DOSBOX(1)

📦 version 0.82.2, in nixpkgs unstable

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, because this is the DOSBOX(1) page 💖 — it lives in the General Commands Manual, and I'm about to walk you through every single line of it like we're texting at 2am. No skips, no "you get the idea", we're doing the whole thing. 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

dosbox — DOSBox Staging, x86/DOS emulator, a modern continuation of DOSBox. ✨

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

Like, here's how you actually call her:

dosbox [--fullscreen] [--startmapper] [--noautoexec] [--securemode]
[--conf <configfile>] [--lang <langfile>] [--machine <type>] [--socket
<num>] [-c <command>] [--exit] [PATH]

dosbox --help

dosbox --version

dosbox --printconf

dosbox --editconf

dosbox --eraseconf

dosbox --noprimaryconf

dosbox --nolocalconf

dosbox --set <property>=<value>

dosbox --working-dir <path>

dosbox --list-countries

dosbox --list-glshaders

dosbox --erasemapper

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

This manual page briefly documents DOSBox Staging, a modern continuation of DOSBox. (Yes, the page itself says "briefly". She's humble. 💜)

Now the tea on PATH, because this part is lowkey iconic — the vibes of PATH decide what happens:

  • If PATH is a directory, it's mounted as C:. 🗂️
  • If PATH is a bootable disk image (.IMA/.IMG), it's booted. 🥾
  • If PATH is a CD-ROM disc image (.CUE/.ISO), it's mounted as D:. 💿
  • If PATH is a DOS executable (.BAT/.COM/.EXE), it's parent path is mounted as C: and the executable is run. When the executable exits, DOSBox Staging quits. 👋

For an introduction, type INTRO inside DOSBox Staging. (Do it. It's giving tutorial but make it cute. 🦋)

The document will refer to DOSBox Staging as dosbox from now on for readability. Periodt, we're on nickname basis now.

✨ OPTIONS ✨

Legacy single dash abbrevations still work for backwards compatibility. (Yes, the page spells it "abbrevations". We respect the queen's spelling. 👑)

  • --conf <config_file> — Start with the options specified in <config_file>. Multiple configuration files can be specified. Example: --conf conf1.conf --conf conf2.conf
  • --printconf — Print the location of the primary configuration file.
  • --editconf — Open the primary configuration file in a text editor.
  • --eraseconf — Delete the primary configuration file.
  • --noprimaryconf — Don't load or create the primary configuration file.
  • --nolocalconf — Don't load the local dosbox.conf configuration file if present in the current working directory.
  • --set <setting>=<value> — Set a configuration setting. Multiple configuration settings can be specified. Example: --set mididevice=fluidsynth --set soundfont=mysoundfont.sf2
  • --working-dir <path> — Set working directory to <path>. DOSBox will act as if started from this directory.
  • --list-countries — List all supported countries with their numeric codes. Codes are to be used in the country config setting.
  • --list-glshaders — List all available OpenGL shaders and their paths. Shaders are to be used in the glshader config setting.
  • --fullscreen — Start in fullscreen mode.
  • --lang <lang_file> — Start with the language specified in <lang_file>.
  • --machine <type> — Emulate a specific type of machine. The machine type has influence on both the emulated video and sound cards. Valid choices are: hercules, cga, cga_mono, tandy, pcjr, ega, svga_s3 (default), svga_et3000, svga_et4000, svga_paradise, vesa_nolfb, vesa_oldvbe.
  • -c <command> — Run the specified DOS command before handling the PATH. Multiple commands can be specified.
  • --noautoexec — Don't run DOS commands from any [autoexec] sections.
  • --exit — Exit after running -c <command>'s and [autoexec] sections.
  • --startmapper — Run the mapper GUI.
  • --erasemapper — Delete the default mapper file.
  • --securemode — Enable secure mode by disabling the MOUNT and IMGMOUNT commands.
  • --socket <num> — Run nullmodem on the specified socket number.
  • --help — Print help message and exit.
  • --version — Print version information and exit.

🧚 INTERNAL COMMANDS 🧚

dosbox has a comprehensive internal help system which can be accessed by running HELP command. (Yes, she has a whole help system inside her. Main character energy fr fr. 👑)

dosbox supports most of the DOS commands found in COMMAND.COM. In addition, the following extra commands are frequently used:

🌈 MOUNT

Program to mount local directories as drives inside dosbox.

