DOSBox 0.65 Builds/Runs in Scratchbox+Qemu

[ArnimS]

... crashing on the 770.

I noticed the configure set the FPU #define to 1, so i pulled that out

I also had to build libSDL_net, but i ended up pulling that out.

I'm running the most minimal dosbox.conf i can think of (all options disabled, no scaling, simple cpu emulation)

Comparing strace results, the only difference i've seen so far is that the scratchbox-armel environment calls old_mmap from libc and dosbox calls mmap2.

mmap2(NULL, 16781312, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x40555000
+++ killed by SIGKILL +++

[ArnimS]

Fixed it in dosbox.conf

dosbox now running on Nokia 770!

http://home.arcor.de/arnim.sauerbier/Dosbox_0_65__001_N770__ultimaV.jpg

:D

[fpp]

Nice hack. But is it actually usable ? Fast enough ?

[Karel Jansens]

Fixed it in dosbox.conf

dosbox now running on Nokia 770!

:D

So, does that mean I can fire up WordPerfect 6.0? And Quattro Pro?

[ArnimS]

so far, any 8088/8086 compatible program has run flawlessly

main problem right now is emulating a PC with more than 2MB of memory

secondary problem is that so far, the tested 80286 code is running unbelievably slow - maybe 20x slower than it 'should'.

[YoDude]

Wow! there use to be an incredibly useful window environment that ran in DOS on 8086/88 machines...

It was called GeoWorks or somesuch... I wonder if this could work.

[ArnimS]

Spent a few more hours building dosboxes and tweaking dosbox.conf.

Nothing i've tried can get dosbox 0.70 running anywhere close to the speed of the fastest build of 0.65. It's like 4 fps vs 16 fps in simple ega games, and the sound stutters awfully. This really requires an arm + gdb guru to profile and optimize.

However, Ultima IV looks gorgeous with advmame2x scaling , and it runs about as fast as it did on my old IBM PC. Reducing the buffer size of the pc speaker fixed the sound lag. (edit) see the Xu4 thread in Gaming section.

Also requires a keyboard, obviously. The touchscreen keyboard hasn't been implemented.

Lastly, even though i am disabling networking in the config.h, SDL_net is hardcoded into makefiles and includes, so the binary isn't standalone executeable on a 770/800 yet.

If any code warriors out there want to look at this, i can share my config.h SDL_net and and dosbox.conf.

(edit) The benchmark program MIPS 1.10 reports my current best build of DOSBox 0.65 running at the exact same average speed as an IBM PC/AT 8086 8Mhz. I'd be curious to hear how the n800 fares.

MIPS download here: ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/sysinfo/mips.zip

[Karel Jansens]

Wow! there use to be an incredibly useful window environment that ran in DOS on 8086/88 machines...

It was called GeoWorks or somesuch... I wonder if this could work.

Yep. Geoworks Ensemble. Still have the box.

It was a very fast (even on an XT!), though incredibly closed environment: Nothing but the programs that came with it would run on it natively, although a later version came with a tweaked Quattro Pro that ran in its DOSbox.

That would actually be rather funny: Running Quattro Pro in a DOSbox in Geoworks Ensemble running in a DOSbox on a Linux Numpc.

Maybe DesqView would be a better option for a windowing environment in DOS, boxed or not.

[YoDude]

Yep. Geoworks Ensemble. Still have the box.

It was a very fast (even on an XT!), though incredibly closed environment: Nothing but the programs that came with it would run on it natively, although a later version came with a tweaked Quattro Pro that ran in its DOSbox.

That would actually be rather funny: Running Quattro Pro in a DOSbox in Geoworks Ensemble running in a DOSbox on a Linux Numpc.

Maybe DesqView would be a better option for a windowing environment in DOS, boxed or not.


Yup. At the time I thought it was a pretty elegant way to multitask on a 8088. Of course you could only use their native apps and only a few third party apps like QP and AOL's front end. Certainly enough to make a tablet functional off line.

After my post I did a search and found this >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoWorks

It apears Nokia also thought the same way at one point...

GEOS was used in a low-end laptop from Brother Industries and in the Nokia Communicator (GEOS V3.0 in Nokia Communicator 9000 and 9110).

[pdafan]

ArnimS,

I just wanted to say "Thank you!" for all your work in porting/hacking UAE, POSE and DOSBox! There is such a dearth of productivity applications for the 770/800, and I'm hoping this will somehow open up the floodgates.

[ArnimS]

Well someone complained about it wanting libsdl-net. Let me know how things work for you. Favorite games, dosbox.conf tweaks.

http://pupnik.de/dosbox_maemo_065_001.tgz

Libsdl 770
http://pupnik.de/libsdl-net1.2_1.2.5-7_armel.deb

Libsdl 800
http://pupnik.de/libsdl-net1.2_1.2.5-7_armel_bora.deb

[rrwright]

I installed dosbox for the sole purpose of running old Sierra games on my N800. After tweaking for a few hours last night with the good old trial and error method, here are a few tweaks that i found to give better performance, at least for AGI and early SCI games. it wouldn't work on any of the newer SCI games.

Fullscreen=true (note: alternate input method is required as far as i can tell. Break out the bluetooth keyboard)
fullresolution=800x480
memsize=16 (n800 seems to have no problem with large memory sizes. i tested up to 64. it just starts up a little slower)
frameskip=0
scaler=normal2x (make the game fill the screen)
cycles=auto (VAST performance increase over any other value i tried)

That's all the good tweaks. I got sound to work at about 99%, but only on one or two games, but it was enough to give me hope for the future.

Now, if only we can get Space Quest 5 to work, then i'll be thrilled!

[rrwright]

Space Quest 5 works. :) It's just a little slower than I would like, but i can't complain. If anyone knows of an implimentation of Sierra's AGI or SCI engine that will work on the N800, please post. I'm thinking something along the lines of what Sarien was on the Palm platform.

Viva la Abandonware!!!!!!

[ArnimS]

Just tried my dosbox 0.65 on it2007he and had horrid (HORRID) performance - dropping bt connection, synergy timeouts etc. Games wouldn't start. No idea what is up with that.

If anyone has reports of it on it2007he i'd like to hear feedback.

For later sierra games, there's a program called freesci that should be port-able to maemo. Il'l start a thread in developer to see if anyone wants a go at it.