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First post, by snetch

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Has somebody here experiences with bochs pc emulator? (http://bochs.sourceforge.net/) I have some configuration problems for example to integrate harddrive and cd-rom and so on.

Reply 1 of 9, by whyneed2register

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i've been trying bochs... it's very nice and has a lot of potencial... let's hope the project doesn't die...

if u need help u should post some details on your problem...

i'm using the win version, Bochs-2.0.2

1) set up the hard drive
- you can use a real physical hard drive(or so it seems)
- or u can creat a new drive. to create a new drive: execute 'bximage.exe'. i think 100MB is a good size

2) set up the config file which is 'bochsrc.txt'
(to keep things simple, i have posted my file)

######################
######################
#this is a comment, copy text from here to...
config_interface: textconfig

display_library: win32
#since my host is a win32 OS

romimage: file=bios/BIOS-bochs-latest, address=0xf0000
#note, i have my bios in a subfolder named 'bios'

megs: 16

vgaromimage: bios/VGABIOS-elpin-2.40
#same with vgaromimage

floppya: 1_44=floppy/custom.img, status=inserted
#a floppy image named 'custom.img' is in subdirectoy 'floppy'. the floppy IS INSERTED in the floppy drive
#u can also use 'a:' in 2k/xp not on win95/win98... if im not mistaken

#i enabled 2 ata channels, 1 for hd, other for cdrom)
#u can use a .iso image or a real cdrom, ie 'e:'
ata0: enabled=1, ioaddr1=0x1f0, ioaddr2=0x3f0, irq=14
ata1: enabled=1, ioaddr1=0x170, ioaddr2=0x370, irq=15
ata2: enabled=0, ioaddr1=0x1e8, ioaddr2=0x3e8, irq=11
ata3: enabled=0, ioaddr1=0x168, ioaddr2=0x368, irq=9
ata0-master: type=disk, path="harddrive/c.img", cylinders=203, heads=16, spt=63
ata1-master: type=cdrom, path="D:\old dos games iSOS\Master of Orion.iso", status=inserted

boot: disk
#boot from disk, when u install dos, u need to switch this to 'floppy'

floppy_bootsig_check: disabled=0

log: bochsout.txt
panic: action=ask
error: action=report
info: action=report
debug: action=ignore
debugger_log: debugger.out

#sb16: midimode=3, midi=midi.mid, wavemode=3, wave=wave.wav, loglevel=2, log=sb16.log, dmatimer=600000
vga_update_interval: 100000
# this is my prob 🙁 i cant get any sound ;(

keyboard_serial_delay: 250

keyboard_paste_delay: 100000

floppy_command_delay: 500

ips: 2000000

pit: realtime=1

mouse: enabled=1

private_colormap: enabled=0

fullscreen: enabled=0
screenmode: name="sample"
#unfortunately fullscreen mode aint working in win32... only in amiga

keyboard_mapping: enabled=0, map=

i440fxsupport: enabled=0
#...to here
######################
######################

lets hope i didnt misstyped anything or said anything dumb...

NOTE:
when u create a new hard drive image, take note of the output, cyls, sectors,etc

TIP:
how to install dos, edit the 'bochsrc.txt' (the text i just posted here) so the floppy, points to a real dos image file or the floppy itself (2k/xp vs. 95/98 issue)
it boots to floppy, start installing, when it asks for floppy2, press the 'config' buttom in the bochs virtual machine windows, it puts you on the bochs command line window, press '1' so you can edit the floppy disk settings, after that press '15' so u can return to dos install
after dos is installed dont forget to edit the 'bochsrc.txt' file to boot from 'disk'
that's it

CDROM IN DOS(info taken from manual):
config.sys:
device=himem.sys
device=oakcdrom.sys /D:CD001
autoexec.bat:
mscdex.exe /M:10 /D:CD001

get the oakcdrom.sys from your windows98 cd or a boot disk, or google for it

FINAL:
1) thanks a bunch to the bochs people, its nice to have a free virtual machine prog capable of rivalizing(sorry bad english 😜 ) with vmware and connectix

2) why need to register to post here!!!!!! grrrrr :p

3) can anyone get sound in win32???

edit:
emm aint supported 🙁

i tried a couple of games and for the time being, emulation sucks or doesnt work 🙁
lets hope things get better

btw, winimage6.1 can help u a lot with disk and floppy images... dont know if there is a free program of that kind...

