DOSBOX for YDL 6.1

[Taellik]

I have some old DOS-based "abandonware" that I want to run under DOSBOX from a USB thumbdrive.

Anyone know how to go about finding a repo with it to install, or better yet, already done it and have it operational to let the rest of us newbs know how to get it up & running on our PS3's?

Taellik

[billb]

Have you set up additional repos as described in the "How to install software" guide for YDL 6? (see README post in PS3 subforum)

To install, you'd just use:

yum install dosbox

Also, I have a version of DOSBOX in the ps3bodega repo, along with a couple of RPMs that will install some old DOS Games such as Jumpman (DOS version of the Atari/C64 classic) or Ragnarok (a nice Rogue-like game). The RPMs work by installing DOSBox as a dependency if not already installed, and installing the game data in a shared folder, then adding a menu item to start the games just like a regular application.

[Taellik]

Hiya Billb,

I just stumbled across the repo How-To. I bought my PS3 from Terra with pre-install YDL on my PS3, so I got the bare minimum of repo's loaded and a lot of the stuff isn't being found with the Add/Remove Software utility since I have a limited number of repos to choose from.

I'll be adding all the ones you mentioned and doing another "search" to see if I can get DOSBOX in addition to other things. I tried your Totem mod for You Tube, but again, ran into the repo issue on not finding all the gstreamer add-ons....arrrrgh !

Taellik
http://www.geocities.com/chainpunch

[billb]

Right -- you need the additional repos for that. YDL doesn't include them since they aren't completely "free" ... same as with Centos / Redhat or many other Linux distros.

That topic re: using Totem / mplayer was started by jaybps3 -- not me, just to clarify.

[ppietro]

Right -- you need the additional repos for that. YDL doesn't include them since they aren't completely "free" ... same as with Centos / Redhat or many other Linux distros.

Just to add a little bit to this, check out this post:
viewtopic.php?p=10004#p10004
(especially the Fedora Forbidden Items posts)

Basically, RedHat/Fedora has a policy of only using full GPL-based code. Anything that has any private copyright (like MP3 or DVD playback) is not included by default. They suggest using fully open-source alternatives like Ogg Vorbis, etc..

However - the Fedora/RedHat folks know that, although this sounds great in a perfect world, most of the rest of us need MP3 or DVD playback. So - they came up with Livna.org, which hosts non-GPL - yet fully legal - code.

It's actually a pretty cool way to go once you get the hang of it. Load the base OS, and you're fully GPL compliant. Add Livna, and you're real-world compliant. You have control of your licensing.

Ubuntu, on the other hand, has a different take on these issues. What they appear to do is make arrangements with the copyright holders to include MP3 codecs, etc. in their distribution. This makes it pretty easy to use, but also means that Ubuntu isn't a pure GPL distribution.

Oh yeah - normal disclaimers apply. (I am not a lawyer. I don't work for Canonical (ubuntu) or YDL, etc.)

Cheers,
Paul

[Taellik]

Hiya Billb,

Finally got around ( taking a break from wrestling with Eclipse/Java ) to get the additional repositories set up to get better search results from additional repo's you posted here on the board.

Got Dribble, Fedora, and Livna set up as described.

Got DOSBOX installed and wil lbe getting around to playing all my old-school AD&D "gold key" Ultimate Adventures DOS games....ahhh the old hack & slash of days gone bye.

Taellik
http://www.geocities.com/chainpunch

[billb]

Got DOSBOX installed and wil lbe getting around to playing all my old-school AD&D "gold key" Ultimate Adventures DOS games....ahhh the old hack & slash of days gone bye.

Yes, those were some great games. Let us know if you have trouble getting them running under DOSBox.

[Taellik]

Yes, those were some great games. Let us know if you have trouble getting them running under DOSBox.

Thanks fo rthe offer, Billb !

I have loaded Master of Magic by Microprose ( playing as a weenie Merlin )MOM is a good test game to try since it uses the midi music stuff you used to need an Adlib/SoundBlaster sound card for and as soon as I get things organized I'll be getting the AD&D game installed. I have a ton of custom made scenarios to round up created with the Forgotten Realms Ultimate Adventures Scenario Builder. I last left off with a smacked up wizard who needs some big-time rest/healing before hitting the Ankheg again...grrrrr !

