DOSBox: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 01:56, 27 May 2026

DOSBox

Developer(s)	DOSBox Crew
Latest version	0.74-3 [+]
Active	Stalled
Platform(s)	Windows Linux macOS FreeBSD OS/2 and more
Emulates	286 and 386
Website	DOSBox.com
Support ($)	Bitcoin PayPal ([email protected]) PayPal ([email protected]) PayPal (Peter Veenstra)
Programmed in	C++
License	GPLv2
Source code	tgz

DOSBox is a free and open-source, high-level 286 and 386 emulator written in C++.

Downloads

	Latest Dev Builds
	Latest Stable Builds
	Pyra build

Note: These versions are years out-of-date and missing countless features and bug fixes. DOSBox forks are better choice for almost all users.

Overview

DOSBox is capable of emulating many older computer games that are otherwise very difficult if not impossible to play on modern operating systems and hardware. It has very high compatibility, as it can be configured to emulate the environment of many machines, with support for various display modes, including CGA, EGA, Hercules, Tandy, and VGA. With some work, it is even possible to install and load old Windows operating systems, such as Windows 3.11 and Windows 95, thus potentially being able to play games made for those platforms.

Frontends

Because DOSBox doesn't have a GUI, projects were made to fulfill that role.

Main article: Frontends#DOSBox

Compatibility

Dosbox Compatibility List - Small list of very old emulator builds with flaky compatibility in DOSBox.
DOSBox Wii Compatibility

Hardware support

For software that can run hardware features designed for x86 systems, see PC Emulator Comparisons#Hardware & Peripheral Support.

Forks

DOSBox has many forks over the years. This section attempts to list the most notable ones. DOSBox's official wiki also has a partial list of DOSBox forks. Even more forks are listed in the DOSBox forks page of DOSBox Staging's GitHub wiki.

Additionally, multi-emulators BizHawk and Manic EMU use DOSBox forks' cores.

Also see PC Emulator Comparisons for detailed information and comparison.

Notable active forks

The following forks are standalone emulators:

DOSBox-X


The SDL2 UI on Windows 10. DOSBox-X also has versions for SDL1 and MinGW in the installer.
Developer(s)	Jonathan Campbell (maintainer) Wengier, and others
Latest version	2026.08.02 [+]
Active	Yes
Platform(s)	Windows macOS Linux DOS
Emulates	x86 CPUs NEC PC-98
Website	dosbox-x.com
License	GPLv2
Source code	GitHub
Issue tracker	GitHub

DOSBox Staging


DOSBox staging intro screen.
Developer(s)	John Novak (maintainer) and others
Latest version	0.83.0 [+]
Active	Yes
Platform(s)	Windows macOS Linux
Emulates	x86 CPUs
Website	dosbox-staging.org
Support ($)	GitHub Sponsor Open Collective
License	GPLv2
Source code	GitHub
Issue tracker	GitHub

The following forks are cores for libretro:

DOSBox-core

DOSBox-core running Ultima 8 with a standalone MIDI synthesizer (Roland's Sound Canvas emulator VSTi plugin "Sound Canvas VA") which is run using a VSTi host "Falcosoft Midi Player" (runs on Linux via Wine here).
Developer(s)	Nikos Chantziaras (maintainer) and others
Latest version	git [+]
Active	Yes
Platform(s)	Windows Linux macOS Android
Emulates	x86 CPUs
Website	Site
License	GPLv2
Source code	GitHub
Issue tracker	GitHub

The following forks are both standalone emulators and libretro cores:

DOSBox Pure


DOSBox Pure start menu.
Developer(s)	Bernhard Schelling (maintainer) and others
Latest version	1.0 preview 6 [+]
Active	Yes
Platform(s)	Windows Linux macOS Raspberry Pi Android 3DS GameCube Wii Wii U Switch PS2 PSP Vita
Emulates	x86 CPUs
Website	Site
Support ($)	Ko-fi PayPal Gamepad Phoenix
License	GPLv2
Source code	GitHub
Issue tracker	GitHub

Some notable dead forks

DOSBox ECE

DOSBox ECE game directory screenshot.
Developer(s)	YesterPlay (maintainer) and others
Latest version	r4482 [+]
Active	No
Platform(s)	Windows Linux
Emulates	x86 CPUs
Website	yesterplay.net/dosboxece
License	GPLv2
Source code	yesterplay.net/dosboxece

DOSBox Mega Build: Was an enhanced build of DOSBox focused on serial/networking support. Contains the NE2000 patch, parallel port passthrough, virtual printer, OPL passthrough, and others. However, it hasn't been updated in years, and most of what it added was covered by the actively maintained DOSBox-X fork.

