Laxdragon, Valnar hinted at it, get dosidle to achieve the same for the dos(box)prompt. Either search or try to find it at ykhwong's sie (I think it's there).

DOSIdle works. IDLE.COM from Microsoft's Virtual PC application (now free) works even better. However, I show no CPU usage sitting at a DOS Prompt under DOSBox without either. Does anyone else?

Back to this .386 driver for Windows 3.1.... It works great with real Windows 3.1, VPC, VMWare, etc. But something doesn't feel quite right under DOSBox. Perhaps it is that split second lag whenever I click on anything. I don't know if that would affect gameplay or not. We should test it more before putting it in any Wiki.

Robert

Edit: I have no intention of compromising this board's integrity. If a moderator needs me to remove this attachment, please say so! 😉

Thanks for the idle.com hint, I'm jsut not sure if it is allowed to offer it for download even though VPC is free now...
I'm also not showing any CPU usage, but I think that's due to the cycle auomations built in since 0.65.

I see why mine sits at 40%. I have cycles set as, cycles=max. I do prefer that setting. I've tried cycles=auto before, but it does not always seem to work for some games. For example under auto, DOOM will jump to max, but Ultima Underworld will stay at 3000.

I guess the tweaks I'd like to see is either have auto work better, or max not eat CPU when DOSBox is idle, or both.

Also, idle.com did not seem to do anything under DOSbox.

For example under auto, DOOM will jump to max, but Ultima Underworld will stay at 3000.

That's why it's called auto and not max.

But, UW really should go to max, that game needs some good horsepower to play.

Anyway, did a google on DOSidle, found a copy of that here
http://vmware0.tripod.com/index.htm . DOSidle works perfect. Under cycles=max, cpu load drops to 0% sitting at the dos prompt.

laxdragon wrote:

But, UW really should go to max, that game needs some good horsepower to play.

Really? That game was able to run on a 286 with 4MB RAM.

UW really should go to max, that game needs some good horsepower to play.

If you think that then do that by setting cycles=max for the game.

If you think that then do that by setting cycles=max for the game.

Obviously! I could just create a batch file for every one of my dos games that sets the cycles to the appropriate level. You, my friend, are about as useful as talking to a brick wall. If you don't have anything useful to say, then please do me a favor and keep it to yourself.

Really? That game was able to run on a 286 with 4MB RAM.

My point being that it needs more than 3000 cycles that auto sets for it.

auto is a crude estimate in order to reduce the amount of question and cycle configuration neccisities. Offcourse it will be off for some games., but for most games it gets the job done.

You, my friend, are about as useful as talking to a brick wall

Ok, got to keep that in mind.

wd wrote:

You, my friend, are about as useful as talking to a brick wall

Ok, got to keep that in mind.

😘

Qbix wrote:

auto is a crude estimate in order to reduce the amount of question and cycle configuration neccisities. Offcourse it will be off for some games., but for most games it gets the job done.

Thanks Qbix. I don't want to knock the effort that went into auto. It works pretty dang slick for the most part.

It is possible to have DOSbox include the behavior of the DOSidle util, or am I better served sticking with this TSR for now.

I do realize how unimportant this idea is. It is just a "could be nice to have", not a "ZOMG, I need this like now!". 😀

It works pretty dang slick for the most part.

Thanks.

wd wrote:

It works pretty dang slick for the most part.

Thanks.

Welcome. Next time play nice and I won't have to lay some smack down. 😳

We can still be friends. Ha. I'm so off topic.

wd was kind enough to code in the possiblity to specify your own likings into auto.
auto 5000 will change the 3000 into 5000 for UW and other games that don't use proteced mode.

I'm sure that you can find a setting that will work. offcourse it's different, but overall it should improve pleasure one can have from dosbox.

I haven't followed all the changes closely...
cycles=auto 5000 will set protected mode to max, otherwise to 5000
cycles=auto limit 5000 will set protected mode to max limit 5000, otherwise 3000?
It might be a good idea to mention it in the readme before 0.66...

It might be a good idea to mention it in the readme before 0.66...

Already prepared though it might not be added.