Welcome to the DOSBox-X project homepage located on GitHub.
Useful links
Table of Contents
Introduction to DOSBox-X
DOSBox-X is a cross-platform DOS emulator based on the DOSBox project (www.dosbox.com).
Like DOSBox, it emulates a PC necessary for running many MS-DOS games and applications that simply cannot be run on modern PCs and operating systems. However, while the main focus of DOSBox is for running DOS games, DOSBox-X goes much further than this. Started as a fork of the DOSBox project, it retains compatibility with the wide base of DOS games and DOS gaming DOSBox was designed for. But it is also a platform for running DOS applications, including emulating the environments to run Windows 3.x, 9x and ME and software written for those versions of Windows. By adding official support for Windows 95, 98, ME emulation and acceleration, we hope that those old Windows games and applications could be enjoyed or used once more. Moreover, DOSBox-X adds support for DOS/V and NEC PC-98 emulations so that you can play DOS/V and PC-98 games with it.
Compared with DOSBox, DOSBox-X focuses more on general emulation and accuracy. In order to help running DOS games and applications, Windows 3.x/9x/ME, as well as for the purpose of historical preservation, testing and continued DOS developments, it is our desire to implement accurate emulation, accurate enough to help make new DOS developments possible with confidence the program will run properly on actual DOS systems. DOSBox-X includes various features for different purposes (some of them ported from other projects), which are implemented as incremental changes since it was forked from DOSBox SVN Daum. DOSBox-X provides many ways to tweak and configure the DOS virtual machine, as we believe a better way to emulate the DOS platform is to give users all the options they need to emulate everything from the original IBM PC system all the way up to late 1990's configuration, whatever it takes to get your game or software package to run. Our goal is to eventually make DOSBox-X a complete emulation package that covers all pre-2000 DOS and Windows 9x based system scenarios, including peripherals, motherboards, CPUs, and all manner of hardware that was made for PC hardware of that time.
Please check out the DOSBox-X homepage for common packages of the latest release for the supported platforms, as well as screenshots of some DOS programs and games running in DOSBox-X. Also see the INSTALL page for DOSBox-X installation instructions and other packages, and the Releases page for archives of all released DOSBox-X versions. For more information about DOSBox-X, such as setting up and running DOSBox-X including its usage tips, please read the user guide in the DOSBox-X Wiki. Steps for building the source code can be found in the BUILD page.
DOSBox-X is completely open-source and free of charge to use and distribute. It is released under the GNU General Public License, version 2. See also the About DOSBox-X page for more information about DOSBox-X's goals and non-goals, along with some links to other projects.
This project has a Code of Conduct, please read it for general information on contributing to or getting support from the project.
Brought to you by: joncampbell123 (Jonathan Campbell)
Legal notice
If you reside in a jurisdiction that enforces OS level age verification, you are only permitted to use the main-osfree branch of this project (including builds), and are prohibited from using the main (master) branch of this project.
Notable features in DOSBox-X
Although based on the DOSBox project, DOSBox-X is now a separate project because both have their own separate schedules and development priorities. For example, the main focus of DOSBox is for running DOS games whereas DOSBox-X goes way beyond this. At this time DOSBox-X already has a great number of features that do not exist in DOSBox. Examples of such features include:
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GUI drop-down menu and built-in graphical configuration tool
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Save and load state support (with up to 100 save slots + save files)
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NEC PC-98, AX, DOS/V emulation and Chinese/Japanese/Korean support
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Fully translatable user interfaces (with language files available)
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
