Όσοι απο σας έχουνε υπολογιστή για αρκετά χρόνια, πρέπει να προλάβατε και τον παλιό καλό καιρό του Dos (τότε που δεν υπήρχαν Windows και όλα έπρεπε να γίνουνε manually).

Τότε που πραγματικά μάθαινες πως να χειρίζεσαι και το πώς δουλεύει ένας υπολογιστής. Τότε που πρεπε να κάνεις edit το autoexec.bat και το config.sys για να δουλέψει το mouse, η κάρτα ήχου, να αλλάξεις τα files και buffers ώστε να σου παίξουν τα παιχνίδια. Τα πάντα γινόντουσαν απ το command prompt (ούτε κλικ, ούτε background, ούτε εικονίτσες και παράθυρα, τίποτα). Για οτιδήποτε ήθελες να γίνει έπρεπε να ξέρεις την εντολή και να την περάσεις σωστά για να δουλέψει.

Για όσους θέλουν να θυμηθούν, ολοκληρομένη λίστα με όλες τις εντολές του Dos, βρίσκεται εδώ.

Πάνω απ όλα, ήτανε τα παιχνίδια. Τα τρομερά παιχνίδια που πολλοί απο μας (της παλιάς εποχής) νοσταλγούμε.

Δε λέω, καλά τα παιχνίδια της σημερινής εποχής με τα εφφέ τους, τα ωραία γραφικά και τον ρεαλισμό αλλά αλλη χάρη είχανε τα παλιά παιχνίδια της Dos εποχής.

Η λίστα με όλα τα παιχνίδια του Dos, βρίσκεται εδώ. Αν τα ψάξετε λίγο θα δείτε οτι αρκετά απο αυτά είναι freeware μετά απο τόσα χρόνια και μπορούν να κατεβούν ολόκληρα δωρεάν!

Στους σημερινούς υπολογιστές, αυτά τα παιχνίδια μπορούν να δουλέψουν εαν έχετε DosBox. Το DosBox είναι emulator και μέσου αυτού, μπορεί ο υπολογιστης να τα παίξει (όπως υπάρχει παρόμοιο emulator για arcade παιχνίδια που παίζαμε στα μηχανάκια μικρότεροι - mame, NeoRAGEx, κτλ)

Για να δουλέψουν με ήχο τα παιχνίδια στο DosBox, καλό θα τανε να κατεβάσετε και το VDM Sound, το οποίο θα κάνει την κάρτα ήχου, συμβατή με Dos environment και θα δουλεύει άψογα με τα παλιά παιχνίδια (δεν δουλεύει καλά με Windows Vista).

Όπως έγραψε και ο φίλος Cos, εαν έχετε ένα παλιό υπολογιστή, μπορείτε να τον αξιοποιήσετε με αυτό τον τρόπο (εαν του έχετε version Windows πιο καινούργιο απ τα Windows 98, χρειάζεστε DosBox και VDMSound).

Έτσι μπορείτε να απολαύσετε τα παλιά κλασσικά παιχνίδια του Dos. Επίσης ρίξτε του και τα λοιπά emulators που μπορείτε να βρείτε εδώ (εκτός απο mame και NeoGeo, υπάρχουν emulators για κονσόλες Sega και Ninendo, Playstation, Atari, Amiga, κ.α) κατεβάστε και τα file των παιχνιδιών και απολαύστε τα παιχνίδια με τα οποία μεγαλώσατε.

At school, I no longer worry about fooling with having to use IE6; instead, I can whip out my 2GB USB and plug that sucker in and instantly have access to Firefox 2.0 and Avant Browser. Along with these, I also have an IM program, pdf reader, various games, a personal management organizer, calendar, mail reader, swf player, ftp client, screenshot taker, word processor, paint program, and more. All for under about 400mb of space.

USB sticks are cheap these days, ranging from a 2gb at $13 to a 4gb at $23 USD, if you know where to shop. There's no excuse not to go for a 2gb or higher for a few bucks if you're like me and don't have installation rights on a computer somewhere.

Most of these applications below come from an application website know by the name Portable Apps. Others are from various other internet sources. I've compiled a list of the most useful ones, in my opinion, below.

Web Browsers

- Firefox 2 Portable - http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable
      USB-enabled version of the popular Firefox browser. Fully supports plugins such as Flash, and almost all addons.

- Avant Browser USB Edition - http://dl.filekicker.com/send/file/184227-Z37W/avant.exe
      Portable version of Avant browser, a more obscure but well-built browser. I use this one more than Firefox. Doesn't have many addons, however.

- Opera USB - http://opera-usb.com/download/opera952en.zip
     USB Version of the semi-popular Opera browser. Not much more to say.

Word Processors / Text Editors

- AbiWord Portable - http://portableapps.com/apps/office/abiword_portable
     Pretty good word processor; nice alternative to Windows' Microsoft Word.

- OpenOffice Portable - http://portableapps.com/apps/office/openoffice_portable
     Renowned OpenOffice is available on USB. Only problem is the large filesize (240mb) Contains the ENTIRE OpenOffice suite, not just Writer. I'm sure you can find Writer alone on the site, possibly.

Instant Messengers

- Miranda IM - http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/miranda_portable
     Not all that sexy by default, but can be skinned and edited to your liking. Access to most IM networks, and IRC.

- Pidgin Portable - http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/pidgin_portable
    Pidgin. Another multi-IM network program. Formerly GAIM.

Games

- DOSBox Portable - http://portableapps.com/apps/games/dosbox_portable
     Used to run old DOS games smoothly on newer computers. Not a game itself, but an emulator.

Graphics / Picture Editors

- The GIMP, Portable - http://portableapps.com/apps/graphics_pictures/gimp_portable
    It's GIMP. Portable. The only image editor / paint program you'll ever really need on your USB.

Music Players

- MPlayer - http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/mplayer_portable
    Has support for most music formats. And video formats.

Personal Information Managers

- EssentialPIM Portable - http://www.snapfiles.com/get/epimportable.html
    Works amazingly. ToDo's, notes, schedules, etc. Great interface, easy to navigate.

Other Stuff

Bueno, querido amigo, si aún no lo sabes, esos juegos que ya no hicieron remakes y ya los de nueva generación no conocen (bueno, yo tengo apenas 18 años, nunca tube pc hasta el 2000, así que soy de esa generación "nueva", pero aún así, me gustan esos juegos viejitos), esos juegos de sonido tipo midi y gráficas pixeladas... sonalgo llamado ABANDONWARE

Su traducción es simple, software abandonado.

