Provided by: dosbox-x_2024.03.01+dfsg-1build2_amd64
NAME
dosbox-x - a x86/DOS and PC98 emulator
SYNOPSIS
dosbox-x [OPTIONS] [FILE]
DESCRIPTION
This manual page briefly documents DOSBox-X, an x86/DOS and PC98 emulator. Options are listed below. Depending on the option, one or more may be specified. The optional FILE argument should be a DOS executable or a directory. If it is a DOS executable (.com .exe .bat), the program will run automatically. If it is a directory, the directory specified will be mounted as the C:\ drive. If the DOS executable requires parameters, enclose the command and it’s parameters in quotes. For an introduction type INTRO inside dosbox-x.
OPTIONS
A summary of available options. -?, -h or -help Display the help screen and exit. -v, -ver or -version Display the version information and exit. -fullscreen, -fs Start dosbox-x in fullscreen mode. -machine machinetype Start dosbox-x with a specific machine type. Valid choices are: • mda IBM Monochrome Display Adapter (text only) • hercules Hercules Graphics Card (monochrome) • cga IBM Color Graphics Adapter, with automatic RGB/Composite switching. • cga_mono IBM CGA attached to a monochrome display • cga_rgb IBM CGA attached to an RGB monitor • cga_composite IBM CGA (early revision) attached to an NTSC TV • cga_composite2 IBM CGA (late revision) attached to an NTSC TV • pcjr IBM PCjr • pcjr_composite IBM PCjr (late revision) attached to NTSC TV • pcjr_composite2 IBM PCjr (late revision) attached to NTSC TV • tandy Tandy 1000 Graphics Adapter • amstrad Amstrad PC1512 graphics mode • ega IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter • jega Japanese Enhanced Graphics Adapter (Microsoft AX) • mcga IBM Multi-Color Graphics Array • vgaonly IBM Video Graphics Array (see below) • svga_paradise SVGA - Paradise Systems PVGA1A • svga_et3000 SVGA - Tseng Labs ET3000 • svga_et4000 SVGA - Tseng Labs ET4000 • svga_s3 VESA SVGA - S3 Trio64 - VBE 2.0 • svga_s386c928 VESA SVGA - S3 86c928 - VBE 2.0 (experimental) • svga_s3vision864 VESA SVGA - S3 Vision 864 - VBE 2.0 • svga_s3vision868 VESA SVGA - S3 Vision 868 - VBE 2.0 • svga_s3vision964 VESA SVGA - S3 Vision 964 - VBE 2.0 • svga_s3vision968 VESA SVGA - S3 Vision 968 - VBE 2.0 • svga_s3trio32 VESA SVGA - S3 Trio32 - VBE 2.0 • svga_s3trio64 VESA SVGA - S3 Trio64 - VBE 2.0 (same as svga_s3) • svga_s3trio64v+ VESA SVGA - S3 Trio64V+ - VBE 2.0 • svga_s3virge VESA SVGA - S3 ViRGE - VBE 2.0 (experimental) • svga_s3virgevx VESA SVGA - S3 ViRGE VX - VBE 2.0 (experimental) • vesa_oldvbe VESA SVGA - S3 Trio64 with VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE) 1.2 • vesa_oldvbe10 VESA SVGA - S3 Trio64 with VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE) 1.0 • vesa_nolfb VESA SVGA - S3 Trio64 with VBE 2.0 with Linear Frame Buffer disabled • pc98 Japanese NEC PC-98 emulation • pc9801 same as pc98 • pc9821 same as pc98 • fm_towns Japanese Fujitsu FM Towns (not implemented) The default is svga_s3. For some special VGA effects the machinetype vgaonly can be used, note that this disables SVGA capabilities and might be slower due to the higher emulation accuracy. Note The machinetype affects not only the emulated video card, but may also effect the available sound cards. -conf configfile Start dosbox-x with the options specified in configfile. This file may also have a section called [autoexec] in which you can put commands you wish to execute on startup. Multiple -conf options with configfiles can be specified and they will be overlaid on each other. -editconf [editor] Open the default configuration file in a text editor. If no editor name is given, then use the program from the EDITOR environment variable. -userconf Load the configuration file located in ~/.config/dosbox-x. Can be combined with the -conf option. -printconf Prints the location of the default configuration file and exit. -eraseconf, -resetconf Removes the default configuration file and exit. -erasemapper, -resetmapper Removes the mapperfile configured in the clean default configuration