The internet archive has a entire section devoted to these compilation CD-ROM’s. What better way than to try one of the shareware compilation CD-ROM’s that was distributed in the 90’s? These compilation CD-ROM’s contains shareware versions of many of the classic games you’ll remember from the DOS days. The next step is downloading some good old games onto the Raspberry Pi. The Ultimate ShareWare Games Collection vol. Now DOSBOX is installed, configured and ready to run from the start menu – but our dos folder is still empty. # Lines in this section will be run at startup. Then scroll down to the bottom of the file and add the following to make sure DOSBOX knows about the folder we just created and will start up in that folder: dosbbox/dosbox-0.74.confĬhange DOSBOX to run in fullscreen by changing the configuration option: fullscreen=true Then we configure DOSBOX to automatically start inside that directory. We start by setting up a folder where we will keep all our DOS games and files: mkdir dos
If it asks for your password to install the package use the default password: raspberry. To install DOSBOX open a terminal window and enter the following commands: sudo apt-get install dosbox Install and configure DOSBOXĭOSBOX is a DOS emulator that let you run DOS based games and programs on your Raspberry Pi. Once we’re connected to the internet we can start setting up DOSBOX. Now you can connect to your WiFi pressing the WiFi icon in the top right corner (you’ll need a WiFi adapter for this to work on the Raspberry Pi 2), find your WiFi network and enter your WiFi password. When first booted the Raspberry Pi should boot into Pixel and show you a screen like to the right. Sit back and relax, once powered up we want to finish the basic setup. The first boot always takes a little while because the Pi is resizing the filesystem to the size of your SD card. Next hook your Raspberry Pi up to your monitor, keyboard and mouse, and power up the Raspberry Pi. When downloaded extract and flash the image onto a SD card using Win32DiskImager as described here.
The full list of items you’ll need is here: A keyboard, a mouse and a monitor – only this time it needs to be a HDMI monitor, not VGA, and your PC is replaced by a Raspberry Pi. To get started you’ll need a setup similar to your old PC setup. If you have found issues, have feedback or anything else then please be sure to drop a comment below or over at you want to relive the glory days of playing Wolfenstein 3D, Commander Keen, Lemmings and Wacky Wheel on your PC? Or would you like for your kid to experience the original days of PC gaming? Building a Raspberry Pi DOSBOX is the perfect way to relive DOS gaming and learn about the Raspberry Pi while doing it. I hope this Raspberry Pi DOSbox tutorial has helped you with setting everything up correctly. Assuming you have mounted the folder correctly. If so run this inside DOSBox by simply writing the name of the setup file.
Take a look inside the games folder and see if there is a setup file. This could be a problem with the game itself or it may require extra setup.
You may also find that certain games won’t load at all. You may find that some games it’s almost impossible to get it working correctly on the Pi. I found tinkering with the GPU and overclocking helped improve this a little bit. I ran into performance problems on a few of the games I played. Typically, the more popular ones are still for sale.
I think one very important thing to know is that whilst the majority of DOS games have been released for free there are still some that require payment. If you need more help on configuration, then the official website for DOSBox will be incredibly handy or you can take a look at the full tutorial above.
The hardest part is downloading games and loading them in the software correctly. The process of setting this all up is incredibly easy and short. If you want other classic games, then be sure to check out my video on the Raspberry Pi emulator. It’s important to know that DOSbox is only capable of running games that were built for MS-DOS. If you want to play a huge range of classics then this is perfect for you. In this video I setup a Raspberry Pi DOSBox that lets you play hundreds of classic DOS games that are available for download from tons of websites on the web.