DOSBox SVN Daum: Was an enhanced build of DOSBox by ykhwong, with support for Direct3D and HLSL shaders, Glide, Ethernet, virtual printer, and a built-in UI. However, it hasn't been updated in years, and most of what it added was covered by the actively maintained DOSBox-X fork.

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 |logowidth = 120
 |version = {{Version|DOSBox}}
-|active = No
+|active = Stalled
 |fate =
 |platform = [[Emulators on Windows|Windows]]<br/>[[Emulators on Linux|Linux]]<br/>[[Emulators on macOS|macOS]]<br/>[[Emulators on BSD|FreeBSD]]<br/>[[Emulators on OS/2|OS/2]] and more
-|target = [[POS_(Pong_Consoles)_CPUs_and_Other_Chips#Intel_CPU.27s|286 and 386]]
+|target = [[POS_(Pong_Consoles)_CPUs_and_Other_Chips#x86_CPUs|286 and 386]]
-|prog-lang = C++
+|prog-lang = {{Proglang|C++}}
 |developer = [https://www.dosbox.com/crew.php DOSBox Crew]
 |website = [https://www.dosbox.com DOSBox.com]
-|license = GNU GPLv2
+|license = {{license|GPLv2}}
 |support = [https://btc.com/1BwXUekP4sFiR7kcqBxWrCYXU8ZAWQRbFK Bitcoin]<br/>[https://www.paypal.com/donate/?item_name=Donation+to+DOSBox+DOS+Emulator&cmd=_donations&business=qbix79%40users.sourceforge.net PayPal ([email protected])]<br/>[https://www.paypal.com/webapps/shoppingcart?flowlogging_id=f9259906fd9cd&mfid=1694152320123_f9259906fd9cd#/checkout/openButton PayPal ([email protected])]<br/>[https://paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=RK4BA9ERN5AWL PayPal (Peter Veenstra)]
 |source = [http://source.dosbox.com/dosboxsvn.tgz tgz]
 }}
-'''DOSBox''' is a free and open-source, [[High/Low level emulation|high-level]] [[POS_(Pong_Consoles)_CPUs_and_Other_Chips#Intel_CPU.27s|286 and 386 emulator]] written in C++.
+'''DOSBox''' is a free and open-source, [[High/Low level emulation|high-level]] [[POS_(Pong_Consoles)_CPUs_and_Other_Chips#x86_CPUs|286 and 386 emulator]] written in {{Proglang|C++}}.
 ==Downloads==
@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 |-
 |align=center|{{Icon|Win|Lin|Mac}}
-|'''[https://www.dosbox.com/wiki/SVN_Builds#List_of_SVN_Builds Latest Dev Builds]'''
+|''[https://www.dosbox.com/wiki/SVN_Builds#List_of_SVN_Builds Latest Dev Builds]''
 |-
 |align=center|{{Icon|Win|Lin|Mac|BSD|RiscOS|OS2}}
-|'''[https://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1 Latest Stable Builds]'''
+|''[https://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1 Latest Stable Builds]''
 |-
 |align=center|{{Icon|Pyra-big}}
-|'''[https://pyra-handheld.com/repo/apps/23 Pyra build]'''
+|''[https://pyra-handheld.com/repo/apps/23 Pyra build]''
 |}
 '''Note: These versions are years out-of-date and missing countless features and bug fixes. [[DOSBox#Forks|DOSBox forks]] are better choice for almost all users.'''
@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 {{Main|Frontends#DOSBox}}
-==See Also==
+==Compatibility==
 * [[Dosbox Compatibility List]] - Small list of very old emulator builds with flaky compatibility in DOSBox.
 * [[DOSBox Wii Compatibility]]
+==Hardware support==
+{{for|software that can run hardware features designed for x86 systems|PC Emulator Comparisons#Hardware & Peripheral Support}}
 ==Forks==
-DOSBox has many forks over the years. This section attempts to list the most notable ones. [http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/SVN_Builds#Enhanced_SVN_builds DOSBox's official wiki] also has a partial list of DOSBox forks. Even more forks are listed in the [https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/wiki/DOSBox-forks DOSBox forks page] of DOSBox Staging's GitHub wiki.
