DOSEMU

DOSEMU

DOSEMU Running on C:\
Developer(s)	DOSEMU Team
Stable release	1.4.0 / May 5, 2007
Operating system	Linux
Type	Compatibility layer
License	GPL
Website	www.dosemu.org

DOSEMU, alternatively rendered dosemu, is a compatibility layer software package that enables MS-DOS systems, DOS clones such as FreeDOS, and DOS software to run under Linux on x86-based PCs (IBM PC compatible computers).

It uses a combination of hardware virtualization features and strategic emulation. It is thus able to achieve nearly native speed for 8086-compatible DOS operating systems and applications on x86 compatible processors, and for 32-bit DPMI applications on x86 compatible processors as well as on x86-64 processors (Virtual 8086 mode is not available in x86-64 long mode, so DOSEMU includes an 8086 processor emulator for use with 16-bit applications.).

Currently it is only available for x86 Linux systems.

DOSEMU is an option for people who need or want to continue to use legacy DOS software, in some cases virtualisation is good enough to drive external hardware such as EPROM programmers connected to the parallel port. To quote the manual, "dosemu" is a user-level program which uses certain special features of the Linux kernel and the 80386 processor to run MS-DOS, FreeDOS or DR-DOS in what people in the biz call a `DOS box.' The DOS box, a combination of hardware and software trickery, has these capabilities:

• Virtualize all input/output and processor control instructions
• Supports the word size and addressing modes of the iAPX86 processor family's "real mode," while still running within the full protected mode environment
• Trap all DOS and BIOS system calls and emulate such calls as are necessary for proper operation and good performance
• Simulate a hardware environment over which DOS programs are accustomed to having control.
• Provide DOS services through native Linux services; for example, dosemu can provide a virtual hard disk drive which is actually a Linux directory hierarchy.^[1]
• Packet driver API for 3Com 3C503.^[2]

See also

Free software portal

• Comparison of platform virtual machines
• Virtual DOS machine
• DOSBox
• Wine
• FreeDOS

References

1. ^ "The dosemu HOWTO". http://dosemu.sourceforge.net/docs/HOWTO/.  090430 dosemu.sourceforge.net
2. ^ "dosemu v1.3.5 source". http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/dosemu/dosemu-1.3.5.tgz?download.  090430 prdownloads.sourceforge.net src/dosext/net/net/pktnew.c

External links

• DOSEMU website