[Date Prev][Date Next][Subject Prev][Subject Next][
Date Index][
Subject Index]
Dosemu, Linux, XyWrite
- Subject: Dosemu, Linux, XyWrite
- From: peregrine@xxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 07:37:44 -0500
Because Ubuntu is based on Debian, I'm assuming that Dosemu will install similarly in any Debian-based system. It may be very similar in others. I'm using Ubuntu 7.10.
After tinkering for weeks with DOSbox last spring (with just enough success to encourage me), I
discovered that Dosemu was one component of my default Ubuntu installation. I'm guessing that Dosemu
would install about the same for anyone using a Debian-based Linux distribution including any of the
Ubuntu variants (Kubuntu, Edubuntu ...).
There are a lot of potential variables in this. For example, I use a text editor called "Gedit" to
do some of this setup, and there are many alternative editors for Linux that are just as good. I'll
simply relate the method that worked for me.
In my case, Dosemu resides in this Linux filesystem directory:
usr/lib/dosemu
There isn't a lot you need to understand about Dosemu to use it, but here are a few things I think
are important:
Dosemu starts by default in a virtual environment it calls Drive Z. This is more or less equivalent
to the C: prompt in DOS, but in fact it is a subdirectory of the Dosemu directory noted above.
Programs running in the DOS emulation environment will not have direct access to the core Linux
filesystem. Knowing this may save you some confusion or despair someday.
Your "home folder" in the Gnome desktop is recognized by Dosemu as Drive D. This is key to setting
up XyWrite, because you will move all your essential Xywrite files into a subfolder of that home
folder. You have read/write permission for that directory by default. XyWrite also will recognize
this as Drive D, so any absolute paths set in STARTUP.INT or in the U2 registry, etc., must be
modified to reflect that.
By default, Ubuntu users cannot directly edit many of the essential files in the Linux filesystem,
BUT ... because we must modify configuration files in some programs, a provision is made for us to
log in temporarily as a "superuser" to do so. When you install Ubuntu, part of the installation
requires you to set a password for that. Other Linux distributions I've used are similar, and should
function the same.
So logically it follows that I cannot read or write to that usr/lib/dosemu directory UNTIL I become
a superuser. I do this by opening a program called "terminal," which looks quite a bit like a DOS
prompt. I enter this command at the prompt:
sudo gedit ../../usr/lib/dosemu/drive_z/xy.bat
... and when prompted to enter my password, I do so. Only then is the command executed.
That command starts a text editor called "gedit" (the default editor may be called "kate," if you
use the KDE desktop environment, and you'll have to modify that command accordingly). Then the text
editor navigates to your Dosemu directory to create an empty batch file called "xy.bat" ... which
you will now use to set up the commands to run XyWrite.
My xy.bat file contains the following lines, all of which will look very familiar to XyWrite users
who've launched with a batch file in "real" DOS:
d:
cd xywrite
editor /4096
exitemu
That's all. The last line is optional. If you omit it, the Dosemu window will remain open after
XyWrite shuts down. Exit "gedit," or whatever other text editor you used to create the batch file.
Any further details can be included, and may already be included, in STARTUP.INT ... so now we need
to set up a desktop shortcut, called a "launcher" by Gnome.
That's easy. Right-click with your mouse on the desktop and "Create Launcher." Name the Launcher
"XyWrite" or anything else you like. The key thing here is the "Command" box, in which you'll enter
this:
dosemu xy
The "Comment" box is optional, and anything you write there will be manifested as a "tool tip" that
pops up when you hover over this desktop "launcher."
Click on "OK," and you've finished installing XyWrite.