Bueno gente, aquí les traigo un buen lugar

para descargar esos juegos y recordar viejos tiempos como nunca, todo esto GRATIS, sólo debes registrarte xD (créeme, vale la pena), tiene miles de juegos abandonware, muchos en español.

a mi más que nada me gustan las aventuras gráficas viejitas, y es lo mejor para pasar una tarde. Buenos juegos, sin necesidad de grandes cantidades de ram y gráfica. La verdadera esencia de los juegos. Todaviá e acuerdo cuando jugué DOOM por primera vez.... bendito abandonware xD

para correr muchos juegos, necesitarás el DOSBOX, una especie de emulador para este tipo de juegos, después pondré un tutorial básico para poder usarlo, al menos para poder cargar un juego, ya que yo tampoco soy muy experimentada en él.

Download the source, and extract it into any folder. Now open your terminal, change to the main directory of the dosbox source, and type in

./configure

You should not get any error messages yet. If you do, you probably need to install some missing libaries, just search for them using the Yast software-installation-module and install. After installing missing libraries dont forget to run configure again, to see if everything is set!

After you ran configure and everything seems fine, type in

make

This is where the problems appear, at least for me on my system.

First of I got a "memset was not declared in this scope"-error message in gameblaster.cpp. To remedy this I simply included string.h to the header files of gameblaster.cpp, which is located in src/hardware. So simply add

#include <string.h>

to the top of the file using any program you like.

The result should look something like this:

Go back in the main DosBox directory, type in make again. After a while an error in tandysound.cpp, also in the src/hardware folder, appears, stating that this time strcmp was not defined in scope. I thought that the "str" prefix probably refers to string, so I simply added string.h to tandysound.cpp again, and you should do the same, of course! Problem solved.

Get back to the main directory, run make again. I got the last error message, saying that "atoi" was not in scope, in shell_cmds.cpp, located in the src/shell directory. I didn't really know what atoi was, but after some searching on the internets, i found out it was defined in cstdlib.

So I again appended it to the top of the file using:

#include <cstdlib>

Note, that the name is cstdlib, not cstdlib.h. Afterwards I ran make again, and voila, the DosBox executable appeared in the src folder, and the kingdom was saved.

Hope I helped someone, if not, well, then I've wasted my time! Hey, at least I admit it!

Página oficial de DosBox: www.dosbox.com
Descarga de DosBoxer: downloads.carlosduran.net

Vale, vale, otro refrito de mi viejo blog, pero DOSBox se lo mereces. No me habia dado cuenta de que habia subido otra vez Wolfenstein (aunque en ese entonces solamente puse un enlace a Ellosnuncaloharian) y cuando me dí cuenta ya habia posteado sobre .kkrieger otra vez.

Ahora les enseño este programita, un emulador de MS-DOS que nos ayuda a los usuarios de esta nueva generación de computadores con Windows XP (Vista apesta ¬¬), Linux o MacOS, a disfrutar los juegos de antaño, como "Prince of Persia", "Alone in the dark", "SimCity 2000" y todos los juegos que han sido Abandonados en los viejos y obsoletos floppys.

Enrealidad, mas que emular MS-DOS, emula una PC, Intel x86, con MS-DOS, esto le convierte en la "casa" perfectade cualquier juego viejo. Con este software, ningún vejestorio por mas terco que sea, se te resistirá (¬¬ No hablo de esos vejestorios, si no lo quieres mandalo a un asilo, OGT)

Descarga DOSBox

Si sigue sin funcionar algun juego, dejame un comentario y te ayudo, ¿ok?... Suerte ;)

Para instalarlo hay que hacer lo siguiente:

1. sudo apt-get install dosbox
2. Una vez instalado es conveniente tener un fichero de configuración. Para ello en nuestro directorio personal hay que crear dosbox.conf. Mi fichero dosbox.conf es el siguiente:
   ----Inicio dosbox.conf esto no va en el fichero----
   [sdl]
   # fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
   # fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
   # fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
   # windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
   # output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb.
   # autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
   # sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
   # waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
   # priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest.
   #             Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
   # mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
   # usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.
   # overscan -- Width of overscan border.

   fullscreen=false
   fulldouble=true
   fullresolution=original
   windowresolution=original
   output=surface
   autolock=true
   sensitivity=100
   waitonerror=true
   priority=higher,normal
   mapperfile=mapper.txt
   usescancodes=true
   overscan=0

   [dosbox]
   # language -- Select another language file.
   # memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.
   # machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
   # codepage -- Specify a code page number.
   # captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

   language=
   machine=vga
   codepage=437
   captures=capture
   memsize=16

   [render]
   # frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
   # aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
   # scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
   #           Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.

   frameskip=0
   aspect=false
   scaler=advinterp2x

   [vsync]
   # vsyncmode -- Synchronize vsync timing to the host display. Requires calibration within dosbox.
   #              Supported are off,on,force.
   # vsyncrate -- Vsync rate used if vsync is enabled.

   vsyncmode=off
   vsyncrate=75.023426

   [cpu]
   # core -- CPU Core used in emulation: simple,normal,full,dynamic.
   # cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
   #           Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad!
   #           You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to auto.
   #           Please note that this guessing feature is still experimental.
   # cycleup   -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
   # cycledown    Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

   core=normal
   cycles=8500
   cycleup=500
   cycledown=20

   [vga]
   # svgachipset -- Select one of the following supported SVGA chipsets:
   #                s3 (default), et4000, et4000new, et3000, pvga1a, or none.
   #                Full chipset name (like 'Tseng ET4000') will also work
   #                as long as it contains one of the strings above.
   # videoram -- Amount of video memory on emulated SVGA. Not all emulated
   #             chipsets support this setting.

   svgachipset=s3
   videoram=2048

   [mixer]
   # nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
   # rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
   #         probably lower their sound quality.
   # blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
   #              but sound will also be more lagged.
   # prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

   nosound=false
   rate=22050
   blocksize=2048
   prebuffer=10

   [midi]
   # mpu401      -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.
   # device      -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
   #                This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.
   # config      -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
   #                the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.

   mpu401=intelligent
   device=default
   config=

   [sblaster]
   # sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
   # sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
   # mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.
   # oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
   #            On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
   #            All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.
   # oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.

   sbtype=sb16
   sbbase=220
   irq=7
   dma=1
   hdma=5
   mixer=true
   oplmode=auto
   oplrate=22050

   [gus]
   # gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
   # gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the
   #            Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
   # gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
   # ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory.  In this directory
   #             there should be a MIDI directory that contains
   #             the patch files for GUS playback.  Patch sets used
   #             with Timidity should work fine.

