MS- or DR DOS emulation?

FarmerCuckoo · Post by **FarmerCuckoo** » Tue Feb 19, 2002 1:28 pm

I don't know very much about programming and I am just wondering since they got Linux to work on the dreamcast as well.

Would it be possible to get MS- or DR DOS emulation on the dreamcast? In a High Level Emulation form or something like that?

perry · Post by **perry** » Tue Feb 19, 2002 1:32 pm

NO!NO!NO!

Dont know how many times this has been asked but no, DOS can not be emulated on the DC

perry · Post by **perry** » Tue Feb 19, 2002 1:33 pm

This should be a sticky

FarmerCuckoo · Post by **FarmerCuckoo** » Tue Feb 19, 2002 1:47 pm

And exactly why wouldn't it be possible?

mik · Post by **mik** » Tue Feb 19, 2002 3:18 pm

Its not possible because we'd have to emulate the x86 processor first which is EXTREMELY difficult due to the quirks and intricities of the x86 architechture.

AbsoluteXero · Post by **AbsoluteXero** » Wed Feb 20, 2002 2:22 pm

FreeDOS anyone? http://www.freedos.org/

Heliophobe_ · Post by **Heliophobe_** » Wed Feb 20, 2002 3:23 pm

This has been said, but what the hell.

Emulating DOS on a Dreamcast doesn't let you run DOS games.

You need to emulate the PC, not the operating system.

You'll note that linux DOSEmu doesn't run on non-intel based computers.

dcemuler · Post by **dcemuler** » Thu Feb 21, 2002 11:08 am

mik wrote: Its not possible because we'd have to emulate the x86 processor first which is EXTREMELY difficult due to the quirks and intricities of the x86 architechture.

so , it's not impossible ???

perry · Post by **perry** » Thu Feb 21, 2002 11:48 am

No, its not possible and it never will be. As heliophobe said, When u emulate say snes u emulate the console NOT the OS.

snake78 · Post by **snake78** » Thu Feb 21, 2002 12:33 pm

Yeah, but could it be ported? Seeing as how that "freedos" is distributed under the gnu license, and has the source freely availabe, I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to be ported. Tough, maybe, but not impossible.

I don't really care anyway, I don't see why anyone would want it, but...

Heliophobe_ · Post by **Heliophobe_** » Thu Feb 21, 2002 1:17 pm

snake: You mean, just to have a dos command shell? I... guess. But I still can't think of a reason to do that.

dcemuler · Post by **dcemuler** » Thu Feb 21, 2002 1:43 pm

Have somebody ever saw dos on mac ???

Heliophobe_ · Post by **Heliophobe_** » Thu Feb 21, 2002 1:50 pm

Well, yes, with Virtual PC (and SoftPC)... once again that emulates a whole PC for DOS to run in.

perry · Post by **perry** » Thu Feb 21, 2002 2:00 pm

Lol, there aint a reason to emulate it! It would be very hard and it wouldnt do anythin!!!

Schnapple · Post by **Schnapple** » Thu Feb 21, 2002 2:19 pm

It would be easier to take the source code of your favorite DOS program and port it instead (witness: DOOM, Wolfenstein, etc.)

DOS was more a matter of a command line and a designation of drive letters. Windows is more like an all-encompassing system. With DOS you had to write to the hardware (the specific video card, the specific modem, the specific sound card), with Windows you write to the API's and let the driver manufacuter take it from there.

But hey, if you want to make a DOS environment for the DC knock yourself out. If you want to take an AM radio and drop it into your Ferrari just so you can remember what static sounded like, that's your right too.

reptilezero · Post by **reptilezero** » Fri Feb 22, 2002 1:30 am

mode 13h! 256 colors! whoo hoo! :)