AFAIK, DosBox is as easy to install on OSX as any other OSX application.

Hope your program doesn't talk with outside the DOSBox. I can't say if IPX and modem connection do work.

DOSBox installing is as easy as do, drag the downloaded application onto your Applications folder.

Removing it? Drag the installed app onto the trash can symbol, empty it and do a Finder search about file names that include "dosbox" (like Preferences files and such), move them to the trash can symbol and you're ready.

We don't have a fat sized registry.

I use DOSBox on a PowerBook G4 (PPC Processor) and on a Mac Mini (Intel Core Duo). It was really easy to install and it works smooth on both machines.

For modem connections, the directserial feature of DOSBox is needed, and this is currently deactivated.

I had a need for modem connections and therefore I recompiled a custom version of DOSBox with directserial support activated.

Dial-In Connection with the internal Modem using DOSBox @ OS X

Compilation from CVS is of course not an installation as easy as doing it by drag and drop. But, the big advantage is, that with that modem connections do simply work with Mac OS X.

Contact mangers need correct times and dates, right?

Since you are going to buy an Intel Mac, the following problem might not be so dramatic, however at a PPC Mac the RTC clock of DOSBox deviates very fast from the real world clock - it is late more than 10 second per minute. In addition DOSBoxes at all operating systems suffer from the "date update at midnight" problem

For both time related issues there was a patch for DOSBox 0.65, but this did not made it into the mainline, and I do not know how easy t is to get the patch working with the current DOSBox version.

Best regards

Rolf

For both time related issues there was a patch for DOSBox 0.65

Which one?

wd!

The time/date problems were discussed extensively in the DOSBox Patches forum:

CMOS clock patch (dates not changing when left overnight)

In the course of the discussion, jal prepared a patch for this issue and at the second page of said thread there is a download link of a .zip-package, which contains the modified files: bios.cpp, cmos.cpp, and dos.cpp.

download.php?id=3291

Three messages later there seems to be an important patch to the patch by h-a-l-9000. The thread ends in October 2006 with jal waiting for the final verdict of Qbix.

I am somewhat interested in this for non-gaming usage. I appreciate that this issue is not of major importance for gamers, and therefore my plans are to look at this at the next weekend by myself.

Best regards

Rolf

I greatly appreciate the comments above. My application is a business application that DOES need the ability to dial a phone number using the computer's modem or an external modem. As far as the clock is concerned, it depends upon how much the clock is off and how often it is corrected. I could live with it being a few minutes off as long as the correct time is set once a day. I look forward to feedback on these two issues. My decision on whether to purchase the new iMac machine rests on this.
Thanks again,
Hal

The time/date problems were discussed extensively in the DOSBox Patches forum:

I was assuming you mean some mac-specific thing.
The rtc stuff wasn't usable as is even back then. As it's not really
relevant for games and creates some nifty problem with os-time
(file related especially) i didn't really follow it any further.

My decision on whether to purchase the new iMac machine rests on this.

Given the fact that all Intel Macs are besides Mac OS X able to seemlessly run Windows XP or Windows Vista or any flavour of Linux or BSD, and that, depending on memory and disk space, all at the same time, I would say there is no big risk in buying the iMac now. Actually it is the same risk than buying a Windows Box.

I do not think that the issues, which I added to the discussion (modem and date/time) are show stoppers. Actually the modem connection DOES work with a very limited modification in the DOSBox sources, and for the date/time issue there is a patch - so what?

Best regards

Rolf

Working for your application doesn't necessarily mean working for all...

Working for your application doesn't necessarily mean working for all...

Hard for me, to argue against these "wise" words.

I'm not real technically oriented, but I can follow directions. But I might not purchase the iMac if I can't run my favorite contact manager called TeleMagic on the machine. I currently run it in a dos window in Windows XP.

Hal,

reading your message again, I finally ask myself, whether it won't be a better option for you to run your contact manager on the iMac using a virtualisation solution, like VMWare or Paralles Desktop:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29555

This will give you additional benefits like copy/paste of text, drag & drop of files, etc.

Best regards

Rolf

Right, game emulators can't do everything.

I'm happy to report that after purchasing the new iMac and installing dosBox on it, I successfully ported the TeleMagic program (my contact manager) and all the data from my Windows machine to the iMac. Then, lo and behold, I was able to get the basic functions of the program working in the dosBox window. Hurray! Big success so far. THANK YOU to all those who helped me with their comments. 😀

Of course, now I have to figure out how to get the rest of the functions working. Here is where I'm stuck at the moment:
1. How do I get the function keys working? F1 through F10 are essential to operating the TeleMagic program, but there is no response when any of these keys are pressed on the iMac keyboard.
2. I was able to use the mount command within the dos box to assisgn the G drive to TeleMagic and run it from there. Is there a way to set up the dosBox so that the proper mount command loads automatically each time I get into dosBox?

Thanks again.
Hal

1) no idea what imac does to the keys, anyways you can use the
mapper to change key bindings (see the readme)
2) see the [autoexec] section of dosbox.conf, wherever that file is on macs

1. To use keymapper, I need to press CTRL-F1, but the F1 key does not work, just like all the other funtion keys within the dos box
2. Where do I look for the that?
3. Oh my, while in the dosBox, the normal cursor on the iMac screen has disappeared, so now I can't even close the program. I'd hate to reboot the computer just to get back the cursor. Any suggestions?
Hal

1. In the System Preferences under Keyboard I check the Function key settings and now all my needed function keys work, EXCEPT F10, which is one that is very important. Any suggestions? Oh, and from the Z prompt, CTRL-F! still does not work to bring up keymapper.
3. I discovered by trial and error that when the cursor disappears in the dosBox, I can get it back by hitting F12. So no biggie there.

AFAIK, there was a new keyboard introduced together with the iMac. Do some of the function keys <F1> to <F10> exhibit a second function as those of the notebook keyboards, like screen brightness etc? In this case there might be a key <fn> at the lower left end of the keyboard. Then hold this down together with the function key, e.g. <ctrl><fn><F1>.

The disappearing mouse pointer can be prevented by setting the following option in the DOSBox Preference file from true to false:

[sdl]
autolock=false

For mounting drives automatically you might want to add the mount command to the [autoexec] section of the DOSBox Preferences file. The [autoexec] section replaces the regular autoexec.bat, so you might want to add anything here which you like to initialise with DOS. For example, my [autoexec] looks like this:

[autoexec]
@echo off
keyb gr 437
mount c: /Users/Rolf
PATH = %PATH%;c:\operator;c:\operator\utils;
c:
cd operator\ngk
tastatur 0 0
cls

Users of other operating systems refer you quite often to the dosbox.conf file. On Macs the file resides in the Users Preferences directory and it is called DOSBox Preferences.

/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/DOSBox Preferences

Hopefully this helps.

Best regards

Rolf

PS: You can edit the DOSBox Preferences with the program "TextEdit" which is the default text editor on new Macs.

There's a command line parameter to start the mapper,
as i already said everything is in the readme.

CTRL-F10 unlocks the mouse, wonder, that's in the readme.

No idea where to look for dosbox.conf stuff, maybe search
the forum, maybe create a new one (see the, well, readme).

Rolf,
Your comments have been VERY helpful. Thank you. I was able to get the F10 function key working by using the combination Command-F10.
I'm not having luck finding the preferences file to edit, however, it is not located in that location on my iMac. As a matter of fact, a search of all the files on my computer that contain dosbox in the title does not seem to find it. Did I miss something in the setup procedures?
Hal