   gus=true
   gusrate=22050
   gusbase=240
   irq1=5
   irq2=5
   dma1=3
   dma2=3
   ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

   [speaker]
   # pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
   # pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
   # tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
   #          For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
   # tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
   # disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.

   pcspeaker=true
   pcrate=22050
   tandy=auto
   tandyrate=22050
   disney=true

   [bios]
   # joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: none, 2axis, 4axis,
   #                 fcs (Thrustmaster) ,ch (CH Flightstick).
   #                 none disables joystick emulation.
   #                 2axis is the default and supports two joysticks.

   joysticktype=2axis

   [serial]
   # serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
   #              Can be disabled, dummy, modem, directserial.
   #              Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
   #              parameter:value. Parameters for all types are irq, startbps, bytesize,
   #              stopbits, parity (all optional).
   #              for directserial: realport (required).
   #              for modem: listenport (optional).
   #              Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000
   # phone1-10    the IP address to be connected to. Dial 1 to connect to the entry
   #              in phone1, 2 for phone2, ...

   serial1=dummy
   serial2=dummy
   serial3=disabled
   serial4=disabled
   phone1=empty
   phone2=empty
   phone3=empty
   phone4=empty
   phone5=empty
   phone6=empty
   phone7=empty
   phone8=empty
   phone9=empty
   phone10=empty

   [dos]
   # xms -- Enable XMS support.
   # ems -- Enable EMS support.
   # umb -- Enable UMB support (false,true,max).

   xms=true
   ems=true
   umb=true

   [ipx]
   # ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.

   ipx=false

   [autoexec]
   mount c /home/alex/juegosdos
   -----fin de dosbox.conf esto no va en el fichero----

   En la última linea  esta "mount c /home/alex/juegosdos" esto significa que se cargara en la unidad C: el contenido de ese directorio donde meteremos los juegos.

3. Arrancamos dosbox poniendo :~$ dosbox

El teclado esta en ingles para poner : usar shift+ñ.

Se que suena fome tener que decidir entre disparar o moverse 6 cuadritos por turno , pero ahi esta la gracia de este juego que ademas combina de manera casi perfecta una gran variedad de unidades, edificios, upgrades y un complejo sistema para el manejo de recursos.

Ojo que el juego es del año 96 y probablemente funcione sin audio en PCs mas nuevos, asi que seria recomendable bajar uno de estos programitas:

• Dosbox 0.72 Permite emular una consola DOS y evitarse los dramas con el audio (aqui para WIndows y aca para OS X, para linux solo hay que hacer $sudo apt-get install dosbox)
• VDMSound 2.1 Permite emular una Sound Blaster 16 directamente, solamente hay que abrir el juego con el boton derecho y poner "Run with VDMSound". (bajar aqui para Windows XP)

A continuacion un video con algo de gameplay

Commander Keen foi uma série de jogos em plataforma que fez muito sucesso nos robustos computadores 386 do início dos anos 90, o game foi um dos pioneiros a usar gráficos coloridos padrão EGA e ser distribuído como shareware (softwares que eram distribuídos gratuitamente para apreciação). Commander Keen foi produzido pela id Software, a mesma responsável por clássicos como Doom, Quake e Duke Nukem.

Foram lançados 6 jogos oficiais do Keen para DOS, eles eram divididos em capítulos, como se fossem episódios de uma série. Um sétimo jogo foi lançado no ano de 2001 para o Game Boy, e em 2007 foram re-lançados os jogos 1 a 5 pela Steam, emulado no Windows pelo DOSBox.

_____________________________________

Episódios

Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons (1990)

1. "Marooned on Mars"

O primeiro jogo da série traz Keen em Marte, lutando contra aliens e robôs à procura de componentes roubados da sua nave. Os componentes estão guardados por quatro guerreiros chamados Vorticons.

_____________________________________

2. "The Earth Explodes"

Keen retorna à Terra e descobre uma nave Vorticon apontando 8 canhões para lugares distintos no planeta. Keen precisa encontrar e desativar os 8 canhões para evitar que monumentos como as Pirâmides do Egito, a Casa de Ópera de Sydney e o Coliseu em Roma sejam destruídos.

_____________________________________

3. "Keen Must Die!"

Aqui Keen viaja para o planeta dos Vorticons, o interessante desse capítulo é que, na cidade Vorticon, o jogador pode aprender a ler no idioma local, podendo assim decifrar placas pela cidade.

_____________________________________

3,5. "Keen Dreams" / The "Lost Episode"

Esse episódio é diferente dos demais, aqui Keen não tem sua pistola de plasma e nem o lendário Pogo Stick, Keen usa sementes que transformam seus inimigos em flores... e tudo acontece em um sonho, os inimigos são vegetais, o chefe final é uma batata... os produtores fumaram muito antes de criar esse.

_____________________________________

Commander Keen in Goodbye Galaxy! (1991)

4. "Secret of the Oracle"

Keen inventa um receptor de rádio e termina captando uma mensagem alienígena; guerreiros da raça Shikadi pretendem destruir a galáxia, Keen então deve partir para libertar 8 lideres aprisionados para impedir o plano malígno. Esse episódio é um dos mais extensos, com uma variedade de inimigos bem maior.

_____________________________________

5. "The Armageddon Machine"

Nosso herói chega em uma estação espacial Shikadi e sua missão é desativar uma arma chamada de Omegamatic.

_____________________________________

Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter!

6. Aliens Ate My Babysitter!

A babá de Keen, Molly, foi abduzida por aliens Bloogs... oh céus! Resta a você viajar para o planeta Fribbulus Xax e resgatar a moça. Esse é o último episódio da série original.

_____________________________________

Downloads e Links

Para quem quer re-viver ou matar a curiosidade de como era esse clássico, os games podem ser baixados gratuitamente (shareware) na página da 3D Realms

Clique aqui para baixar episódios 1 a 3 - "Invasion of the Vorticons"

Clique aqui para baixar episódios 4 e 5 - "Goodbye Galaxy"

KeenWiki - a própria enciclopédia da série.

_____________________________________

Fonte: Wikipedia, Moby Games

Il concetto è sempre lo stesso: di default, e per compatibilità con le vecchie versioni di SDL, il driver (sarebbe più corretto dire, in questo caso, la libreria a collegamento dinamico) utilizzato per la riproduzione è quello adatto al funzionamento con EsounD. PulseAudio, essendo stato progettato come il sostituto di EsounD per il desktop environment GNOME, mantiene un livello di compatibilità con quest'ultimo per permettere il funzionamento di applicazioni legacy. Purtroppo, almeno per quanto ho potuto vedere, la sua interazione con le applicazioni che usano SDL è buona sino ad un certo punto.

