VOGONS


Another stupid question

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First post, by hoserjoe

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After asking a fairly straight-forward question about running an application in DOSBox, I received several replies suggesting that I should not be running my database application in DOSBox (for the last several years). One DOSBox contributor said: "Don't. Just don't"

Why would a contributor to the project say something like that when the DOSBox wiki has a whole section on running general (non-game) applications such as dBase, Word, & WordPerfect in DOSBox? Who's right? The DOSBox wiki, or the "don't you dare try it" bunch?

Reply 1 of 14, by Dominus

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Apple and pears...
Dosbox is for games. Some applications run and might even run well. More critical applications like databases or mission critical stuff is pure crazyness being run in Dosbox.
You might fare well but you are as likely to lose all your data

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
60 seconds guide to DOSBox
DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 2 of 14, by bloodbat

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Am I getting a sense of deja vu or is this guy a persistent twat?

Reply 4 of 14, by sliderider

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The apps that are documented in the wiki are ones that have been tested and are known to run with few or no issues. The DOSBox project is geared towards games so apps generally aren't tested for compatibility and support isn't provided for them. If you can get your app to work and want to share that info, then you are free to do that but don't expect the devs to do the work for you because that is not what they are here for. They are here to provide support for games, that is all.

Reply 5 of 14, by hoserjoe

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sliderider wrote:

the devs to do the work for you because that is not what they are here for. They are here to provide support for games, that is all.

But that's NOT what the DOSBox wiki says. It says that "most applications work fine in DOSbox" (including NON-game office applications). The wiki then shows a list of applications that are tested & work just fine in DOSBox. So what's with all the aggressive "owners" lurking here, calling people "twats", trying to ambush anyone who raises a general DOS-type DOSBox question? Can those types be banned so that we can get on with figuring out DOS questions (rather than hassling with "owner-trolls"?

Reply 6 of 14, by Qbix

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The wiki can be edited by anybody. It's documentation for users by users.
Not documentation from developers to users.

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

Reply 7 of 14, by Dominus

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First of all, again, get rid of your attitude. You are mostly trolling yourself and people show that they are annoyed of you.

You need an example take your first sentence of your last post.
Yes the wiki says something that you interpret differently. But all everyone else wrote ist still true, most applications work but we doubt your database sh... stuff works correctly. And a wiki is not set in stone, it's written mostly by users (funnily by those you are calling trolls) for users. Not by the dosbox developers.
But you don't want to believe a developer of dosbox anyway it seems (wd is one).
So I suggest again that you stop this destructive posting and try to read and understand what we wrote.

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
60 seconds guide to DOSBox
DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 8 of 14, by hoserjoe

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Qbix wrote:

The wiki can be edited by anybody. It's documentation for users by users. Not documentation from developers to users.

Thanks for the reply. Since it's published under the DOSBox domain URL, the wiki appears to include information from developers, too. This vogons forum is outside the DOSBox domain, and appears to be a private developers-only forum. Is that correct? Where is the best place to ask a general user DOSBox question? My original question concerned a keyboard bug in DOSBox, and that seemed to enrage several developers on this forum. Since it's a legitimate user question (for developers), is there a better place to ask the question? Nobody likes being called a "twat" and told to "FUCK OFF" by DOSBox developers for asking simple bug-fix questions. Regardless of all the abuse hurled at us users by some of the developers, the DOSBox keyboard bug is still there (it's fixed but not released) and we're still looking for how to get the bug-fixed version. Is there a better place to ask the question?

Reply 9 of 14, by Qbix

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I'll pm you an up to date build for the keyboard thing.
We don't advice to use it with applications, but of course you can do it nonetheless. Just don't come complaining here, if all your data goes missing.

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

Reply 11 of 14, by hoserjoe

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Qbix wrote:

I'll pm you an up to date build for the keyboard thing.

Got it. So far, so good. Just a little fiddling with the conf file got it running

Qbix wrote:

Just don't come complaining here, if all your data goes missingl

I've been running DOS business applications with DOSBox for years, and it's more important than ever with the phasing out of DOS compatibility after Windows7. DOSBox is far superior to the standard MS-DOS box included with all Windows since Windows 3, better than DR-DOS, DOSEmu, and FreeDOS. No data has ever gone missing with DOSBox. Nobody's complaining here. Thanks for your help.

BTW: Since DOSBox doesn't do LPT ports, most business apps allow for spooling print output to a disk file as an alternative. Then the spooled file can be printed with Windows. In most cases, this is a better solution than pushing output through a fixed DOS port since Windows can direct output to a print server if needed.

Reply 12 of 14, by wd

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No data has ever gone missing with DOSBox.

Or you just didn't notice it yet. Again, not our problem since you're not supposed to run anything besides games in dosbox.

Reply 13 of 14, by hoserjoe

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wd wrote:

No data has ever gone missing with DOSBox.

Or you just didn't notice it yet.

Read what I said: "No data has ever gone missing with DOSBox after years of use"

wd wrote:

you're not supposed to run anything besides games in dosbox

FWIW: Your opinion has been noted.

A big thanks to those who helped me sort out this keyboard bug. You know who you are. It's much appreciated.

Reply 14 of 14, by wd

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Read what I said: "No data has ever gone missing with DOSBox after years of use"

Read what I write: "You may just be too stupid to note it, and that event may have been in the past or in the future".

FWIW: Your opinion has been noted.

It's not an opinion, it's a statement that is supposed to help people avoid making the mistake of using DOSBox in a non-intended scenario. Good luck.