Some days ago, I asked for help running an old DOS program for a CA
attorney. It seemed to have a problem with 16 bit DPMI.
While we have had to (temporarily, I hope) compromise and use a licensed
copy of DOS 6.22 to run it with dosemu, it runs perfectly on dosemu.
Instead of usind a hdimage of freedos, which will not run the program, one
creates a dir, /var/lib/dosemu/bootdir, and fills it with command.com,
io.sys, msdos.sys, \mouse\mouse.com, whatever other command files you wish,
pop in a simple autoexec.bat to set path, and load mouse driver, and
config.sys. You can even put symbolic links in \bootdir to let dosemu
access other partitions, if they are mounted in linux. I guess some use
this to run apps in a dos partition, from linux.
In /etc/dosemu.conf, one changes $_dpmi (off) to memory size in Kbytes, I
used 4000. Then, you change $_hdimage to "bootdir".
I had loaded in Redhat, from Drake 8.2 since Redhat doesn't provide it,
freedos, dosemu, and xdosemu packages.
Thus, to execute, open a terminal in KDE, and type xdos for an X window,
which some users claim works better. dos to run regular dosemu in the
terminal.
I realize this isn't WINE stuff, but you guys gave me the clue to write a
man in Finland who explained the problem as 16 bit DPMI. So, I thought I'd
give you the results, though they are dosemu, in case someone else tries to
fix it via WINE.
>
Bruce McGovern writing from Mexico City