+DOSBox has many forks over the years. This section attempts to list the most notable ones. [http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/SVN_Builds#Enhanced_SVN_builds DOSBox's official wiki] also has a partial list of DOSBox forks. Even more forks are listed in the [https://github.com/farsil/dosbox-info/wiki/DOSBox-forks DOSBox forks page] of DOSBox Staging's GitHub wiki.
+Additionally, [[multi-emulator]]s [[BizHawk]] and [[Manic EMU]] use DOSBox forks' cores.
+:Also see [[PC Emulator Comparisons]] for detailed information and comparison.
 ===Notable active forks===
-<div style="display: flex; flex-flow: row wrap; justify-content: space-between;">
+<div style="display: flex; flex-flow: column wrap;">
-<div style="flex: 1 0 240px; margin: 0.5em;">
+<div style="flex: 1 0 auto; margin: 0.5em;">
 <font size="3"><b>The following forks are standalone emulators:</b></font>
 {{Infobox emulator
 |title = DOSBox-X
+|logo = DOSBox-X.png
+|logowidth = 120
 |screenshot = DOSBox-X-screenshot-sdl2.png
-|screenshotwidth = 250px
+|screenshotwidth = 250
 |screenshotcaption = The SDL2 UI on Windows 10. DOSBox-X also has versions for SDL1 and MinGW in the installer.
 |developer = Jonathan Campbell (maintainer)<br/>Wengier, and others
@@ Line 64: / Line 73: @@
 |active = Yes
 |website = [https://dosbox-x.com dosbox-x.com]
-|license = GNU GPLv2
+|license = {{License|GPLv2}}
 |source = [https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x GitHub]
+|issuetracker = [https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x/issues GitHub]
 }}
 {{Infobox emulator
 |title = DOSBox Staging
+|logo = DOSBox-Staging.png
+|logowidth = 120
 |screenshot = DOSBox Staging intro.png
-|screenshotwidth = 250px
+|screenshotwidth = 250
 |screenshotcaption = DOSBox staging intro screen.
-|developer = kcgen (maintainer) and others
+|developer = John Novak (maintainer) and others
 |version = {{Version|DOSBox Staging}}
 |platform = [[Emulators on Windows|Windows]]<br/>[[Emulators on macOS|macOS]]<br/>[[Emulators on Linux|Linux]]
 |target = [[POS_(Pong_Consoles)_CPUs_and_Other_Chips#x86_CPUs|x86 CPUs]]
 |active = Yes
-|website = [https://dosbox-staging.github.io/ dosbox-staging.github.io]
+|website = [https://www.dosbox-staging.org dosbox-staging.org]
-|license = GNU GPLv2
+|license = {{License|GPLv2}}
 |support = [https://github.com/sponsors/dosbox-staging GitHub Sponsor]<br/>[https://opencollective.com/dosbox-staging Open Collective]
 |source = [https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging GitHub]
+|issuetracker = [https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/issues GitHub]
 }}
 </div>
-<div style="display: flex; flex-flow: row wrap; justify-content: space-between;">
+<div style="flex: 1 0 auto; margin: 0.5em;">
-<div style="flex: 1 0 240px; margin: 0.5em;">
 <font size="3"><b>The following forks are cores for [[libretro]]:</b></font>
-{{Infobox emulator
-|title = DOSBox Pure
-|screenshot = DOSBox Pure start menu.png
-|screenshotwidth = 250px
-|screenshotcaption = DOSBox Pure start menu.
-|developer = Bernhard Schelling (maintainer) and others
-|version = {{Version|DOSBox Pure}}
-|platform = [[Emulators on Windows|Windows]]<br/>[[Emulators on Linux|Linux]]<br/>[[Emulators on macOS|macOS]]<br/>[[Emulators on Raspberry Pi|Raspberry Pi]]<br/>[[Emulators on Android|Android]]
-|target = [[POS_(Pong_Consoles)_CPUs_and_Other_Chips#x86_CPUs|x86 CPUs]]
-|active = Yes
-|website = [https://github.com/schellingb/dosbox-pure Site]
-|license = GNU GPLv2
