Don't know if it's legal to talk to myself but I decided to put this continuation of the above in a separate post. It's relevant whether you install Win 3.1 from scratch or clone an old machine as described above.

As we know, DOSBox does not allow you to send data directly from a Windows 3.1 program to a hardware printer. Here are some possible workarounds.

In Windows, you can install a PostScript printer on FILE. Then printer output is captured to a file in PostScript. There is a command line tool in Linux to turn this into a PDF which you can then print from Linux. There are also free online services that will handle the conversion. A PostScript printer driver that comes with Windows is the Apple Laserwriter. (I should add here that changing Windows setting sometimes elicits a dialog box asking you to insert one of the installation disks in Dive A:. I am not sure DOSBox supports floppy drives and many new computers do not have them. Because of such dialogs, all these ancient boxes had the installation disks copied to c:\windows\disk1 etc. so I could just point the dialog box there. If you install Windows from floppies copied to your hard drive, keep those copies for such occasions!) I should end by saying I have not done much with this approach as I have a simpler one, but it won't work for most people.

Most of these old machines already had Adobe Acrobat 3 installed. That allows me to redirect printer output directly to a PDF file which I can then open in Linux. BTW, I put all my old machines in .dosbox but many Linux applications will not open hidden folders. Hence I plan to add a drive K: in my home folder where I can save all my output from Windows programs and access it from any Linux application. (Note that I am talking about a very expensive Adobe program to create PDFs, not their free program to read PDFs.)

Maybe this would be a good time to also mention that you may be able to open some old files in a Win 3.1 program and then save them to some format Linux (or newer versions of Windows) can read. Then you can open those files and print them from the host OS, and then maintain the files there from then on.

It's commonly said that office programs may not run in Win 3.1 under DOSBox. My experience is that it would be more accurate to say Microsoft and database programs may not run. Those often need the dreaded SHARE.EXE. Here are some office applications that DO seem to run.

Word Processors: Lotus Ami Pro 3.1 and Corel WordPerfect 7

Spreadsheets: Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows Version 5, Excel 4, and Corel Quattro Pro 7 for Win 3.1

Graphics: Corel Draw 3, Visio 2, and Corel PhotoPaint 3 and 5

I am not suggesting you run out and buy these on eBay though that is an option -- often these old programs will open many now forgotten file formats. I put this very incomplete list up mainly to illustrate that many old office applications WILL run so don't assume they won't. Of course the list is limited to software I actually own and have tried. I am sure there are hundreds if not thousands more.

I have to run now but I am hoping posts on the above topics will show up as replies here as such information is very hard (for me anyway) to find by using the search tools available here. If the powers that be find this information helpful perhaps a link to this thread could appear on the guide to installing Win 3.1 in DOSBox.

This forum is for DOS *Games*. DOSBox questions should be asked in the DOSBox forum. Also know that DOSBox is intended for games, not applications. DOSBox is missing things that office type applications require that no game requires in part for performance gains. Every new feature has the potential to break compatibility with games. vDos is a better alternative for such applications. Using DOSBox for non-gaming applications is officially discouraged - DOSBox IS NOT SUITED TO RUN YOUR NON-GAMING DOS APPLICATION

Also, there are modern equivalents for all of the programs you mention, so there is little reason to put any effort into getting these old programs running.

collector wrote:

This forum is for DOS *Games*. DOSBox questions should be asked in the DOSBox forum. Also know that DOSBox is intended for games, not applications. Using DOSBox for non-gaming applications is officially discouraged - DOSBox IS NOT SUITED TO RUN YOUR NON-GAMING DOS APPLICATION

I apologize if I posted in the wrong location. The DOSBox forum has a link to a forum but it leads back to Vogons. Presumably I posted to the wrong sub-part of Vogons?

Here are the first sentences from the DOSBox main page:

DOSBox emulates an Intel x86 PC, complete with sound, graphics, mouse, joystick, modem, etc., necessary for running many old MS-DOS games that simply cannot be run on modern PCs and operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, Linux and FreeBSD. However, it is not restricted to running only games. In theory, any MS-DOS or PC-DOS (referred to commonly as "DOS") application should run in DOSBox, but the emphasis has been on getting DOS games to run smoothly, which means that communication, networking and printer support are still in early development.

I will agree that many posts on this forum are strongly against running non-game applications but I do not see that in the quote above. Perhaps attitudes have changed since the main page was written. Don't worry -- I will not sue you for loss of data;-) Running Windows 3.1 was always pretty risky even on contemporary hardware. All my files were backed up in the process of moving them to Linux.