La buona notizia in questo quadro abbastanza grigio è che le versioni più recenti della libreria SDL supportano direttamente PulseAudio, senza bisogno di passare per l'emulazione EsounD. La notizia un po' meno buona è che molte distribuzioni mainstream, nelle loro ultime release, non sempre se ne sono accorte.

Il caso che considero è quello di Fedora 9 - per quel che può importare, su architettura x86_64: per poter utilizzare appieno il supporto audio di prboom e DOSBox ho dovuto effettuare le poche operazioni che seguono:

1. Aprire una finestra di terminale.
2. Digitare

   sudo nano /etc/profile.d/SDL_pulseaudio_hack.sh

3. Modificare

   export SDL_AUDIODRIVER=esd

   in

   export SDL_AUDIODRIVER=pulse

   quindi salvare.

4. Digitare

   sudo nano /etc/profile.d/SDL_pulseaudio_hack.csh

5. Modificare

   setenv SDL_AUDIODRIVER esd

   in

   setenv SDL_AUDIODRIVER=pulse

6. Chiudere il terminale, effettuare il logout, e quindi nuovamente il login.

Tutto è poi andato a posto.

#10 WinUAE
format emulated: Commodore Amiga
This emulator is actually kind of a dick which definitely hurts it.  However, the Amiga was a true gaming machine and it actually had a large number of exclusives or games that ran best on it.  Actually, a lot of bad Super NES games from European developers were born as good games on the Amiga.  Tons of games, great graphics, lots of variety, plus a Euro flair.

#9 WinApple
format emulated: Apple ][
So far, I haven't used this emulator extensively but it's worked quite well to date. The Apple ][ had a large and interesting library specializing in adventures, western RPGs, and other genres not well represented on the dedicated gaming consoles.

#8 NLMSX
formats emulated: MSX, MSX2
Another emulator that I haven't used a great deal but will in the future, for sure. MSX and this emulator were straightforward and easy to use. The style of the system's library isn't that different from a gaming console but it had a lot of exclusives.

#7 Magic Engine
formats emulated: TurboGrafx-16+add-ons, SuperGrafx
note: this Europe-based emulator actually costs money - $20 thanks to exchange rates
A straightforward emulator for a straightforward system that allows you to play the card and CD based games.

#6 MESS
formats emulated: NES, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Colecovision
MESS is an attempt at a super emulator, able to handle ALL old systems but, for the moment, it falls way short. It is able to do a pretty decent job with the systems I've listed but, save for the NES, most of these systems didn't exactly have awesome libraries.  NEStopia is better at emulating the NES but MESS gets the job done and you just can't argue with this history and importance of the 2600.

#5 DOSBox (with DOSShell frontend)
format emulated: DOS
Current Windows systems are unable to run many of the old PC games from 1995 and before. DOSBox changes all that and opens up a world of THOUSANDS of games, many VERY different from what you'd find on the gaming consoles. DOSBox is complicated, though, so download the DOSShell frontend, which makes the emulator very easy to use.

#4 zSNES
format emulated: Super NES+add-ons
It emulates the SNES very well and is very easy to use.

#3 Kega Fusion
formats emulated: SG-1000, Master System, Genesis+add-ons, Game Gear
Master System + Genesis alone probably would have earned this spot but add in the gems from the 2nd rate libraries of the SG-1000, Game Gear, SEGA CD and 32X and it's even more solid.

#2 Visual Boy Advance
formats emulated: Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance
Thousands of games, many of them GREAT. Now on your computer. Not as comfortable as a real GBA SP in your hand but now you can blow up the screen. And it's cheaper.

#1 MAME32
formats emulated: A LOT (most 2D arcade systems)
MAME is a very successful attempt at emulating ALL arcade games. Who knows if it will ever reach that point but as it currently stands it's able to emulate 90% (my own made up number) of 2D games from the 70s through 90s. It can handle every NeoGeo game, every game from the legendary Capcom CPS1/CPS2 board, and that's just the start. Most of the 2D arcade legends from Namco, Nintendo, SEGA, Konami, etc. etc run just fine on this system. That's a whole lot of games and a whole lot of quality. The only drawback is that arcade games aren't exactly deep and complicated but the combined quantity/quality here earns #1.

WAIT? WHAT ABOUT (insert emulator here)?
Yes, there are a lot of other emulators and systems and I'm not super experienced with some of them. There are also some that just aren't complete enough to warrant a place on this list but are still worth downloading. For instance, Project64, a Nintendo 64 emulator, runs Super Mario 64 perfectly but has a lot of hiccups on games like Perfect Dark. I don't especially like the Commodore 64 or Atari 800 computer emulators available and their libraries are also somewhat cancelled out by the inclusion of Apple ][ and DOS on the list. The Sharp X68000 and its emulator are very strong but it's near-complete reliance on arcade conversions for its library means that MAME effectively cancels it out.  Most emulators for 3D, optical-disc based systems are still pretty unreliable unless you love changing plug-ins and settings for every game, so no PlayStation or Saturn on this list.  And systems like PS2, DS, Xbox, etc.?  Go BUY THEM AT THE STORE.

I'd quote the article, but the picture is really all you need. ;-)

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/17/windows-3-1-gets-installed-on-nokias-n810-looks-badly-out-of-p/

Durante el almuerzo del dia de hoy, con mi hermana conversabamos sobre los juegos del Atari y sin duda del que mas tenemos recuerdos, es del Alley Cat.
Rapidamente hice andar mi mente geek y subi a mi pc a pensar en algo.
Encontre algo que se llama Dosbox y es un emulador de dos para linux :P.

# apt-get install dosbox

Una vez instalado, lo ejecute desde la consola

dosbox

Paralelamente descargue el juego desde aqui Yo lo guarde y lo descomprimi en /home/maximilinux/app/alleycat Por lo tanto, dentro de dosbox escribi lo siguiente:

mount d /home/maximilinux/app/alleycat

y escribi d: Al hacer un dir te das cuenta que ahi esta el alleycat y lo ejecutas:

ALLEYCAT.EXE
y a jugar!

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

Saludos

====
Feliz semana mi cielito!

Downloads:
DOSBox 1.5
Win 3.1
Win 95
Win 98

Instalação:
Descomprimir todos os ficheiros e em seguida colocar todas as img dos windows na pasta do DOSBox1.5 e copiar tudo para a pasta PSP/GAME.
A seguir correr a aplicação DOSBox e para escolher as opções no menu fica aqui a imagem das teclas com as combinações necessárias:

(clicar na imagem para aumentar)

Primeira escolha será Boot Menu (numero 1) e em seguida escolhe-se o S.O. que se quer arrancar.

