VOGONS


First post, by Eric Wright

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I have a DOS program which checks for a "dongle" connected to the LPT1 parallel port, for a security check, before access to the program is enabled.
I have tried running it with DOSBox, but it fails to find the dongle. This is a commercial program, so I am not sure what it is doing exactly i.e. is it just trying to access the registers located at 378h and upwards or is it trying to locate the LPT1 address by reading the traditional bias area at 0040 : 0008. My hardware details are as follows :

Computer type : Toshiba Satellite S1900-305 laptop.
Operating System : XP (Service Pack 2)

The LPT1 port is shown to be at address 378h and upwards.

Should the current DOSBox handle access to the Parallel Port and if not, is there anything I can try to resolve my problem.

Reply 1 of 4, by `Moe`

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The parallel port is emulated, so there is no real hardware accessed. You're out of luck there. I have no idea if someone made a patch for that - if you are able to compile your own version of dosbox, you might search for it.

Alternatively, you can use the emulator "bochs". It is harder to use, and slower, but it should be able to use your parallel port directly.

Reply 2 of 4, by Qbix

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it's not a design goal of dosbox. even though somebody might create a patch for it's unlikely that we will commit to the cvs.

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

Reply 3 of 4, by Eric Wright

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Moe,
If I could define what is coming in and out of the Parallel Port, could I set the emulator up to fool the software ?

I do not understand what you are referring to with the word "bochs", can you clarify ?

Reply 4 of 4, by `Moe`

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Bochs is the name of another PC emulator, aimed at complete system emulation. It doesn't come with it's own DOS (so you must have a bootable disk image) and is generally slower, but supports more general-purpose software. Since dosbox is aimed at games, see what qbix says.