VOGONS


First post, by DosFreak

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http://www.classicdosgames.com/interviews/peterveenstra.html

So, today I'm talking to Qbix, who (to the best of my knowledge) has never worked on a game. Instead, he works on the DOSBox pro […]
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So, today I'm talking to Qbix, who (to the best of my knowledge) has never worked on a game. Instead, he works on the DOSBox project which lets all of us play DOS games! Awesome! So, what is your role in the development of DOSBox?

I'm one of the two project administrators. I'm the one who does most of the non-coding stuff like answering these questions. I try to keep DOSBox in a healthy state. So that includes doing (within the time constraints): answering emails, reviewing code patches, managing the forum (code wise) and coding on DOSBox itself.

How and when did the DOSBox project get started?

DOSBox was started around the time Windows 2000 was released. Windows 2000 didn't allow DOS games to be played very well, but it was a real improvement in terms of stability and security compared to Windows 98 SE. So it was bound to stay. This was bad news for both long time DOS game collectors and players.

Harekiet was at the time playing around with creating a few emulators. He had a z80 emulator and a few others. So he decided to create a DOS emulator. Windows 2000 didn't have an easy to use visualization API. So he decided to go with full CPU emulation. After a short time I joined up, as he had made me enthusiastic during all the talks we had.

How does DOSBox actually work? I mean, I know that it allows me to play DOS games, but how does it do that? Is it a Virtual DOS Machine (VDM) that allows real and protected mode DOS software to be run in a non-DOS operating system, which also emulates system, sound and video hardware?
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Reply 1 of 21, by MiniMax

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Nice. If I had QBix autograph I would keep it very safe. It could be worth millions soon.

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Reply 2 of 21, by DosFreak

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Nope what we need is an autographed photo of Qbix and Harekiet. Then we can put the pictures in our wallets, desktop, wall and stare at them all day long. Wait I just had an idea.....

They could put their photo's in as the background to the DOSBox console. Brilliant!

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Make your games work offline

Reply 3 of 21, by Dominus

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Nice interview.

I've been impressed by how well Windows 3.1 runs in DOSBox, but I haven't been able to get MIDI sound to work, even when using the latest drivers from Creative Labs. Is that a feature of the Sound Blaster that isn't currently emulated, or have other people been able to get it to work?

midi in Win3.11 works fine, at least it did so last time I checked. I don't remember having to do anything special to make it work. Probably an error of the computer configuration (midi volume in the host turned off, or so) or wrong midi device selected in the conf.

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 4 of 21, by SysGOD

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thanks for the link.

DosFreak wrote:

Nope what we need is an autographed photo of Qbix and Harekiet. Then we can put the pictures in our wallets, desktop, wall and stare at them all day long. Wait I just had an idea.....
They could put their photo's in as the background to the DOSBox console. Brilliant!

🤣 yeah as long as i can watch at bouncing boobs, why not... ^^

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Reply 5 of 21, by DOSGuy

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midi in Win3.11 works fine, at least it did so last time I checked. I don't remember having to do anything special to make it work. Probably an error of the computer configuration (midi volume in the host turned off, or so) or wrong midi device selected in the conf.

I can't speak for Win3.11, but I've tried absolutely everything to get MIDI working in Windows 3.1 in DOSBox, including downloading the latest drivers from Creative Labs' website. Some games produce an error message that MIDI is unavailable, and others just run normally and don't complain about the lack of music. If you could produce step-by-step instructions for how you've gotten it to work, I would be very appreciative. All of my attempts to get it working have revolved around setting up the device within Windows 3.1. I haven't changed the default MIDI or Sound Blaster settings in dosbox.conf.

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Reply 6 of 21, by Dominus

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I'll take a look later on what I did.
The important thing to know, though is whether when you play dos games you can hear midi music. Anyone know of a good and easy example? (I think Ultima Underworld would be ok for testing)

Reply 7 of 21, by DosFreak

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You could always play a MIDI file with Media Player in v3.1. Can't remember if any MIDI files actually come with Windows if not we could either post one or link to one.

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Reply 8 of 21, by Dominus

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Dosfreak, I mean a way to test midi not through Windows 3.x to make sure that midi plays, before tangling with midi in windows 3.x.

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 9 of 21, by leileilol

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DOSGuy wrote:

midi in Win3.11 works fine, at least it did so last time I checked. I don't remember having to do anything special to make it work. Probably an error of the computer configuration (midi volume in the host turned off, or so) or wrong midi device selected in the conf.

I can't speak for Win3.11, but I've tried absolutely everything to get MIDI working in Windows 3.1 in DOSBox, including downloading the latest drivers from Creative Labs' website.

Works fine here, I use the Adlib device for MIDI.

DosFreak wrote:

You could always play a MIDI file with Media Player in v3.1. Can't remember if any MIDI files actually come with Windows if not we could either post one or link to one.

How can anyone not recall CANYON.MID?