Importante:
Para poderem introduzir nos numeros terão de efectuar um movimento continuo no D-Pad para cima, esqueda e baixo sem nunca tirar o dedo do D-Pad.

Avviando dosbox all'interno di un terminale ho notato questo errore:

DOSBox version 0.72
Copyright 2002-2007 DOSBox Team, published under GNU GPL.
---
ALSA lib pcm.c:2106:(snd_pcm_open_conf) Cannot open shared library
/usr/lib/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_pulse.so
CONFIG:Loading primary settings from config file dosbox.conf
MIXER:Can't open audio: No available audio device , running in nosound mode.

E' bastato quindi installare il pacchetto libasound2-plugins per farlo andare benissimo al primo colpo:

gksudo apt-get install libasound2-plugins

Non è stato necessario neanche riavviare Alsa. :)

MegaRace is a car combat game from 1994 for MS-DOS and happens to be one of my favorite games. It is surprising how the game has withstood the test of time and is still fun to play to this day. Review following the break.

The story of MegaRace is thus. You are a contestant on a future TV show where you must race on a track and defeat all of your opponents before you complete three laps and the race is over. It's similar to The Running Man where it is a kill or be killed environment, except it's all virtual reality so nobody really dies. Your opponents in these races are street gangs local to the planet/city you are racing on. As you defeat them, you unlock the ability to use their cars in races, each with their own ups and downs. You defeat enemies on the racetrack by catching up to them and using your hood mounted gun to shoot them up. If you run out of bullets you can also ram you enemies, but you need to be careful that you don't loose health and die in the process,

The racing mechanics themselves are very easy. You only need to remember five buttons: accelerate, brake, left, right, and shoot. On the track are different symbols. One is the traditional arrow which gives you a speed boost, and another is a ladder looking symbol that gives you a point bonus. Both symbols have a grayed out version which does the opposite, slows you down dramatically or takes away points. There are various other symbols that do things such as refilling your health, ammo, etc. So besides navigating the track to catch up to your enemies, you also have to watch out where you are driving or else you may hit a gray arrow and slow down dramatically.

The backgrounds of the tracks are all pre-rendered in 3-D. The game takes you to different locations such as cityscapes, underwater (as seen above), and various other future destinations. One track that I remember being particularly cool was one later in the game that had a gigantic loop in it like a roller coaster that you drove on.

And who can forget Christian Erickson's amazing role as "Lance Boyle", the host of MegaRace. Between missions he will suck up to the viewers and belittle you. Here are some of his words of wisdom early on in the game:

So you say, 'Somebody ought to DO something about them criminal highway gangs!' And VWBT says, 'Oh yeah?! Well, why don't YOU do something, mister big-mouth!'. You don't have the car? We'll give you the car! You don't want to get arrested for taking the law into your hands? Not a problem! You know why? Because it AIN'T REAL! It's a whole lot better than real, baby! It's virtual television: reality's worst nightmare!

All of Boyle's parts are full motion video and are quite humorous. You have to hand it to Christian Erickson though. He came back to play Lance in both sequels for MegaRace, and has been in a number of other video games since then such as Siberia II and Indigo Prophecy.

Did I mention the soundtrack to this game is amazing. Each track has its own unique song which fits the theme of them well. The sounds effects for the racing and combat are also top notch and I have no problems with any of them. They are as fitting as they can be for a futuristic car combat game for DOS.

I would very much like to find and play MegaRace 2 and 3. I've never even seen copies of them, although then again I've never seen a copy of MegaRace other than the one I own. The only reason I own MegaRace is because it was packaged with Packard Bell computers in the early 90's. If anyone has played MegaRace 2 and 3, feel free to mention it in the comments, I'd like to hear how they are, especially 3. Both sequels are made by Cryo Interactive and as I already mentioned, Christian Erickson comes back as Lance Boyle for both.

I conclusion, I would heartily recommend MegaRace to everyone who gets the ability to play it. It is still fun to play to this day. The only thing that may get in people's way is the fact that their computers may not be able to run DOS games. I'm running Windows Vista and the game works perfectly in DOSBox 0.71. So if you're having trouble running it in the Command Prompt I'd say use DOSBox.

If you're interested in the game, and in supporting our blog, you can buy MegaRace from Amazon through us.

Joining a wireless network, even WPA2, is a breeze. It's not the fastest kid on the block but it's light, efficient, and dammit, it's cool! The dumbed-down GUI, dubbed "Easy Mode" can (and IMHO should be) quickly replaced with "Advanced Mode", or good ol' KDE as it's more widely known.

For more fun and amusement, and a little bit of nostalgia, install DosBox on it, and then install Windows 3.1 on top of that. How's that for a blast from the past? (or perhaps simply an abomination, if you prefer).

Wbrew pozorom, nie chodzi wcale o granie w super-wypasionego MMORPG'a - chodzi o grę starą i niemalże zapomnianą: The Settlers 2. Jaki więc mam problem skoro bóg zesłał programistów, którzy napisali DosBOX'a nawet na Linuksa?

Problemem jest gra na dwóch graczy. Każdy kto grał w The Settlers 2 wie o co chodzi - trzeba podłączyć 2 myszki, z czego co najmniej jedna musi być na porcie szeregowym (COM). Niby nic, ale co jeśli nie ma takiego portu? ^^ Np. ja w moim laptopie go nie mam i tutaj zaczynają się schody.

Poszperałem trochę w internecie i znalazłem informację, że porty szeregowe w linuksie reprezentowane są przez pliki /dev/ttyS* ( * - numer portu 0-3 [odpowiednio COM1-4] ). Istotne też, aby pamiętać, że 'S' ma być duże ;) Znalazłem taki port u siebie w katalogu /dev jednak nie mam pojęcia co mogę z tym zrobić dalej skoro nie mam takiego portu fizycznie? ^^

Napisałem nawet program który czyta dane z portu myszy ( /dev/input/mouse* ) i wysyła je na /dev/ttyS0 ale niestety sam DosBOX nie chce czytać tego portu zwracając przy starcie komunikat o błędzie:

Serial1: Opening /dev/ttyS0
tcgetattr failed with error 5.

Nie mam zielonego pojęcia co oznacza kod 5 bo nie mogłem znaleźć tego w internecie, ale pewnie ma to związek z brakiem fizycznego portu rs232 w moim laptopie.

Nasuwa mi się na myśl tylko jedna rzecz - jakiś wirtualny port szeregowy. Pytanie tylko czy to podziała... Może ktoś ma jakiś pomysł co do tego? Jestem otwarty na pomysły :)

Of course he did some work, but in all truth, the Amiga was mostly about games. And how I loved to watch him play. Looking back now, I'm sure it was quite annoying for him, but the magic of that little box (gigantic in today's standards) was just hypnotizing for me.