Will be getting that loaded tonite after football probably.

Taellik
http://www.geocities.com/chainpunch

[Cripper]

I have been playing Panzer General with DOSBOX it works well. The sound is about 95% ok. I am wondering what settings you guys have changed in the configuration file to make the game picture scale to to fill more of the screen. At the moment it is just a little box in the middle of a 42" 1080 screen. There is a native linux port of the game called lgeneral that also works very well with ydl but I prefer the original

[Taellik]

I have been playing Panzer General with DOSBOX it works well. The sound is about 95% ok. I am wondering what settings you guys have changed in the configuration file to make the game picture scale to to fill more of the screen. At the moment it is just a little box in the middle of a 42" 1080 screen. There is a native linux port of the game called lgeneral that also works very well with ydl but I prefer the original

Hiya Cripper,

My display right now is the same as you have - a reduced window box. I have researched the official DOSBOX website for the keyboard shortcut command to do the re-size full-screen for the window. Accordingly, Alt-Enter is the shortcut to toggle back & forth...however, I have not tested this out yet in YDL.

Here are the short-cut keys I've found:
---------------------------------------------
ALT-ENTER Switch to full-screen (and back).
CTRL-F1 Show the keymapper configuration screen,
CTRL-F4 Update cached information about mounted drives. Useful if you changed something on a mounted drive outside of DOSBox. Also cycles through disk images mounted using IMGMOUNT.
CTRL-F5 Save a screenshot (goes to capture folder).
CTRL-ALT-F5 Start/Stop recording of AVI video. NOTE: You may well have some problems with this, please see Recording Video for more information.
CTRL-F6 Start/Stop recording sound output to a wave file (goes to capture folder).
CTRL-ALT-F7 Start/Stop recording of OPL commands.
CTRL-ALT-F8 Start/Stop the recording of raw MIDI commands.
CTRL-F7 Decreases frameskip.
CTRL-F8 Increases frameskip.
CTRL-F9 Kill (close) DOSBox.
CTRL-F10 Capture/Release the mouse (if you need to use the mouse within DOSBox).
CTRL-F11 Decrease DOSBox cycles (slows down the emulation).
CTRL-F12 Increase DOSBox cycles (speeds up the emulation).
----------------------------------------------

btw, I have SSI Panzer General also. So far, I've only completed the 1st mission...Invade Poland and take the two (2) cities / objectives. Blitzkrieg past the calvary with your armour and infantry. Don't bother with bringing up the artillery, I just move it up to harass the Polish calvary / invantry units as I zoom past....it moves tooo slooow to get in-place to conduct fire support for the urban assault within the time limit for achieving victory! Seig Heil !

I also need to test the CTRL-F10 - Capture / Release mouse. DOSBOX locked my mouse into the game window while I was playing Master of Magic. Had to end game to release mouse control back to YDL 6.1

Taellik
http://www.geocities.com/chainpunch

[billb]

I looked into scaling for DOSBox before, and it appears that it only supports scaling games when using hardware accelerated video. Since we don't have that on PS3 Linux, there's another way do to it ... it's a small program that uses one of the Cell's SPEs to "zoom in" on the center of the screen with minimal usage of the main CPU (PPE).

See here for more details ...

http://pleasantfiction.ipower.com/bodeg ... f=18&t=100

If you look towards the end of that topic, there's also a link to a new version of the SPE scaler which let's you increase the scaling even more and provides filter effects for smoothing out the "zoomed in" graphics.

[Taellik]

Hiya Cripper,

The CNTL-F10 to lock / unlock the mouse works fine on my PS3/YDL 6.1

I played some more Master of Magic and was able to bounce in & out of the game with the mouse with no problems.

The ALT-ENTER basically made DOSBOX go full screen, but the actual game itself was centered within black borders ( like widescreen tv "letterbox" presentation ) in the center of the screen on my setup. You might want to explore Billb's suggestion previously listed posting about "scaling" . . .

Taellik
http://www.geocities.com/chainpunch

[Cripper]

Thanks for the tip about the scaler I have it installed now. I did get dosbox to scale itself 2x using the force command but that did not work in full screen mode and made the system unstable