file and exit. -opencaptures program Calls program with as first parameter the location of the captures folder and exit. -opensaves program Calls program with as first parameter the location of the saves folder and exit. -startui, -startgui or -starttool Start DOSBox-X with GUI configuration tool. -startmapper Start the internal keymapper on startup of dosbox-x. You can use it to change the keys dosbox-x uses. -promptfolder Prompt for the working directory when DOSBox-X starts. -nopromptfolder Do not prompt for the working directory when DOSBox-X starts. -nogui or -nomenu Do not show the GUI menu bar when in windowed mode. -showcycles Show cycles count (FPS) in the title. -showrt Show emulation speed relative to realtime in the title. -socket socketnumber Passes the TCP socket number socketnumber for the nullmodem emulation. See the WIKI for details. -savedir path Set path for the save slots. -defaultdir path Set the default working path for DOSBox-X. -defaultconf Use the default config settings for DOSBox-X. -defaultmapper Use the default key mappings for DOSBox-X. -data-host-forced Force synchronization of date and time with the host. -display2 [color] Enable both standard & monochrome dual-screen mode. The monochrome display defaults to white, but can optionally be set to green or amber. -lang message_file Start dosbox-x with the language specified in message_file. -nodpiaware Ignore (do not signal) Windows DPI awareness. -securemode Enable secure mode, which is meant to prevent a DOS program potentially gaining access to files outside directories mounted in the [autoexec] section of the config file. It does this by running Z:\SYSTEM\CONFIG.COM -securemode after completing the [autoexec] section (which in turn disables any changes to how the drives are mounted "inside" dosbox-x). It also disables various other CONFIG.COM options that could be exploited. -prerun If FILE is given, run it before the AUTOEXEC.BAT config section -hostrun Enable START command, CLIP$ device and long filename (LFN) support -noconfig Skips the [config] section of the loaded configuration file. This is equivalent to skipping CONFIG.SYS in DOS. -noautoexec Skips the [autoexec] section of the loaded configuration file. This is equivalent to skipping AUTOEXEC.BAT in DOS. -exit dosbox-x will close itself when the DOS program specified by FILE ends. -silent Run DOSBox-X silently and exit after executing the [autoexec] section of the loaded config file. -o option(s) Provide command-line option(s) for [FILE] if specified. -c command Runs the specified command before running [FILE]. Multiple commands can be specified. Each command should start with -c though. A command can be an Internal Program, a DOS command or an executable on a mounted drive. If the command requires parameters, enclose the command and its parameters in quotes. -set section property=value Set the config option (override any config file). If the property contains spaces, ensure to enclose the string in quotes. The section is the name of a dosbox-x config section such as [video] without the brackets. Multiple -set commands may be specified. If a property is unique, the section may be omitted. e.g. -set sdl output=ttf is equivalent to -set output=ttf -time-limit seconds Kill the emulator after seconds. -fastlaunch Fast launch mode (skip the BIOS logo and welcome banner). -helpdebug Show debug-related options and exit.
INTERNAL INTERPRETER COMMANDS
dosbox-x Supports most of the internal DOS commands found in COMMAND.COM. Help text is integrated for these commands in DOSBox-X, and will not be duplicated here. An explanation of these commands can also be found on the DOSBox-X wiki on the Supported Commands page. ALIAS, ATTRIB, BREAK, CALL, CD/CDDIR, CHCP, CHOICE, CLS, COPY, COUNTRY, CTTY, DATE, DEL/ERASE, DELTREE, ECHO, EXIT, DIR, FOR, GOTO, HELP, IF, LFNFOR, LH/LOADHIGH, MD/MKDIR, MORE, PATH, PAUSE, PROMPT, RD/RMDIR, REM, REN/RENAME, SET, SHIFT, SUBST, TIME, TRUENAME, TYPE, VER, VERIFY, VOL
OTHER PROVIDED COMMANDS
