VOGONS


First post, by roarkes

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I have the posibility to buy a low priced PocketPC, wich comes with a stylus, with a Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 SE operating system, and i am wondering if it is posible if i can run dos games with or without the use of DOSBox.

The device is a O2 (XDA) IIi, and you can see the specs from gsmarena specs site. I have added it in parentheses because it gave me a LoL acording to vogons forum.
https://www.gsmarena.com/o2_xda_iii-999.php

Doom4ever

Reply 1 of 6, by Jo22

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I don't know if there's a working port of DOSBox available, but I used to run a few DOS programs on a Palmtop device by using PocketDOS.
It ran on Windows CE 2.11 devices, even. But don't expect any VGA games like DOOM, Monkey Island or Wolf3D to be playable there. 😁
Sure, they can be executed, but performance will be really low likely, so games will become a slideshow (except if your PPC has a strong CPU).
Ancient CGA games might play about almost at the speed of an 4,77MHz XT, though, from what I remember.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 2 of 6, by dr_st

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I can understand the novelty and the cool factor of getting things to work in a way that was never envisioned, but other than that - what's the point, really? The size of the screen is not the biggest issue I see, but the lack of a proper control method (keyboard/mouse) for DOS games.

It's one thing when games are designed with touch controls in mind; it's another thing trying to use this method for games originally designed for something completely different (which is what all DOS games are). People have gone above and beyond to port DOS games (or even DOSBOX in its entirety) to smart phones, coming up with creative ways to mimic keyboard/mouse gestures on a touch screen, but it still only brings the control scheme from "unplayable" to "ridiculously awkward, but somewhat playable if you are clinically insane".

https://cloakedthargoid.wordpress.com/ - Random content on hardware, software, games and toys

Reply 3 of 6, by bregolin

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I still own a Dell Axim x51 to this day, and while I found running PocketDOS on it was nothing more than a novelty, MAME ran quite well, especially for games that only required 2 buttons plus directional keys. I remember beating Captain Commando on it.

Reply 4 of 6, by Jo22

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bregolin wrote:

I still own a Dell Axim x51 to this day, and while I found running PocketDOS on it was nothing more than a novelty, MAME ran quite well, especially for games that only required 2 buttons plus directional keys. I remember beating Captain Commando on it.

That's interesting, thanks for letting us know!
I started with a HP Jornada 545 (SH3 CPU) an Pocket PC 2000 device (Win CE 3.0),
but also tried PocketDOS on other early devices, such as Casio Cassiopeia EM-500 (MIPS CPU)..
Looking back, it's a miracle they could run DOS and Norton Commander at all. ^^

Edit: Just noticed that I replied to other threads like this, as well.
Here's one reply with some links, maybe useful to someone..
Re: Handheld PC's: What happened to them?

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 5 of 6, by roarkes

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Jo22 wrote:
That's interesting, thanks for letting us know! I started with a HP Jornada 545 (SH3 CPU) an Pocket PC 2000 device (Win CE 3.0), […]
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bregolin wrote:

I still own a Dell Axim x51 to this day, and while I found running PocketDOS on it was nothing more than a novelty, MAME ran quite well, especially for games that only required 2 buttons plus directional keys. I remember beating Captain Commando on it.

That's interesting, thanks for letting us know!
I started with a HP Jornada 545 (SH3 CPU) an Pocket PC 2000 device (Win CE 3.0),
but also tried PocketDOS on other early devices, such as Casio Cassiopeia EM-500 (MIPS CPU)..
Looking back, it's a miracle they could run DOS and Norton Commander at all. ^^

Edit: Just noticed that I replied to other threads like this, as well.
Here's one reply with some links, maybe useful to someone..
Re: Handheld PC's: What happened to them?

Thank you for the links.

Doom4ever

Reply 6 of 6, by Jo22

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roarkes wrote:

Thank you for the links.

You're welcome. 😀

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//