As soon as you are able to unzip the file and mount the diskimage you can be assured that the file was downloaded correctly. So nothing wrong here.

According to the error message you get I guess that you dont have enough rights to install the file into the Applications/ folder on your harddisk (well.. that was really hard to guess 😀 ). Take a look at that dialog box: you can click "authenticate" and give the login credentials of the admin user of your box to install the file into a place where you do not have enough rights for in first place. Its all that easy.

If it still doesn't work out you can also go another way: install the program on your desktop and run it from there. Simply drag the DOSBox file from inside the mounted diskimage onto your desktop - thats it. The preferences file goes into your personal Preferences/ folder. You can jump into that one directly by pressing SHIFT + Command + G and entering "~/Library/Preferences/" (without the quotes) inside a Finder window.

Preferences file? Is that what I know as dosbox.conf in Windows?

Preferences file? Is that what I know as dosbox.conf in Windows?

Exactly. Its called "DOSBox Preferences" and resides either in the system-wide preferences folder ("/Library/Preferences/") or in your own user preferences folder ("/Users/${USER}/Library/Preferences/"). Thats how things work under OSX.

Thanks rhonie. Something to add to my little 60-seconds guide. I don't want to discriminate against Mac users by only mentioning where the preferences file is on Windows.

I am new to DOSBOX. Using a Mac Mini, Intel core duo, OS X v10.4.9. I have the problem, seen elsewhere in this forum, of loading DOSBOX to find only the Z: prompt, i.e., the program can not find my Dosbox Preferences file, which I have configured to mount a c: and an f: drive with programs (XyWrite word processor and the 4DOS replacement for command.com), which both run fine when I re-mount each time (well, not perfectly, some strange behavior, but that is for another post). I have placed the configuration files in two locations: users/newuser/library/preferences and /library/preferences. Why are they being ignored? I appreciate the help,

DrFred

Q1) Which version of DOSBox?
Q2) What is the output of the DOSBox status window (if there is such a thing on a Mac)?

A1) v 7.0
A2) I don't know what the status window is

Thank you.

What's the name of this file? Please post the content here, too.

There should be two windows, one with the Z:\ prompt and one
that outputs certain messages. Do both open when you run dosbox?

<What's the name of this file? Please post the content here, too.

<There should be two windows, one with the Z:\ prompt and one
<that outputs certain messages. Do both open when you run dosbox?

Only the DosBox window itself appears when I open the program. I'm not sure what file you're asking me to name. The content of the dosbox window is what I assume is the standard one: the blue welcome box above three lines from the (internal) autoexec.bat followed by the Z prompt.

Thank you.

DrFred

Ok maybe that's the default setting for OSX, no idea.

You said that the preference file is ignored, thus i asked what the
exact name of this file is (or where you got it from and where
you copied it to) and what the contents of this file are.

Ok, got it. The name/location of the file is:
users/newuser/library/preferences/dosbox preferences.

I have also placed a copy in:
users/library/preferences/dosbox preferences.

What follows is a paste of the file's contents (this system did not allow me to attach it):

[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest,pause (when not focussed).
# Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=1024x768
windowresolution=original
output=surface
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=16

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,hq3x,
# 2xsai,super2xsai,supereagle,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,
# tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: normal,simple,dynamic,auto.
# auto switches from normal to dynamic if appropriate.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
# Setting this value too high results in sound dropouts and lags.
# You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to max.
# The default setting (auto) switches to max if appropriate.
# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=auto
#cycles=auto
cycles=220000
cycleup=500
cycledown=500

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
# probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
# but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
# mpu401 -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.
# device -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
# This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.
# config -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
# the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.

mpu401=intelligent
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
# On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
# All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.

sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the
# Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory
# there should be a MIDI directory that contains
# the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used
# with Timidity should work fine.

gus=true
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
# For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[joystick]
# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: auto (default), none,
# 2axis (supports two joysticks), 4axis,
# fcs (Thrustmaster), ch (CH Flightstick).
# none disables joystick emulation.
# auto chooses emulation depending on real joystick(s).
# timed -- enable timed intervals for axis. (false is old style behaviour).
# autofire -- continuously fires as long as you keep the button pressed.
# swap34 -- swap the 3rd and the 4th axis. can be useful for certain joysticks.
# buttonwrap -- enable button wrapping at the number of emulated buttons.

joysticktype=auto
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=true

[serial]
# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
# Can be disabled, dummy, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
# Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
# parameter:value. Parameter for all types is irq.
# for directserial: realport (required), rxdelay (optional).
# for modem: listenport (optional).
# for nullmodem: server, rxdelay, txdelay, telnet, usedtr,
# transparent, port, inhsocket (all optional).
# Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.
# umb -- Enable UMB support.
# keyboardlayout -- Language code of the keyboard layout (or none).

