Agathosdaimon wrote on 2021-03-01, 11:16:

thanks for that info - so QEMU is like PCEM then? is it better than pcem? PCEM has proven to be more demanding on my system than any of the VM programs i have used - Virtualbox and VMware namely which all seem to be able to use my systems gfx capabilities, while PCEM i think is just trying to emulate it all itself - my attempt to run FS 2000 on a PCEM system with specs well in teh recommended range for that old game, just have it running unplayably slow. fortunatey i can run fs2000 well in windows 10 now

QEMU is far less intensive than PCem. It has more features than PCem but it isn't as accurate. For example, emulating a Pentium 2 333MHz on a 3.4GHz Ryzen 5 1600 runs the emulator at 50-60% speed under heavy load.

Setting up QEMU can be tricky but once you are done, you can use it without problems. I prefer more portability so I use PCem, mainly to run MechWarrior 2.

Mechwarrior 2 the windows version i am assuming? I run dos MW2 straight from dosbox perfectly fine

If you already used VirtualBox/VMware, then there isn't any difference for QEMU other than getting used to command-line interface. You just have to shake off that habit of point-n-click GUI to get things done. I have written a guide for newbies to get familiar with basic command-line syntax and setting up Win98 VM from scratch.

Unlike DOSBox, all virtual machine solutions have to deal with legitimacy and the hassle of setting up guest OS, "the other camp" 🤣 is no exception. If one had to go through the same setup and only capable of an "accurate" Pentium II 233MHz for Win98 games, then I would rather go for QEMU.