Last edited by whyneed2register on 2003-09-02, 22:57. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 3 of 9, by Nicht Sehr Gut

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Originally posted by snetch I have some configuration problems for example to integrate harddrive and cd-rom and so on.

I think everyone has some configuration problems with Bochs. Unless it's been recently fixed, even the sample Linux install that comes with it, won't work.

Included my BOCHSRC file in a zip file as an example. Don't expect much from BOCHS, gamewise. Basic PC functionality is there, but performance is still horrid.

Attachments

  • Filename
    bochsrc.zip
    File size
    8.28 KiB
    Downloads
    599 downloads
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 4 of 9, by whyneed2register

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Nicht Sehr Gut
can u get sound using win32 as host???

i dont understand the use of the 'sb16ctrl.exe' file, i know it's only usable inside the GUEST machine, not the host... but how can u get sound with it?

tia

Reply 5 of 9, by snetch

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Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

I think everyone has some configuration problems with Bochs. Unless it's been recently fixed, even the sample Linux install that comes with it, won't work.

Included my BOCHSRC file in a zip file as an example. Don't expect much from BOCHS, gamewise. Basic PC functionality is there, but performance is still horrid.

Good to know. I thought I´m just too stupid for it. It seems it´s not very good enough for good games emulation yet but perhaps in future.

Reply 6 of 9, by Nicht Sehr Gut

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Originally posted by whyneed2register can u get sound using win32 as host???

Yes, barely. *heh*
IOW, it can't handle much before the audio starts to break up.

Considering I never got audio to work at all before v2, that's a big improvement. Basically, I was able to install Win95B (which is about as complex a thing you would want run on Bochs right now). The OS detected and setup a generic "SoundBlaster 16" (there is no AdLib/FM support). MIDI was accessible by redirecting it to the MIDI of my "real" PC.

i dont understand the use of the 'sb16ctrl.exe' file, i know it's only usable inside the GUEST machine, not the host... but how can u get sound with it?

Wouldn't bother messing with it. AFAIK, that is a remnant left over from the old versions of Bochs...like much of the Bochs archive.

Just about all of Bochs is handled from the programmer's perspective. It's in bad need of a cleanup and reorganization...along with some user-friendly documentation. Having said all that, you get more than what you pay for...

Originally posted by snetch It seems it´s not very good enough for good games emulation yet but perhaps in future.

It's very in-depth emulation, which means progress is very slow. It's actually emulating a PC, including a good bit of hardware. It has great potential, it's just not there yet.

Reply 7 of 9, by MajorGrubert

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snetch wrote:

It seems it´s not very good enough for good games emulation yet but perhaps in future.

Keep in mind that the purpose of Bochs is to emulate a complete PC in order to let you install any operating system inside it. It's quite complex and does a good job, but this comes with a price: performance is low and inadequate for most games.

Regards,

Major Grubert

Athlon 64 3200+/Asus K8V-X/1GB DDR400/GeForce FX 5700/SB Live! 5.1

Reply 9 of 9, by mirekluza

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I periodically try to use new versions of Bochs, but I usually end up on some stupid bug - usually some error message when doing something normal, but once it filled up 500 MB of harddisk space by repeatedly logging some error message, once I tried to copy files from W98 CD and it just copied half of the files from the directory and refused to copy the rest etc.
Basically, unless it is *really* necessary, I recommend to stay away from it. Bochs is a VERY GOOD IDEA and I hope it will be improved, but now it is by far the buggiest program I have ever seen.
Some time ago I read that they implemented instructions for AMD 64bit processor ... WHY? It is like painting the roof when walls are crumbling ... Ok, I know it is free and unpaid people are working on it (so I should not complain)...
IMHO Bochs would need a year of bugfixing (just trying to run some basic DOS or Windows programms) without any new features being added. After that the amount of bugs could decrease to normal level.

Mirek