When I was around 7 years old, he got another computer, a PC with Windows. Since I had already learned how to read and write, my brother decided to teach me how to work on the Amiga and how to play some games. Not because I nagged him almost to death, he just decided it was nice. Yes, anyway.

At first, the only types of games I could play were Galaga and Arakanoid styled ones, and my English consisted of the words "play", "load", "save" and "quit".

As time went by though, I started playing games like SimCity and the Monkey Island Series. Games that actually needed you to understand the language they were in. It was with that computer that I really started learning English. It's one thing to listen to cartoons on TV. Actually having to read and write and understand a language, for the sole purpose of having fun, works completely different. My grammar was far from perfect, obviously, and I'm sure I was quite a pain for my brother, always asking questions. But then again, look at where I am now (University, Portuguese/English "Languages, Literatures and Cultures" course).

At a certain point, I was completely addicted to all the games we had - and they weren't exactly just a few... My mother would even have to yell at me so I'd get off the computer to go to the bathroom. There were just so many of them and they were all so exciting, I never felt like stopping. If I got bored with one, I'd just pick another one up. Those were the days.

I never really got the same excitement with the games that exist now as I did with the ones from Amiga. The new SimCities are great and beautifully made, I wouldn't trade my Final Fantasies for anything, and there are also the online games. But still, it's different. Every time I thought of the wonderful times I had in front of that great machine, I felt nostalgic and sad.

Our Amiga is now put away. The monitor had to be thrown out, because we'd get an electric shock every time we tried to turn it on (it was that old), but the rest of the computer is carefully wrapped in plastic bags and old cloths, kept safely in my room.

I tried looking for emulators and getting them to work with the games I missed the most, but I never really managed to succeed. They were all too complicated and I would almost always end up with a new virus on my Windows. It's only now, with my iBook, that I've finally been able to play the old Amiga games, using DOSBox and MacMame.

Do you remember Bubble Bobble? And Alley Cat? And Cannon Fodder, Fury of the Furries, RoboCod, the Dizzy series, Beneath a Steel Sky, Dune, SuperFrog, Alien Breed, the first SimCity, Lemmings?

The excitement, it's still there!

I still feel like I'm missing a lot, and every week I end up remembering another one and getting it. My DOSBox folder just keeps growing and growing. My latest addition was the way-too-cute and addictive-all-over-again Rainbow Islands. And there are still some I haven't been able to find, like Fire and Ice and Wiz'n'Liz and even the extremely well done Agony for example.

You can seriously have no idea or understand my happiness if you've never played any of these old games. You're not too late, you can still give them a try.

I feel like that was the beginning of gaming, and that I'm very lucky to have been able to witness and live through it. When I'm really old, I'll get to tell my grandchildren about these ancient games I used to play that no longer exist... Anyway, I'm getting addicted all over again. You can certainly expect more of these posts from me, because I'm honestly going crazy here.

I'm just going to have another go at- is it four in the morning already?

Well this entry will describe the major sound cards that impacted the DOS era of PC gaming, a brief history and their compatibility with DOSBox. I will also create a chart that will list in my opinion, the best music and sound effect emulation options for your gaming titles.

Definitions:
PCM – Pulse Code Modulation, is a digital representation of an analogue sample, also used by audio CDs and occasionally on DVDs
DAC – Digital to Analogue Converter, used for playing back digital sound and music through standard speakers and headphones.
ADC – Analogue to Digital Converter, used for recording samples from a standard microphone and storing it on a digital format on the computer.
DSP – Digital Signal Processing or Processor essentially is the same as DAC/ADC combined meaning it allows for both digital to analogue playback and analogue to digital recording.
channel – A single music instrument or sound sample
FM synthesis - frequency modulation synthesis, generates and distorts an audio tone to fake an instrument, often used on synthesises from 1980’s and earlier and has a very electronic, artificial sound.
Wavetable synthesis – In PC audio it refers to pre-recorded sounds and samples or instruments that are then manipulated for tone and pitch.

PC speaker

1 tone generator, mono.
Introduced as the only form of audio output on the original IBM PC back in August 1981. The PC speaker had the ability to only play one waveform tone at one time, making it useless for music and gaming. The notoriety of the speaker’s quality would later earn it the title of the PC squeaker or PC beeper.
Given what was available on other, cheaper computers at the time one can only assume this offering by IBM was a form of cost cutting. Though the PC’s target market were business applications, so it is understandable why IBM originally choose to ignore sound in its original PC specification.

Unfortunately this limit audio would later become a curse for the PC, especially with gaming. It would take well over a decade for entrench audio replacement to become standard.

Developers did find hacks around the limitations of the PC speaker with various games for the era managing to reproduce multiple toned music, digital sound-fx and even speech. At best these hack reproduced a 6bit, single PCM DAC like channel. Unfortunately it had many problems that limited it’s wide spread usage. Firstly they were often CPU speed sensitive, whereby a processor that would be too fast or slow would distort and warp the audio output. There was no volume control, just an off/on BIOS option. The output volume was often to quiet making it hard to hear, and this was compounded by the fact most PCs had the speaker hidden deep inside the PC’s steal casing.

The bargain basement Commodore VIC-20 from the same era came with a RRP of $299.95US. “The VIC chip had three rectangular-wave sound generators. Each had a range of three octaves, and the generators were located on the scale about an octave apart, giving a total range of about five octaves. In addition, there was a white noise generator. There was only one volume control, and the output was in mono.” – Wiki

In comparison the IBM PC started with a RRP of $1,565 for a base model.

DOSBox emulates all functionality of the PC Speaker including the PCM like DAC hacks; though usually you will need to manually adjust the DOSBox speed (cycles) settings to get it working correctly.Dunzhin: Warrior of Ras Volume I by Computer Applications Unlimited from 1982 is an early example of DAC through the PC speaker.

• BattleTech 2 - PC speaker speech and music
• Space Quest 3 - speaker music

Tandy 1000 / Tandy DAC

3 pulse-width modulation channels plus one white channel, mono
8-bit DAC up to 22050 KHz, mono
The original Tandy 1000 series of computers that first came out in 1984 upgraded the internal PC speaker to three channels and a white noise. Later models also allowed for external volume control and support for headphones. When supported is a big improvement over the default PC speaker.

In 1989 Tandy released the 1000 SL series of computers that updated their 3 channel audio chip to incorporate an onboard 8bit, mono DAC/ADC for digital sampling and playback. This was supported by a number of games, including a few Sierra titles (like Space Quest 3) which experimented with it before the Creative Sound Blaster went retail.

