifico]

yea im surprised one hasnt at least been attmepted yet. would be cool huh?

 

[AMPonzi]

Actually, yeah it would be... but I'm afraid it'll probably run into the same problem that other systems have though I'm not 100% sure. NDS only has 4MB of RAM which is actually fine for most of the DOS games before 1994. However, you'd have to emulate a 33MHz x86 processor which cannot be done with the NDS specifications. The reason I hesitate to say that is because I wonder how much of that 33MHz was overhead used by DOS. Either way, I doubt it'll happen. For instance, one of my favorite DOS games Jazz Jackrabbit requires 4MB of memory and a 33MHz CPU. That's a tall order for the DS I'm afraid.

 

[seank]

Actually, yeah it would be... but I'm afraid it'll probably run into the same problem that other systems have though I'm not 100% sure. NDS only has 4MB of RAM which is actually fine for most of the DOS games before 1994. However, you'd have to emulate a 33MHz x86 processor which cannot be done with the NDS specifications. The reason I hesitate to say that is because I wonder how much of that 33MHz was overhead used by DOS. Either way, I doubt it'll happen. For instance, one of my favorite DOS games Jazz Jackrabbit requires 4MB of memory and a 33MHz CPU. That's a tall order for the DS I'm afraid.

Why would it necessarily need to emulate a 33MHz CPU? The 8088 was 4.77MHz and was more than capable of running MS-DOS, as well as lots of commercial games like Commander Keen and so on.

There is already a DOS emulator for some Nokia phones, which use an ARM7 CPU. I don't know what it's capable of running, but either way, it exists.

The DS can emulate Macintosh System 7.5 which would be far more demanding than DOS.

 

[AMPonzi]

Well, I was being optimistic of running some of my favorite games from the late 386/early 486 days... the 8088 and the 80286 should both be capable of being emulated. The other advantage I didn't think of was the fact that the ARM CPU has a much more robust instruction set versus the old 80x86 days. We'll see, but I have to be honest, I have my heart set on more than just the really old games.

 

[Flozem]

I have a whole casket with cool MS-DOS games I could and would play on the DS.

 

[fristi]

it whould by cool if the whole comander keen colection is playable on ds

 

[captaineos]

Anyone remember Wacky Wheels? I loved that game (among plenty of other DOS classics), and I was wishing it could be ported over to DS.

I was too scared to ask here, simply because it seems when ever someone asks about emulation they get completely shut down for asking. So I kept it as a silent wish.

BTW You can use a suitable Slot 2 card for RAM, such as the popular EzFlash 3 in1

 

[Sinkhead]

Curse of Enchantia is a good DOS game that was also released on the Amiga. A DOS emulator would be pretty awesome...

- Sam

 

[4saken]

Is the DS powerful enough to run most DOS games?

Stuff like XWING VS TIE FIGHTER with wifi would be nice

Though I won't be counting on it.

 

[strummer12]

Would be nice to play some Ultima 7 or Eye of the Beholder on my Ds. I doubt it will happen so I'm considering getting a PSP-that thing is certainly powerful enough to emulate dos. Hell, Ultima 7 is already on it.

 

[AMPonzi]

I'm all about the early Epic games... Epic Pinball, Jazz Jackrabbit, Jill of the Jungle, One Must Fall: 2097... all gold!

 

[TrolleyDave]

The Atari ST managed to emulate the old PC-XT without a problem but could only do standard CGA graphics. There was only a few Mhz difference in the CPU's clock speed and it ran stuff pretty well, I could play the CGA versions of Police Story, Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry (damn they need to reinvent those for the DS!) on them and they ran pretty well.

I don't see why the DS couldn't emulate DOS pretty well, the problem would be that most of the games that people would want to play would be the later Super VGA, which has waaaaay more colors and a waaaaay higher resolution than the DS could handle.

 

[Flozem]

Is the DS powerful enough to run most DOS games?

Stuff like XWING VS TIE FIGHTER with wifi would be nice

Though I won't be counting on it.

Should be possible to play Xwing though... it's an earlier version with the first polygon graphics, which doesn't matter since the Starwars craft are pretty simple anyway... Great game that ran like a charm on my 386DX with 4MB Ram.

Would be nice to play some Ultima 7 or Eye of the Beholder on my Ds. I doubt it will happen so I'm considering getting a PSP-that thing is certainly powerful enough to emulate dos. Hell, Ultima 7 is already on it.

Eye of the beholder is there in a GBA and SNES version... Both I think can be played on your DS.

QUOTE(TrolleyDave @ Aug 17 2007, 02:36 PM)The Atari ST managed to emulate the old PC-XT without a problem but could only do standard CGA graphics. There was only a few Mhz difference in the CPU's clock speed and it ran stuff pretty well, I could play the CGA versions of Police Story, Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry (damn they need to reinvent those for the DS!) on them and they ran pretty well.

I don't see why the DS couldn't emulate DOS pretty well, the problem would be that most of the games that people would want to play would be the later Super VGA, which has waaaaay more colors and a waaaaay higher resolution than the DS could handle.

I agree without serious downscaling of the 16mln colorpallet to 262,144, this would be a problem. Though most games on 386DX and below I believe used VGA, EGA or CGA. At least most I'd expect to run.

 

[TrolleyDave]

Yeah, if the ST could emulate a PC with CGA gfx then the DS could easily handle basic VGA without a doubt. Most of the original games for DOS were pretty basic affairs, alot were just point + click or straightforward adventures with basic (but still pretty good) gfx. The gfx hardware in PC's pre-SuperVGA was pretty basic stuff, not even on par with the Amiga at the time really, as the other "games" computers had stuff like hardward scrolling etc. and the PC's gfx capabilities were really meant for DTP and slideshow presentations. Games back then were just an afterthought for bored office workers!

 

[yarfapet]

Actually, yeah it would be... but I'm afraid it'll probably run into the same problem that other systems have though I'm not 100% sure. NDS only has 4MB of RAM which is actually fine for most of the DOS games before 1994. However, you'd have to emulate a 33MHz x86 processor which cannot be done with the NDS specifications. The reason I hesitate to say that is because I wonder how much of that 33MHz was overhead used by DOS. Either way, I doubt it'll happen. For instance, one of my favorite DOS games Jazz Jackrabbit requires 4MB of memory and a 33MHz CPU. That's a tall order for the DS I'm afraid.

I don't know about the CPU, but ram wise, a SLOT-2 cart (like the 3in1) should offer more than enough extra ram.