[TriLUG] 16 bit DOS apps under Linux?

[Scott G. Hall]

On 13-Apr-2005 13:58 EDT, Greg Brown wrote:
> My client out at the beach (mostly running XP) has automagically downloaded
> SP2 which managed to break the 16 bit subsystem. This client basically
> exists to run an old DOS app which communicates over a serial card.  My
> understanding is (hotgrits, tell me if this is true) that I can emulate 16
> bit DOS using qmenu, or whatever that program was named.
> 
> I'd like to migrate them to Linux desktops and be done with all this virus 
> hassle, etc.  However, that said, can't I provide a complete 16 bit
> subsystem using qmenu running under XP?
> 
> What a headache.

Any access to the original application's source?  Reimplement?  I didn't think
so ...

Anyway, I have had good success here running some old DOS apps under Win4Lin.
Win4Lin is based on the open-source "Merge" project, which may have its roots
in the old Digital Research's DOS-Merge product (maybe, maybe not).

Within Win4Lin, I loaded a full version of Win98SE.  I have run RBase for DOS,
DataFlex, MS-Word 3 and Multimate under that combination.  I even have an old
Heath/Zenith program called Zemulator that runs CP/M under the set (imagine
"pip"ing files to "copy" files to "cp" files under several layers of
emulators).

However, I have not tried running such programs as ProComm or PC-Comm under
Win4Lin to see if I could fire up communications through a serial port.
Win4Lin may work though: according to their FAQ, question on limitations:

    "Direct Device Access: Currently limited to serial and parallel port."

I would this think is important, since most Point of Sale applications
depend on the serial port to print receipts, scan barcodes, dial credit card
authorizations, and upload register & timeclock data to a central location.
And most POS apps are written for MS-DOS.

Win4Lin (formally Netraverse): http://www.netraverse.com/products/win4lin50/

Another route you could try is DOSemu, the old quentinscial open-source DOS
emulator.  I used to use this under UnixWare (SVR4.2) and InterActive UNIX
(SVR3.2)

DOSemu-1.2.2: http://dosemu.sourceforge.net/stable/

another possibility:

DOSbox: http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/download.php?main=1

and a list of more emulators (not just MS-DOS) for Linux:
http://www.linuxsoft.cz/en/sw_list.php?sort=0&id_kategory=43

There was a point where Novell bought Digital Research, and then bought
Unix Systems Labs, and offered DOS-Merge within UnixWare with DR-DOS 5
(DR-DOS was Digital Research's "clone" of MS-DOS, having grown up from its
roots in CP/M-86, and MS-DOS was originally a "clone" of Digital Research's
CP/M.  DR's GEM environment was a great graphical environment, ala. Atari
and very Amiga-like, that competed with MS-Windows for some time -- until
MS's now famous anti-trust shutout of DR in forcing vendors to sign a
non-GEM agreement in order to port to Windows-3.x.)  In 1995, I was successful
in running GEM on DR-DOS 6 under DOS-Merge on a UnixWare 1.1 box in order
to run Ventura Publisher within UNIX.  And yes, I even ran Zemulator on the
same setup to run some old ham radio atmospheric bounce calculations that
was written for CP/M.  Funny what you could do on an old Pentium-90 or an
AMD 5x86 150MHz ...

Since a lot of x86 UNIX SVR4 binaries will run directly in Linux, you might
be able to find a copy of DOS-Merge for UNIX and run it directly.

Check here for some links to the OLD OS's, old apps, and drivers for modern
machines:

Ghost in the Machine: http://www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/dos/dosw31.asp

--
Scott G. Hall
Raleigh, NC, USA
ScottGHall at BellSouth.Net