DOSBox emulates both Tandy audio (3 channel) and Tandy DAC.

I recommend setting the DOSBox.conf tandy=true rather than tandy=auto to force older games to auto-detect the Tandy 3 channel audio. You might also have to set the DOSBox machine=tandy. For Tandy DAC, DOSBox also requires that sbtype= is set to any allowed value other then none.

• BattleTech 2 - Tandy 1000 speech and music
• SimCity sound effects compared, original PC, Tandy DAC
• Space Quest 3 - Tandy 1000 music
• Space Quest 3 - Tandy 1000 SL/TL music, effects and speech
• Ultima 6 - Tandy 1000 music

Covox Speech Thing / Disney Sound Source

8-bit DAC, mono
The Covox Speech Thing was a simple 8bit DAC/ADC adapter that plugged into a PC’s parallel printer port. Originally released in 1986, it later was revised and marketed under various brands and names including Disney who in the early 1990’s used it for use in their education software.

Note there are a few games that support the Covox Voice Master / Sound Master; this was an internal sound card rather than a printer port adaptor. DOSBox does not support these internal Covox based cards.

DOSBox emulates the Covox printer devices including The Disney Sound Source, which offers better audio quality.

AdLib / OPL2 / YM3812

9 channel FM synthesis, mono
Introduced in 1987 the AdLib Music Synthesizer Card was the first add-on music card to gain wide spread support within the PC industry. While it wasn’t the first, nor was it the most popular, it became the de-facto standard for software and game manufactures in the early 1990’s when music and sound card support became common.

Early games often required an AdLib driver to be loaded in DOS’s memory, known as a TSR. It used a Yamaha YM3812 9 channel FM synthesis chip which is also known as the OPL-2.

Moby Games states that in 1987 there were only 3 games with AdLib support. By 1988 there were 9 games with support, 53 out of 342 in 1989 and 138 out of 406 in 1990, 150 out of 381 in 1991.

DOSBox emulates AdLib audio. AdLib emulation is set using oplmode=. auto tells DOSBox to control emulation. opl2 emulates the original AdLib, that is also used by the original Sound Blaster. dualopl2 emulates two OPL-2 chips, as used by the first generation of Sound Blaster Pro cards. opl3 emulates the AdLib Gold series of cards and was also used by the Sound Blaster 16.

• Doom 2 - AdLib music with PC speaker effects
• Space Quest 3 - AdLib music
• Ultima 6 - AdLib music

Roland MT32 / MPU401 / LAPC-1

32 channel wave synthesis, stereo
The Roland MT-32 Sound Module from the Japanese company Roland was released in 1987. It was a programmable synthesiser that supported up to 32 notes played at once using a 16-bit DAC at a sample rate of 32000 HZ.

Quality was significantly better than the alternative AdLib, and it's price represented this.

MobyGames game support: 1988 there were 6 DOS games with support; 24 in 1989, 68 in 1990 and 87 in 1991.

DOSBox provides interface support to MPU401 hardware on your computer. DOSBox does not offers MPU401 emulation, rather it uses your soundcard’s own General MIDI implementation of which the quality and accuracy will vary depending on your audio card, drivers and operating system. The default DOSBox mpu401 settings should work for most people.

• BattleTech 2 - DOSBox Sound Blaster Audigy 2 mapped MT32 music with Sound Blaster speech
• Space Quest 3 - DOSBox Sound Blaster Audigy 2 mapped MT32 music
• Space Quest 3 - Authentic MT32 (created and hosted by Yvan256)
• Ultima 6 - DOSBox Sound Blaster Audigy 2 mapped MT32 music
• Ultima 6 - Authentic MT32 (created and hosted by Yvan256)

Creative Music System / Game Blaster

Twin 6 channel FM synthesis, stereo
Creative Music System released in 1987 was the first add-on soundcard by a Singaporean based company that would later become Creative Labs. The card used two Philips SAA 1099 chips that each supported 6 channels of wave a noise in stereo. Price at a similar level to the AdLib, the CMS audio quality was significantly poorer so it was never widely supported by the industry.
“sounding not unlike twelve simultaneous PC speakers” - Wiki quote

MobyGames game support: in 1987 there was one game with CMS support, 6 in 1988 and 17 in 1989. By 1990 there were 40 but this dropped down to 17 titles in 1991 after the Sound Blaster was popularised.

• BattleTech 2 - CMS speech with PC speaker music
• Ultima 6 - CMS music

Sound Blaster 1 / 2

9 channel FM synthesis, single 8 bit DSP, mono
Sound Blaster 1.0 first appeared in 1989 and was the successor to the not so popular Creative Music System that was by then known as the Game Blaster. The Sound Blaster 1.0 was a kind of hybrid card in that it offered backwards support for its earlier Game Blaster series. It also included the Yamaha YM3813 chip that was used in the more popular AdLib card. In addition Creative also included a digital signal processor allowing the playback of sampled sound at 23 KHz and recording at 12 KHz. At the same price as the AdLib including addition value add-ons such as a built in game port, the Sound Blaster out valued and out featured it’s rival. This card forced the AdLib company to file for bankruptcy a couple of years later.

MobyGames game support: 4 in 1988, 9 in 1989, 71 in 1990, 115 in 1991.

Sound Blaster 1.5 released in 1990 removed the included CMS support, probably as a cost cutting measure.

Sound Blaster 2.0 was released in 1991 and basically offered improvements to the digital signal processor chip. Upgrading the playback to 44KHz 8 bits and allowed for auto-DMA which removed an undesirable clicking sound that was audible in earlier cards.

Sound Blaster Pro

Twin 9 channel FM synthesis, twin 8 bit DSP, stereo

1.0 for all intents and purposes was the successor to the Sound Blaster series of cards with the introduction stereo. Like their earlier CMS line of cards, it used two YM3812 chips to emulate stereo, though games had to be specially programmed for this to work, otherwise the games would only detect a single, mono chip. The DSP chip was upgraded to allow for 44KHz 8 bit samples in mono or 22KHz samples in stereo.

Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 removed the twin YM3812 chips and replaced them with a single Yamaha YMF262 otherwise known as the OPL-3. It allowed for 20 FM synthesis channels in stereo.

DOSBox emulates the Sound Blaster 1, 2 and Pro. sbtype= allows you to manually force Sound Blaster emulation. sb1 emulates the original mono Sound Blaster. sb2 emulates revision 2 of the same card. sbpro1 emulates Sound Blaster Pro. sbpro2 emulates revision 2 of the card. sb16 emulates the Sound Blaster 16.

