I've been trying to run "Splat PC" (March 1998), available from http://retrospec.sgn.net/game/splat - it looks as though it could run reasonably with suitable adjustments to DOSBox.

However, one thing I am trying to do is map my joystick to operate the game keys. I have tried to set this up using the DOSBox mapper, but it is ineffective. The game uses the keys Q, A, O and P. It appears that even moving the joystick at the DOS prompt does not simulate the keypresses.

I think a lot of the details that follow are going to be largely irrelevant, but here goes:

Motherboard: Asus M5A99X EVO
Processor type and speed: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T, shows as 800MHz on system
Amount and type of RAM: 8GB, Corsair, a type recommended by Asus but no details to hand
Video board w/ RAM amount and type: NVidia GeForce 9600GSO, PCI-E 16X, 393216K memory shown
Sound board: on-board, Shows as HDA ATI SB
Operating system: Debian GNU/Linux stable (6.0, squeeze), with some backports including the kernel
Game name (and version, if applicable): Splat PC
Description of problem : Joystick mapping to keys ineffective
Reproducibility of problem (always, only once, always but only on a specific level, etc.): Always
Sound mode used: SB16
Video mode: unknown - I haven't knowingly chosen
Version of emulator: 0.74
Steps already attempted to solve the problem: read README, tried setting up in mapper, restarted DOSBox, checked setting had taken.