DOS Emulator?

RichGags · #1 27th January 2006, 07:07 PM

Anyone know of a FC4 program that will emulate a MS-DOS enviornment?

At my office, we use an old DOS database called Q&A. Everytime I need to connect to it, I have to reboot to XP. Any ideas?

Thanks!

sailor · #2 27th January 2006, 07:29 PM

dosbox might meet your needs...
I believe it is available through the repositories

Quote:

yum install dosbox

foshizl · #3 27th January 2006, 07:30 PM

I have used this a couple of times...

http://www.jaegertech.com/dosboxer

RichGags · #4 27th January 2006, 07:42 PM

Awesome! Thanks! Now if I can just figure out how to mount my XP partition. ...

sailor · #5 27th January 2006, 07:53 PM

How about moving the database to your linux partition and running the dos applcation from dosbox.
NTFS drivers are available (captive drivers) but reports that it sometimes damages the windows file system when copying files from linux to windows. No problems when copying from windows to linux. Another method would be to make a fat32 partition that both windows and linux can mount and read without drivers.

benni. · #6 27th January 2006, 07:57 PM

Hi!

I really love DOSBox too which totally fulfills my needs. Have fun!

LinuxManMikeC · #7 27th January 2006, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailor

How about moving the database to your linux partition and running the dos applcation from dosbox.
NTFS drivers are available (captive drivers) but reports that it sometimes damages the windows file system when copying files from linux to windows. No problems when copying from windows to linux. Another method would be to make a fat32 partition that both windows and linux can mount and read without drivers.

There is also the option of using ext2 instead of FAT32 thanks to a freeware Window$ driver that provides read/write support. I haven't used it yet, but I plan to give it a try. This is especially usefull considering M$ decided to exercise a patent claim on some part of FAT. I haven't kept up with the issue in the past few days so I don't know the latest details.

http://www.fs-driver.org/

sailor · #8 27th January 2006, 09:33 PM

LinuxManMikeC, That is new information to me, I will look into that, thanks...I hosed my windows partition once and kinda shy away from the NTFS drivers. I have been using a fat32 partition for moving data, which works quite well, but if the new drivers work i'll give it a try...

EDIT: i checked out those drivers and they are for read/write from windows to linux not linux to windows, which is what RichGags was looking for...I have used those type drivers before (ext2fs and reiserfstool for windows)

RichGags · #9 28th January 2006, 02:08 AM

So to connect to a server which is at my office (which is on a XP Pro box with NTFS) without trashing the server, I should do what?

LinuxManMikeC · #10 28th January 2006, 03:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailor

i checked out those drivers and they are for read/write from windows to linux not linux to windows, which is what RichGags was looking for...I have used those type drivers before (ext2fs and reiserfstool for windows)

I was just pointing out an alternative to FAT32 for sharing a partition between a WIndow$ and Linux on a dual boot computer. I think you brought up the FAT32 partition, sailor. There is a commercial NTFS driver for Linux that costs about $30 (it also does several other file systems). My main point is, if you are going to create a partition to share between Window$ and Linux, why use a M$ filesystem if you don't have to?

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichGags

So to connect to a server which is at my office (which is on a XP Pro box with NTFS) without trashing the server, I should do what?

You shouldn't need to worry about what filesystem is on the server. Just get the client software working on DOSBox or on DOS in Bochs (don't you love these names?). I have no idea what kind of networking support you need so I'm not sure if DOSBox can handle it. DOS in Bochs will definitely handle any networking support you need though it may be slower. You shouldn't have to do a darn thing to the server, just make sure that the client software is running fine so you don't spread problems to the server (though I doubt such serious problems will show up).

sailor · #11 28th January 2006, 05:04 AM

Yeah, I know what you mean LinuxMikeC...As I re-read the question, drivers aren't really the issue, there is no need for drivers when accessing the server.
So the main issue here is to access the server through dosbox, then run the Q&A application...
and that I have no idea of how to do. I was thinking more on the lines of accessing the server thru his linux box, then starting the Q&A app through dosbox.

RichGags · #12 28th January 2006, 01:31 PM

Ok, firstly, thanks fo far everyone! Now, within DOSbox it tells you how to designate drives. Its says:

Code:

For Windows:
mount c c:\dosprog       will create a C drive in Dosbox with c:\dosprog as its contents

For Other platforms:
mount c /home/user/dosprog will do the same.

But first in order to do this I have to "connect" (sorry dont know the terminology-mount?) to the XP box, and "map the network drive" so that FC4 can read it? How do I do this?

TIA!