• BattleTech 2 - Sound Blaster 1 music and speech

Pro AudioSpectrum (PAS)

Twin 9 channel FM synthesis, 8bit DSP, stereo
Created by newly formed Californian based Media Vision. The first Pro AudioSpectrum released in 1991 was an 8 bit stereo card that used two YM3812 chips for FM music and had its own DSP chip. I am pretty sure the DSP chip was stereo but was not Sound Blaster compatible, limiting its appeal. It did however include a SCSI CDROM interface allowing the connection of a then new CDROM drive. There were significant savings for buyers of a PAS over a SB Pro with a separate SCSI card.

There is no AudioSpectum emulation in DOSBox.

Pro AudioSpectrum Plus / 16 (PAS)

18 channel FM synthesis, 16bit 44KHz DSP, stereo
Released in 1992 the PAS 16 supported 16 bit 44KHz playback and 16 bit recording. Because of the built in SCSI CDROM interface the card would often be bundled with expensive multi-media packages which included a CDROM and sound card. The PAS was price as the point as Creative's 8 bit Sound Blaster Pro, making it a popular choice for non-gamers.

The PAS Plus and PAS 16 are essentially the same cards for audio playback. They are both backwardly compatible with AdLib, Sound Blaster 1.5 and the original PAS.

There is no AudioSpectum Plus/16 emulation in DOSBox.

Sound Blaster 16

18 channel FM synthesis, 16bit 44KHz DSP, stereo
Released in the middle of 1992, the 16 series was the next major upgrade to the Sound Blaster range of cards. It finally saw Creative catch up to competing cards by offering 16 bit, 44KHz playback. Music was upgraded to the now standard Yamaha OPL-3 chip. Of cause it also came with the usual Creative price mark-up, but did offer backwards compatibility with the earlier SB series.

DOSBox emulates SoundBlaster 16 audio.

• Doom 2 - Sound Blaster 16 music and effects

Gravis Ultra Sound

14 wave-sampled channels at 16 bit 44KHz DSP or 32 channels at 19Khz, stereo
Based out of Canada, in 1992 Advanced Gravis a well known joystick company bought out the bright red and quite long Gravis Ultra Sound add-on card. Priced slightly higher than the Sound Blaster Pro, the Ultra Sound gave its users lots of bang for their buck. Unfortunately this was at the expense of compatibility with the Sound Blaster series. Leaving most games released up until this point with no or limited .

The card itself was a wave-table soundcard with 256kbs of RAM built in. Unlike the Sound Blaster AWE-32 it did not come with any pre-saved samples so everything had to be loaded through software drivers or by the game itself. As the card did not offer any hardware emulation for Sound Blaster’s DSP chip or even the now ancient AdLib OPL-2 chip, everything had to be emulated using uploaded samples. This required computer memory and CPU resources and often utilised hacks and patches to get many non-supported games to work. This meant that some owners of a GUS would also have a cheap Sound Blaster clone in their machine for complete gaming compatibility.

On the plus side, when games did offer support for the GUS, it offered far greater audio capability than anything else on the home consumer market. It allowed for 14 channels at 44KHz playback or 32 channels at 19.2KHz.

A number of games require the use of GUS drivers that can be downloaded from here. These cannot be distributed with DOSBox as their copyright is incompatible with the DOSBox GNU open source license. You will need to unzip the drives to a directory which is usable within the DOSBox shell. Then change ultradir= to point to it. Otherwise DOSBox offers complete GUS emulation.

• Doom 2 - GUS music and effects

Sound Blaster AWE32

30 channel wave synthesis, 16bit 44KHz DSP, stereo, EAX like effects
In early 1994 Creative released the Sound Blaster AWE-32 which for all intents and purposes was basically a Sound Blaster 16 with a built in synthesizer board and effects chip. All this was useless though unless the game directly supported these features, which was not all too common. The card came with a 1mbit sample ROM and included 512kbit of RAM for user samples. It used 30 sampled channels plus two channels for the FM OPL-3 synthesizer.

Using software drivers it could also attempt to emulate General MIDI and MT-32 audio. Though the drivers consumed valuable conventional memory and were not able to work with common 32-bit protect mode DOS programs.

A budget version of the card was released in 1995. Known as the Sound Blaster 32, it removed the included RAM as well as support for bass, treble and gain adjustments.

There is no DOSBox emulation for the AWE32 series.

General MIDI - GM/GS

24 channel wave synthesis
General MIDI is not a sound card rather it is a 1991 standard for synthesisers that was later adopted PC audio composing cards and later by game developers for use in their games. The standard requires the use of at least 24 simultaneous voices and uses 128 predefined sounds.

GS was an extension to General MIDI that was created by Roland the makers of the original MT-32. The first GS generation introduced extra predefined General MIDI sounds taking the total number up to 226.

Quality of General MIDI and GS is totally dependent on the pre-recorded samples or instruments used by the sound cards. Often cards that claimed GM compatibility by using their built in ROM samples often sounded inferior, sometimes even offensive when compared to an authentic Roland-built General MIDI PC card.

Often support for General MIDI could be tied to a Sound Blaster. The Sound Blaster would provide the digital sound effects and speech while the General MIDI device would provide the music.

General MIDI mapping is provided in DOSBox, but its sample quality is dependent on your soundcard and operating system. Most modern Creative cards using the default Windows XP or Vista MIDI device sound relatively authentic.

DOSBox Supported Devices .. in which order are the best to use?

This is a matter of personal opinion and is based on DOSBox under Windows XP/Vista with a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 and a pair of amplified stereo speakers. Of cause it will also depend on the software or game operating within DOSBox.

	Music	Sound Effects and Speech
Best	Gravis UltraSound - 1992	Gravis UltraSound
	General MIDI (depending on your host operating system and setup) - 1991	Sound Blaster 16
	Roland MT-32 (real device) - 1987	Sound Blaster Pro
	Sound Blaster 16 / Sound Blaster Pro 2/ OPL-3 - 1992	Sound Blaster
	Roland MT-32 (when mapped to a GM driver) - 2005	Disney Sound Source - 1990 / Covox Speech Thing / Tandy DAC - 1986
	Sound Blaster Pro -1991	Tandy 1000 / Creative Sound Master / Game Blaster / PC speaker
	Sound Blaster / AdLib / OPL-2 - 1987	AdLib / MT-32
	Creative Sound Master / Game Blaster - 1988
	Tandy 1000 - 1983
Worst	PC Speaker - 1981

Extra Reading ...

• Crossfire Designs
• Yvan256 Sound Card Museum