Dosbox sleeps on startup \ VOGONS

Dosbox sleeps on startup

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First post, by fkrogh

Posted on 2006-04-08, 18:38

fkrogh Offline

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Summary: Running Gentoo Linux, kernel 2.6.16-gentoo-r1 with dosbox 0.65. When started it goes into uninterpretable sleep. After after about 4 minutes it starts the requested job. This is unfortunate as it is being called multiple times from a script which thus takes forever to run.

Motherboard: Tyan S2875 Tiger K8W

Processors: Dual Opterons at 1590.609MHz

Memory: 4GB of DDR - Registered PC3200

Video: NVRM version: NVIDIA Linux x86_64 NVIDIA Kernel Module 1.0-8178 Wed Dec 14 16:58:07 PST 2005
GCC version: gcc version 3.4.6 (Gentoo 3.4.6, ssp-3.4.5-1.0, pie-8.7.9)

Sound: CMI8738 (Turned off in dosbox.conf.)

Operating System: Gentoo Linux

Game name: Not a game, I'm running an old program I only have available under DOS. It runs fine, and used to start up just fine.

Problem: Goes into uninterruptible sleep on start up. (Flag 'D' from runnng ps.)

Reproducible: Always even when starting dosbox with nothing to be done.

Sound Mode: none

Video mode: vga (machine=vga under [dosbox] in config. file.

Version of emulator: Unknown (How do I determine this?)

I've read the dosbox wiki and the readme.

Thanks for any help,
Fred

P.S. I'd be happy to help in tracking this down, if I knew how to get started.

Reply 1 of 11, by Qbix

Posted on 2006-04-08, 19:10

Qbix Offline

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dosbox --version
will tell you the version
try a different output method in dosbox.conf

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Reply 2 of 11, by fkrogh

Posted on 2006-04-08, 19:16

fkrogh Offline

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I did mention the version number, it's 0.65. For output, I am currently using surface. I'm currently waiting for one of these long runs to finish, when it does, I'll try others. Let me know if you have a suggestion.
Thanks,
Fred

Reply 3 of 11, by Qbix

Posted on 2006-04-08, 19:48

Qbix Offline

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I'm a bit confused.
Is dosbox going into a sleep mode on startup
or dosbox going into sleep mode when running the application on startup ?

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Reply 4 of 11, by fkrogh

Posted on 2006-04-08, 19:56

fkrogh Offline

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Even if there is no application it still sleeps when it is started. My run just finished and I just tried output=opengl in dosbox.conf and dosbox is now sleeping. There is no application. Thanks,
Fred

Reply 5 of 11, by Qbix

Posted on 2006-04-08, 20:02

Qbix Offline

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uhm well you can debug dosbox quite easely
it's main is easy to understand
try setting a breakpoint on sdlmain.cpp:1231 and then using next to step through it.
you should be able to determine in which function it sleeps.

It would be good to determine if it's DOSBox that is sleeping or the initialisation of SDL (that is line 1276 of sdlmain.cpp)

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Reply 6 of 11, by fkrogh

Posted on 2006-04-08, 20:44

fkrogh Offline

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Yes indeed, it is taking the long pause at line 1276. (Took me awhile as I was struggling to do this using portage, but it evidently does not keep source around even with debugging on!) So what can be done about this?? Thanks, and also many thanks for dosbox.
Fred

Reply 7 of 11, by Qbix

Posted on 2006-04-08, 20:49

Qbix Offline

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uhm you could try removing a few subsystems from it to see if starts up faster. (might crash dosbox later, but that is of little relevance, as it to determine which part starts up this slow).

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Reply 8 of 11, by fkrogh

Posted on 2006-04-08, 21:32

fkrogh Offline

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Removing "SDL_INIT_CDROM" fixes the problem. Is there some way to easily incorporate this into the gentoo portage system? (I don't really expect you to answer that one, but if you know ...) I'll post something there to let them know of the problem. Many thanks,
Fred

Reply 9 of 11, by fkrogh

Posted on 2006-04-08, 21:41

fkrogh Offline

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Something else I just noticed that seems a little strange to me. My old executable took 1683072 bytes, while the new is 5261353 bytes after making with no debugging. I guess the gentoo version is making use of more libraries.
Fred

Reply 10 of 11, by Qbix

Posted on 2006-04-08, 21:50

Qbix Offline

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strip dosbox
will make the size allright again.
It seems like an SDL problem on your pc or with gentoo.
I'm afraid I can't help you with that.

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Reply 11 of 11, by fkrogh

Posted on 2006-04-08, 21:55

fkrogh Offline

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Many thanks. That brought the size down to a more reasonable 1318368 bytes. There's a lot of stuff that I probably should know that I don't. Dosbox is a wonderful tool for me. It's amazing to me that I can run DOS programs on a 64 bit machine!
Fred

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