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Reply 10 of 21, by Dominus

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ok, just tested it. I followed the guide Windows 3.1x DOSBox Guide, installed Windows 3.1 (not WfW 3.11), skipped the S3 driver, installed the SB16 driver right away, started Windows 3.1, opened Filemanager, opened the directory c:\sb16\samples (default SB16 installation path), doubleclicked one of the midis, the mediaplayer opened, pressed play and it played the sound right away.
This with the official 0.72 version of Dosbox. So it seems something is wrong on your end and not Dosbox.
Start Dosbox and your Windows installation, go to the SB16 program group and start SB Configuration and check whether the settings are Dosbox settings.
Base I/O: 220
MPU-401 MIDI port: 330
IRQ: 7
Low DMA:1
High DMA:5

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 11 of 21, by wd

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midi works fine for me with wfw and win3.1, default settings/installation

Reply 12 of 21, by lightmaster

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DosFreak wrote:

http://www.classicdosgames.com/interviews/peterveenstra.html

So, today I'm talking to Qbix, who (to the best of my knowledge) has never worked on a game. Instead, he works on the DOSBox pro […]
Show full quote

So, today I'm talking to Qbix, who (to the best of my knowledge) has never worked on a game. Instead, he works on the DOSBox project which lets all of us play DOS games! Awesome! So, what is your role in the development of DOSBox?

I'm one of the two project administrators. I'm the one who does most of the non-coding stuff like answering these questions. I try to keep DOSBox in a healthy state. So that includes doing (within the time constraints): answering emails, reviewing code patches, managing the forum (code wise) and coding on DOSBox itself.

How and when did the DOSBox project get started?

DOSBox was started around the time Windows 2000 was released. Windows 2000 didn't allow DOS games to be played very well, but it was a real improvement in terms of stability and security compared to Windows 98 SE. So it was bound to stay. This was bad news for both long time DOS game collectors and players.

Harekiet was at the time playing around with creating a few emulators. He had a z80 emulator and a few others. So he decided to create a DOS emulator. Windows 2000 didn't have an easy to use visualization API. So he decided to go with full CPU emulation. After a short time I joined up, as he had made me enthusiastic during all the talks we had.

How does DOSBox actually work? I mean, I know that it allows me to play DOS games, but how does it do that? Is it a Virtual DOS Machine (VDM) that allows real and protected mode DOS software to be run in a non-DOS operating system, which also emulates system, sound and video hardware?
.............................
.............................
..............................

thanks for the link, a must read besides dosbox docs!

Reply 13 of 21, by DOSGuy

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Dominus wrote:
Start Dosbox and your Windows installation, go to the SB16 program group and start SB Configuration and check whether the settin […]
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Start Dosbox and your Windows installation, go to the SB16 program group and start SB Configuration and check whether the settings are Dosbox settings.
Base I/O: 220
MPU-401 MIDI port: 330
IRQ: 7
Low DMA:1
High DMA:5

Well, there's the problem: I didn't have an SB16 program group! I initially just installed Windows 3.1 and added Sound Blaster 1.5 through Control Panel>Drivers. When that didn't work, I downloaded drivers from Creative Labs, and again tried to install the drivers from Control Panel. Following the thread you linked to, I downloaded the SB16 drivers and installed them from the DOS prompt, and now all is well. I can finally hear the music in World Empire IV! (Great, now I'm going to have the theme song in my head all day.)

Thank you very much, folks. Once again, DOSBox continues to kick way more ass than I ever thought possible.

"Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article." Get free BeOS, DOS, OS/2, and Windows games at RGB Classic Games

Reply 14 of 21, by v0g0ns

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not to be a party pooper, but whats the use of running win 3.11 on dosbox, if one cannot have internet going? I assume some users don't care for net usage, but it's kind of a limitation, isnt it?

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Reply 16 of 21, by Snover

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Windows didn't even have official support for TCP/IP until August 1994. You probably couldn't even use it on today's World Wide Web, so unless you wanted to visit one of the six-or-so remaining Gopher sites in the world, there's really no point for networking in Win3.11. From what I remember, though admittedly I was pretty young at the time, the vast majority of consumer network services that existed back then were all walled gardens, like AOL, Compuserve, and Prodigy.

Last edited by Snover on 2008-05-14, 04:11. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 17 of 21, by DOS_Boy

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Thank you very much, folks. Once again, DOSBox continues to kick way more ass than I ever thought possible.

And I hope it keeps kicking asses for a way looooooong time! 😁

"But listen to me brother, you just keep on walking, 'cause you and me and sister ain't got nothing to hide..." - Scatman John

Reply 18 of 21, by Dominus

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vogons if you have no clue why people run wfw 3.11 rather than windows 3.1 then you haven't run it back then. Look it up wfw is not only known for its internet capabilities

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 19 of 21, by DOSGuy

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Internet? The only reason I want to use Windows in DOSBox is to play games!

"Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article." Get free BeOS, DOS, OS/2, and Windows games at RGB Classic Games