-|support = [https://ko-fi.com/schelling Ko-fi]<br/>[http://paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=3WX4KRRTHN6EL PayPal]<br/>[https://schelling.itch.io/gamepad-phoenix/purchase Gamepad Phoenix]
-|source = [https://github.com/schellingb/dosbox-pure GitHub]
-}}
 {{Infobox emulator
 |title = DOSBox-core
 |screenshot = DOSBox-core MIDI on VSTi.jpg
-|screenshotwidth = 250px
+|screenshotwidth = 250
 |screenshotcaption = DOSBox-core running Ultima 8 with a standalone MIDI synthesizer (Roland's Sound Canvas emulator VSTi plugin "Sound Canvas VA") which is run using a VSTi host "Falcosoft Midi Player" (runs on Linux via [[Wine]] here).
 |developer = Nikos Chantziaras (maintainer) and others
@@ Line 116: / Line 112: @@
 |active = Yes
 |website = [https://github.com/realnc/dosbox-core Site]
-|license = GNU GPLv2
+|license = {{License|GPLv2}}
 |source = [https://github.com/realnc/dosbox-core GitHub]
+|issuetracker = [https://github.com/realnc/dosbox-core/issues GitHub]
 }}
 </div>
-<div style="display: flex; flex-flow: row wrap; justify-content: space-between;">
+<div style="flex: 1 0 auto; margin: 0.5em;">
-<div style="flex: 1 0 240px; margin: 0.5em;">
+<font size="3"><b>The following forks are both standalone emulators and libretro cores:</b></font>
+{{Infobox emulator
+|title = DOSBox Pure
+|logo = Dosboxpure.png
+|logowidth = 120
+|screenshot = DOSBox Pure start menu.png
+|screenshotwidth = 250
+|screenshotcaption = DOSBox Pure start menu.
+|developer = Bernhard Schelling (maintainer) and others
+|version = {{Version|DOSBox Pure}}
+|platform = [[Emulators on Windows|Windows]]<br/>[[Emulators on Linux|Linux]]<br/>[[Emulators on macOS|macOS]]<br/>[[Emulators on Raspberry Pi|Raspberry Pi]]<br/>[[Emulators on Android|Android]]<br/>[[Emulators on 3DS|3DS]]<br/>[[Emulators on GameCube|GameCube]]<br/>[[Emulators on Wii|Wii]]<br/>[[Emulators on Wii U|Wii U]]<br/>[[Emulators on Switch|Switch]]<br/>[[Emulators on PS2|PS2]]<br/>[[Emulators on PSP|PSP]]<br/>[[Emulators on Vita|Vita]]
+|target = [[POS_(Pong_Consoles)_CPUs_and_Other_Chips#x86_CPUs|x86 CPUs]]
+|active = Yes
+|website = [https://github.com/schellingb/dosbox-pure Site]
+|license = {{License|GPLv2}}
+|support = [https://ko-fi.com/schelling Ko-fi]<br/>[http://paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=3WX4KRRTHN6EL PayPal]<br/>[https://schelling.itch.io/gamepad-phoenix/purchase Gamepad Phoenix]
+|source = [https://github.com/schellingb/dosbox-pure GitHub]
+|issuetracker = [https://github.com/schellingb/dosbox-pure/issues GitHub]
+}}
+</div>
+</div>
 ===Some notable dead forks===
@@ Line 128: / Line 146: @@
 |title = DOSBox ECE
 |screenshot = DOSBox ECE game directory.png
-|screenshotwidth = 250px
+|screenshotwidth = 250
 |screenshotcaption = DOSBox ECE game directory screenshot.
 |developer = YesterPlay (maintainer) and others
@@ Line 136: / Line 154: @@
 |active = No
 |website = [https://yesterplay.net/dosboxece/ yesterplay.net/dosboxece]
-|license = GNU GPLv2
+|license = {{License|GPLv2}}
 |source = [https://yesterplay.net/dosboxece/ yesterplay.net/dosboxece]
 }}
@@ Line 150: / Line 168: @@
 [[Category:Emulators]]
 [[Category:Computer emulators]]
+[[Category:X86 emulators|*]]
 [[Category:Windows emulation software‏‎]]
 [[Category:Linux emulation software]]
@@ Line 155: / Line 174: @@
 [[Category:BSD emulation software]]
 [[Category:OS/2 emulation software]]
+[[Category:RISC OS emulation software]]
+[[Category:Solaris emulation software]]
+[[Category:BeOS emulation software]]
+[[Category:Stalled emulation software]]

DOSBox: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 01:56, 27 May 2026

Contents

Downloads