DOS programs on OSX?

johnsankey · Post by **johnsankey** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 5:32 pm

from the website intro page:
Wine's main task is to run Windows executables under non Windows operating systems. It supports different types of executables:
DOS executable. Those are even older programs, using the DOS format (either .com or .exe (the later being also called MZ)).

Tried it:
fixme:module:__wine_load_dos_exe DOS executables not supported on this platform

in thread Execution DOS exe program via Wine ?:
Maybe 'wineconsole' (comes with wine) will work better for you. And maybe you need something like dosemu...

What's the best way forward on OSX 10.6.8?

DaVince · Post by **DaVince** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 5:45 pm

Try DOSBox, not Wine. Even Wine tries running DOSBox when it finds an executable is DOS-based nowadays.

johnsankey · Post by **johnsankey** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 6:41 pm

DOSBox works - now I have my BASIC interpreter running - compiler & programs are on their way.

Now, if I could find a way of getting my old floppies of Win3.11 onto a Mac, maybe I can run my two most important PC apps on the Mac too. (WINE can't handle the one I've tried.)

SpawnHappyJake · Post by **SpawnHappyJake** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 6:59 pm

You can use VirtualBox. Or maybe even install Win3.1 into DOSBox, if you feel the desire. VirtualBox runs a virtual machine on your real processor. DOSBox, QEMU, and Bocks emulate a processor for the virtual machine to run on. Processor emulation takes a lot of resources. So something like VirtualBox is perferable. Sometimes processor emulation is required, though, such as if you have a program compiled for a different architecture than what your real processor is... and that doesn't usually end well because of the massive performance hit of CPU emulation. Also, some old games depend on features of old processors that no longer exist, and/or time the game based off the clock speed, thus you need a slow processor.

Cheers,
Jake

johnsankey · Post by **johnsankey** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 1:38 pm

So then, does VirtualBox do everything that WINE does if I have a valid copy of Windows to instal? I do for Me, and all the programs I want to run on OSX work on Me...

SpawnHappyJake · Post by **SpawnHappyJake** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:26 pm

Please do not think that WINE and VirtualBox are similar. VirtualBox emulates a whole new machine, giving you a computer inside a computer. It emulates a hardware platform, BIOS (or EFI), and runs an operating system on that. Any program running in a virtual machine is not seen by the host OS.
WINE doesn't do any of that. In fact, it doesn't run Windows programs. It translates Windows programs on the fly so that the operating system (Linux, Mac OS X, etc.) can run Windows programs. No second operating system, and no load of emulating hardware. And no load of analyzing everything spit out of a second operating system being ran on emulated hardware, which must be done to know what to screen out and what to pass on to real hardware and what to respond with.
A program ran through WINE will show up in the operating system's process list. A program ran in a virtual machine will not show up in the host's process list.
But both can be a means of running Windows programs. One's just way more efficient.

johnsankey · Post by **johnsankey** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:15 pm

In the 1950's when I first started with computers, there was a common saying: anything that works is better than anything that doesn't.

WINE doesn't seem to work with any of my critical Windows programs...

doh123 · Post by **doh123** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:55 pm

johnsankey wrote:In the 1950's when I first started with computers, there was a common saying: anything that works is better than anything that doesn't.

WINE doesn't seem to work with any of my critical Windows programs...

of course it cannot run everything.

and most things it can run will not run with default settings, you have to do some work to get it working.

Running a virtual machine uses a lot more overhead, costs a lot more (buying Windows) and has lower performance... but yes, its much easier because its real a real Windows OS just like the software was made for.

SpawnHappyJake · Post by **SpawnHappyJake** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 9:49 pm

WINE didn't work with any of the Windows programs I first tried, either. That's because the first things I tried were my "utilitarian" programs such as hardware spec getters and hardware emulators. Since then I have found Linux-native alternatives.
Now I have a feel for what programs I should expect to work in WINE, and which I shouldn't, and which I can push for.
Now I have come to respect WINE for what it can do. I used to think it was junk. And at one time it was. Then 1.3 came out. Night and day.
Just remember that we should be thankful that WINE can run _any_ Windows programs. And we should be thankful that WINE even exists. Mac OS X, Linux, etc. aren't supposed to be able to run Windows programs, but thanks to WINE, they can run many of them.
It's not like Windows program programmers have WINE in mind as they code. They usually don't try to be WINE-compatible. Instead, they write to be Windows-compatible, and WINE seemingly has to be a product of reverse-engineering, constantly trying mimic enough of a closed-source operating system to run its programs. The WINE-devs can't see the Windows source code, so you can't blame them for much.
Now multiply that by 10 and you have ReactOS.

Miraculously, there are actually a few programs that WINE can run better than Windows, such as (in my experience), a game called "Battle for Naboo".

Cheers,
Jake

DOS programs on OSX?

DOS programs on OSX?

many thanks

VirtualBox

but which one works, period?

Re: but which one works, period?