In addition, the following extra commands are available on the emulated Z: drive: Note Some commands (like NE2000) are only present in case the corresponding feature is enabled. • Z:\4DOS 4DOS, 4HELP, OPTION, BATCOMP • Z:\BIN EVAL, SHUTDOWN, DSXMENU, CWSDPMI, EMSMAGIC, UNZIP, ZIP, MPXPLAY, DOSMID, CDPLAY, DOS4GW, DOS32A, DOSIDLE, UTF16, UTF8, AUTOTYPE, ADDKEY, LS, TITLE, COLOR, SETCOLOR • Z:\DOS MEM, EDIT, PRINT, DISKCOPY, DEFRAG, FORMAT, FDISK, SYS, FC, COMP, CHKDSK, BUFFERS, DEVICE, APPEND, XCOPY, SORT, REPLACE, LASTDRIV, FILES, FCBS, FIND, MOVE, DEBUG, EDLIN, CHOICE, DELTREE, TREE, LABEL, LOADFIX, MOUSE, MODE, KEYB • Z:\DEBUG HEXMEM32, HEXMEM16, A20GATE, BIOSTEST, INT2FDBG, NMITEST, LOADROM, VESAMOED, VFRCRATE • Z:\SYSTEM PARALLEL, SERIAL, MIXER, CAPMOUSE, FLAGSAVE, CFGTOOL, RESCAN, RE-DOS, COUNTRY, CONFIG, BOOT, MOUNT, IMGSWAP, IMGMAKE, IMGMOUNT, INTRO, HELP, NE2000 • Z:\TEXTUTIL CGA, CLR, EGA, VGA, DCGA, 132X25, 132X43, 132X50, 132X60, 80X25, 80X50, 80X60
SPECIAL KEYS
CTRL-F7 CGA emulation only - Switch between early and late model IBM CGA emulation. CTRL-F8 CGA emulation only - Switch between Auto, RGBI and Composite monitor output emulation. CTRL-SHIFT-F7 CGA emulation only - Decrease Hue CTRL-SHIFT-F8 CGA emulation only - Increase Hue CTRL-F7 CGA Mono and Hercules emulation only - Cycle between Green, Amber, White and Grey CTRL-F8 CGA Mono and Hercules emulation only - Cycle between low and high brightness F12-F Switch between fullscreen and window mode. F12-R Reset the virtual machine inside DOSBox-X F12-B Reboot the emulated DOS (integrated DOS or guest DOS) inside DOSBox-X. F12-C Start DOSBox-X’s graphical configuration tool. F12-M Start DOSBox-X’s mapper editor. F12-Esc Show/hide DOSBox-X’s drop-down menu bar. F12-Del Send the selected special key combination (Ctrl+Alt+Del by default) to the guest system. F12-{+} Increase the sound volume of DOSBox-X’s emulated DOS. F12-{-} Decrease the sound volume of DOSBox-X’s emulated DOS. F12-] Increase the emulated DOS’s current speed relative to real-time. F12-[ Decrease the emulated DOS’s current speed relative to real-time. F12-{=} Increase DOSBox-X’s emulation CPU cycles. F12-{-} Decrease DOSBox-X’s emulation CPU cycles. F12-Up Increase the font size for the TrueType font (TTF) output. F12-Down Decrease the font size for the TrueType font (TTF) output. F12-Left Reset the emulated DOS’s current CPU speed to the normal speed. F12-Right Toggle DOSBox-X’s speed lock. F12-D Swap between mounted CD images. F12-O Swap between mounted floppy images. F12-P Take a screenshot of the current screen in PNG format. F12-I Start/Stop capturing an AVI video of the current session. F12-W Start/Stop recording a WAV audio of the current session. Alt+Pause Start DOSBox-X’s Debugger. F12-[,] Select the previous save slot to save to or load from. F12-[.] Select the next save slot to save to or load from. F12-S Save current state to the selected save slot. F12-L Load the state from the selected save slot. F12-Pause Pause emulation (press again to continue). Ctrl+F5 Copy all text on the DOS screen to the host clipboard. Ctrl+F6 Paste the text in the host clipboard to the DOS screen. Ctrl+F9 Exit DOSBox-X. Ctrl+F10 Capture the mouse for use with the emulated DOS. These are the default keybindings. They can be changed in the keymapper. 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-x else nothing gets saved or recorded! Note Once you increase your dosbox-x 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.
ENVIRONMENT
Any configuration option can be overridden using an environment variable. Environment variables starting with prefix DOSBOX are processed and interpreted as follows: DOSBOX_SECTIONNAME_PROPERTYNAME=value For example, you can override the render aspect this way: $ DOSBOX_RENDER_ASPECT=false dosbox-x
BUGS
To report a bug, please visit https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x/issues
RESOURCES
project web site: https://dosbox-x.com Project Wiki: https://dosbox-x.com/wiki
AUTHOR
DOSBox-X is maintained by the DOSBox-X Team