🌈 IMGMOUNT

A utility to mount disk images and CD‐ROM images in dosbox.

🌈 CONFIG

Change dosbox internal configuration on the fly. May not work with all options. (She said may not, so don't come for her if it acts up. 😭)

🌈 LOADFIX

Program to reduce the amount of memory available. Useful for old programs which don't expect much memory to be free. (Two spaces in the original, we keep the two spaces. 💀)

🌈 RESCAN

Make dosbox reread the directory structure. Useful if you changed something on a mounted drive outside dosbox. Ctrl+F4 does this as well.

🌈 BOOT

BOOT will start floppy images or hard disk images independent of the operating system emulation offered by dosbox. This will allow you to play booter floppies or boot to other operating systems inside dosbox.

💖 FILES 💖

Configuration and language files use a format similar to Windows .ini files. If no configfile is specified at the commandline, a file named dosbox-staging.conf (if present in the current directory) will be loaded automatically. We also will read and load dosbox.conf locally too, if dosbox-staging.conf isn't present.

If a configfile is specified at the commandline that one will be used instead. If no configfile is specified or found in the current directory then dosbox will load one from $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/dosbox/ (which defaults to ~/.config/dosbox/). It will try to create a new default config file if it does not exist yet.

🎀 SPECIAL KEYS 🎀

  • Alt+Enter — Switch between fullscreen and window mode.
  • Alt+Pause — Pause/Unpause emulator.
  • Ctrl+F1 — Start the keymapper.
  • Ctrl+F4 — Swap mounted disk‐image (only used with imgmount). Update directory cache for all drives.
  • Ctrl+F5 — Save a screenshot of the DOS pre-rendered image.
  • Alt+F5 — Save a screenshot of the rendered image.
  • Ctrl+F6 — Start/Stop recording sound output to a wave file.
  • Ctrl+F7 — Start/Stop recording video output to a zmbv file.
  • Ctrl+F8 — Mute/Unmute the audio.
  • Ctrl+F9 — Kill dosbox.
  • Ctrl+F10 — Capture/Release the mouse.
  • Ctrl+F11 — Slow down emulation (Decrease number of cycles/s).
  • Ctrl+F12 — Speed up emulation (Increase number of cycles/s).
  • Alt+F12 — Unlock speed (turbo button).

These are the default keybindings. They can be changed in the keymapper. More bindable actions can be found in the keymapper.

🦋 NOTES 🦋

Saved/recorded files can be found in current_directory/capture (can be changed in the configfile). The directory has to exist prior to starting dosbox else nothing gets saved/recorded! 🚨

Once you increase your dosbox cycles beyond your computer's maximum capacity, it will produce the same effect as slowing down the emulation. This maximum will vary from computer to computer, there is no standard. (So like, more is not always more, bestie. 😭)

⭐ ENVIRONMENT ⭐

Any configuration option can be override using an environment variable. Environment variables starting with prefix DOSBOX are processed and interpreted as follows: DOSBOX_SECTIONNAME_PROPERTYNAME=value

$ DOSBOX_SBLASTER_SBTYPE=sbpro2 dosbox
tiny heads up: the original page has a stray ®.PP artifact sitting right before that example (a formatting hiccup, not a real thing) — the command itself is exactly what's in the block above. 💜

💀 BUGS 💀

To report a bug, please visit https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/issues

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

You'll find long and detailed manual in README file in /usr/share/doc/dosbox-staging

👑 AUTHOR 👑

DOSBox Staging project is maintained by the DOSBox Staging Team (https://www.dosbox-staging.org/)

This manual page was written by Peter Veenstra <H.P.Veenstra@student.rug.nl> and James Oakley <jfunk@funktronics.ca>, for the Debian system (but may be used by others), updated by Patryk Obara <dreamer.tan@gmail.com> and Antti Peltola <antti.peltola@kolumbus.fi> for DOSBox Staging project.

and that's the whole page, no cap. 🫶 this version is the one dated Dec 4, 2023, and it's the DOSBOX(1) page from the General Commands Manual — go forth and mount things, you absolute legend. 💅✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from