DOSBox-X 0.83.20 is released (Cross-platform DOS & PC-98 emulator)

[Wengier]

The latest version of DOSBox-X (0.83.20) has been released! Unlike original DOSBox which is focused for DOS games, DOSBox-X officially intends to cover different types of DOS software, as well as implementing accurate emulation of hardware behavior also to help with new DOS developments. So apart from DOS games DOSBox-X officially supports DOS applications, DOS commands, Windows 3.x and 9x/ME, DOS/V, AX, NEC PC-98 system, and more.

DOSBox-X is very feature-rich, and you can find examples of its unique features in the DOSBox‐X’s Feature Highlights page. For example, for graphical mode it supports the pixel-perfect scaling (with "output=openglpp") for improved image quality, and for text-mode the TrueType font (TTF) output ("output=ttf") make it very suitable for DOS applications also (see this Wiki page for more information about this unique feature), including support for both SBCS (western) and DBCS (Chinese/Japanese/Korean) languages.

This new version (0.83.20) also has many improvements and fixes compared with the previous version, such as support for Pentium 2 emulation, DCGA and Toshiba J-3100 machine types, new DOS commands, changing serial & parallel port options at run-time, improved Chinese/Japanese/Korean support, unit testing based on Google Test framework, and many more. You can find the release notes for DOSBox-X 0.83.20 (which contains the changelog) from:

https://dosbox-x.com/release-0.83.20.html

You can download the latest packages for your platform (Windows, Linux, macOS, or DOS) in the DOSBox-X homepage, which is available from:

http://dosbox-x.com/

For example, if you use Windows there are both 32-bit and 64-bit installers:

32-bit installer for Windows XP and later

64-bit installer for Windows Vista and later

Linux Flatpak and Fedora packages are being released as well; the Flatpak package is officially available from: DOSBox-X Flathub page

macOS and DOS packages are also officially downloadable from the DOSBox-X homepage.

The DOSBox-X user guide is available from the online Wiki:

https://dosbox-x.com/wiki

And the DOSBox-X issue tracker is also available from:

https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x/issues

 

[subcon959]

It's crazy to me that we are now able to emulate Pentium 2.

 

[Kwyjor]

It's crazy to me that we are now able to emulate Pentium 2.

Eh, sounds like it was mostly a matter of adding support for the previously-missing instructions.

Would there really be a lot of significant software that absolutely required a Pentium 2 that people would be interested in running in DOSBox-X? But it's nice for the sake of completion, I guess.

 

[Wengier]

Eh, sounds like it was mostly a matter of adding support for the previously-missing instructions.

Would there really be a lot of significant software that absolutely required a Pentium 2 that people would be interested in running in DOSBox-X? But it's nice for the sake of completion, I guess.

DOSBox-X is not only for running DOS, but also for running DOS-based Windows like Windows 3.x/9x/ME officially. Windows 98 was released during the Pentium 2 era for example.

 

[nl255]

DOSBox-X is not only for running DOS, but also for running DOS-based Windows like Windows 3.x/9x/ME officially. Windows 98 was released during the Pentium 2 era for example.

I even got the original Dosbox to boot Linux using loadlin once a long time ago, while it couldn't mount the root filesystem the kernel actually booted just fine and managed to set up all the emulated hardware just fine (except for the hard drive of course).

 

[XDel]

Best news all day!!!!

 

[Kwyjor]

DOSBox-X is not only for running DOS, but also for running DOS-based Windows like Windows 3.x/9x/ME officially. Windows 98 was released during the Pentium 2 era for example.

But of course. But is there something Windows 98 could do on a Pentium 2 that it could not do on a Pentium (especially an imaginary overclocked emulated Pentium)?

Which is not to say that this is an unwelcome development in any way and I'm sure it's good for something – I'm just not sure what that would be.

 

[Wengier]

But of course. But is there something Windows 98 could do on a Pentium 2 that it could not do on a Pentium (especially an imaginary overclocked emulated Pentium)?

Which is not to say that this is an unwelcome development in any way and I'm sure it's good for something – I'm just not sure what that would be.

It is not that things cannot be done on a Pentium, but as with other CPU upgrades the new instructions introduced by newer CPUs can make things easier than before. As a result, developers may prefer to make use of the new instruction set of Pentium 2 when they develop programs or games.