Re: [Freedos-user] Copying Files Between Linux And FreeDOS

[Eric A. <e....@jp...>]

Hi!

>> I do not like dosemu2.  See the [rant] section of the following post
>> for details.
>>
>> https://www.hardwareasylum.com/articles/retro/mystic-dosemu2/page8.aspx

You do not actually HAVE to compile dosemu2 yourself, there are pre-
compiled versions for popular Linux distros. And you do not HAVE to
use comcom or fdpp, it still supports all other DOS kernels, including
of course classic FreeDOS kernels and any command.com shell you like.
Dosemu2 just comes bundled with fdpp and comcom.

I would only compile dosemu or dosemu2 if I had any self-made patches.

And I do not agree that the process to replace kernel and shell would
be undocumented. There are many comments in /etc/dosemu/dosemu.conf
and making your own config in your home directory is all you need to
do to get your own settings and your own DOS drives where you will
be able to install any DOS you like :-) Installation can be as easy
as copying kernel and shell into your Linux directory which "is" C:

My personal preference is booting from a Linux DIRECTORY serving as
the C: drive for DOS, plus IMAGES for FAT tools tests, for example:

$_hdimage = "freedos2 fatimage.bin fatimage2.bin (and so on)"

The first item is a directory, the others are disk images (made with
tools which come with dosemu2) to test stuff like dosfsck and format.

Other things for which I prefer to use custom settings:

- size of EMS, XMS, DPMI, VGA and VESA etc. memory based on my taste
- blink rate of cursor, title of window, default zoom for 320x200
- hotkey for grabbing the mouse focus, hogthreshold for CPU load
- floppy images, optionally bootable, also for testing disk tools
- some mouse and printer settings for testing drivers for those

None of those are necessary for most users, defaults are quite ok.
I have not tested the network support, so no comment on that yet.

Personally, I would recommend to set a custom DOS drive, custom
320x200 zoom factor and a mouse grab hotkey you can remember ;-)

You can now configure quite a bit of sound stuff, including MIDI
engines, so that would probably be interesting to play with, too.
For games, the usual default SB16 with Adlib etc. is good enough.

Cheers, Eric