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=850
#keyboardlayout=none
[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.

ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
Mount c /users/newuser/desktop/xy4
Mount f /users/newuser/desktop/4dos602
C:

Thank you.

DrFred

And those mounts are not executed, right?
Is OSX case sensitive? Try renaming "dosbox preferences" to "DOSBox Preferences".
Maybe somebody with osx can tell you something more, the file
looks fine (besides the keyboardlayout=850 which you should remove).

Right, the mounts are not executed. As far as I know OS X is not case sensitive, but I will try the rename. Can you recommend an OS X expert in this forum? Thanks for your help,

DrFred

When I downloaded DOSBox 0.65 (had problems with 0.7, gave up on it in the end), due to the nature of the files, on Mac OS X, it does NOT install anything on the disk. - Ie, no new directories or files are created (other than the ones contained within the downloaded disk image obviously).

Now, this is not bad thing; it means the program can be de-installed easily.

However, it does explain the problem with the preferences stuff. - No preferences file or directory is ever created.

Now, I love DOSBox, it works great, but it's fairly obvious that the creators aren't mac experts. (But I thank them for providing a Mac version anyway).

No preferences file or directory is ever created.

That's on purpose, you have to create the config files yourself.

Take a look at this (quickly hacked together) screencast:
http://www.spam-filter.de/~rhoenie/DOSBox_Screencast.mov

(maybe i find some time to add a spoken audio track to that one... or maybe i redesign the .DMG container to include symbolic links and more info for the new user)

That was brilliant. Amazed that someone was willing to put that much effort into answering my question. However, what is illustrated is more or less exactly what I did—and repeated a few times with uninstall/reinstall with new downloads—without success. DosBox still does not find the preferences file I have created (the same as the one out-of-the-box with the autoexec section modified for my system).

I don't think I'll give up on this; I have to find out what's peculiar to my own set up that causes this failure . . .

Thanks for the effort . . .

MiniMax wrote:

Q2) What is the output of the DOSBox status window (if there is such a thing on a Mac)?

If you open the Terminal app which is located in the Applications/Utilities folder you've a DOSBOX status window.

At first, do a right-click at the DOSBOX app you downloaded here to see the command "Show Packet Content" Now open the included folders "Content/MacOS" and you'll see a black file "DOSBOX" which will be marked as Unix Executable.
Now drag this file into the Terminal window, add " -conf ", drag your conf file into the Terminal window.
If you wish, add " -lang " to the Terminal input line and drag your language file into it.
At least, to mount a folder as Drive C: drag it into the window.

Now I try to desribe the terminal line:

1/Volumes/DSOBOX-0.70_Universal/DOSBox.app/Contents/MacOS/DOSBox

The DOSBOX Unix Executable located in the MacOS X DOSBOX app.

1-conf /Documents/REALbasic.../config1.conf 

Complete path to the config file

1/Volumes/DOSBOX

is my drive C: for DOSBOX.

Thank you. Here is the result of the terminal session:

Last login: Sun Mar 18 09:23:54 on console
Welcome to Darwin!
Fireballs-Computer:~ newuser$ /Applications/DOSBox.app/Contents/MacOS/DOSBox -conf/Users/newuser/Library/Preferences/DOSBox\ Preferences
CONFIG:Loading primary settings from config file /Users/newuser/Library/Preferences/DOSBox Preferences
MIDI:Opened device:coreaudio[/color]

The result: DOSBox loaded without having found the preferences file! Interesting! Confounding!

Your help is excellent and much appreciated; I'm hoping that by examining the above terminal session you may be able to guide me further. (When I view this post in "Preview" spaces appear in the copy/paste of the terminal output, which I hope will not confuse).