Also, there are modern equivalents for all of the programs you mention, so there is little reason to put any effort into getting these old programs running.

I would agree if we are talking about someone looking for their first word processor program (say). My situation is that I have 30 years worth of documents in old formats that current software cannot open. Even when there are import filters available they often lose a lot in translation. So I need to run this software somehow, and tucking it inside my Linux box is more appealing than trusting it to four twenty-year-old machines that may fail at any moment. To say nothing of saving space in my apartment;-)

rhayden wrote:

However, it is not restricted to running only games. In theory, any MS-DOS or PC-DOS (referred to commonly as "DOS") application should run in DOSBox

That assumption on your part and i found such assumption to be false,
theres many thing that can be run on real DOS environment but can't be run on dosbox.

Clipper/dBase 3 program that i use for example, its refuse to run on dosbox, and no that program didn't have any printing feature.

Joey_sw wrote:

That assumption on your part and i found such assumption to be false, theres many thing that can be run on real DOS environment […]
Show full quote

rhayden wrote:

However, it is not restricted to running only games. In theory, any MS-DOS or PC-DOS (referred to commonly as "DOS") application should run in DOSBox

That assumption on your part and i found such assumption to be false,
theres many thing that can be run on real DOS environment but can't be run on dosbox.
.

It's not an assumption on my part -- I was quoting from the DOSBox home page. I have tested dozens of Win3.1 applications and about 90% run fine. Almost all the exceptions are programs that require SHARE.EXE and those refuse to run and give a warning so they can't lose any data on you.

rhayden wrote:

I apologize if I posted in the wrong location. The DOSBox forum has a link to a forum but it leads back to Vogons. Presumably I posted to the wrong sub-part of Vogons?

Yes: DOSBox The reason is that if you have a problem or question that a DOSBox dev should see they will be much more likely to see it. This forum is for *Windows games* and can easily be overlooked by those that would be in the best position to answer.

Just be prepared if you do not get the help you seek as non gaming use is not encouraged. The post that I linked to was made by a DOSBox dev - DOSBox IS NOT SUITED TO RUN YOUR NON-GAMING DOS APPLICATION . This does not mean that you cannot, just don't expect much support. Again I will suggest vDos instead, which is based on DOSBox, but is oriented towards apps, not games. It even has support for things like file locking, SHARE and printing - http://sourceforge.net/projects/vdos/ Much more suited for your purposes.

Thanks for pointing me to the proper forum. Is there any way to move this thread over there? In any event, I did not ask any questions nor ask for support.
The link for vDos takes me to a Windows program. As stated in my post, the host machine is not running Windows. Is there a vDos for Linux?

I don't know. You could try contacting the vDos dev. DOSBox was written to be portable and vDos is based on it. I am not sure what changed he added that are Windows specific. There are various virtualizers, too.

Moved to DOSBox General subforum.

For anyone using DOS biz apps like dBase or WordPerfect, there's other DOSbox variants (built on DOSbox) that cater to the various extensions. The DOSbox wiki has a list of biz apps that work on DOSbox. Collector mentioned vDOS, and there's also DOS2USB and dbDOS. The DOSbox developers complain about business apps, but it looks like they're complaining because they're not getting paid to help business users. The other DOSbox variants all charge money and will answer all your share, NETbios, hardware device questions. My only problem with the DOSbox variants is that they use annual licences, so if they go out of business you'll be back here on the VOGONS forum asking the same questions again. Seems to me that there's an opening for a perpetual licence version of DOSbox, with an annual fee for support so that the developers can be paid for their work?

As far as I can tell, all those options are WINDOWS programs. As I keep saying, I am running LINUX.

The WIKI list does have some DOS applications -- many more will run. But I am interested in WINDOWS 3.1 applications, and few if any of those appear on the WIKI list. In fact I think I have posted more than are on the WIKI.

I am not asking for support. I am offering support to others. I have already done this. It works;-) I am not interested in reasons why it "won't work". I am not interested in getting paid for this. And I am retired so I make no money off it otherwise, so I am not interested in paying others to do it for me, especially since I already did it;-)

So, returning to the topic of the original post -- running WINDOWS 3.1 applications on LINUX using DOSBOX, I have since upgraded my Linux system -- all new hardware, new version of Linux. I copied the entire DOSBOX/Win3.1 mess from the old system to the new and it works fine there as well with very minor tweaks (such as changing resolution or the video driver). So I don't think it is just a fluke that this worked on my old system. In my experience most Win3.1 applications run fine in DOSBOX without paying anyone any money, buying a newer version of Windows, or seeking support from the DOSBOX developers;-)

OK - as you like 😀