Review: DosBox 0.65

DosBox is the single most important piece of software for retro-gamers. This is especially true when you are currently using non-Microsoft OS (Linux or Mac OS). But even for people using Windows XP, DosBox would still be a blessing since most game won't run properly (mostly sound problems), if at all.
DosBox is an x86 emulator complete with DOS. This software allows you to run old DOS-based games on your Windows-, Linux- or Mac OS-based computer. DosBox supports DOS-extender games (e.g., Doom), so virtually any game ever released before the age of Windows is playable. Their site contains a game database, so you can see for yourself whether your game is supported and how playable that game would be under DosBox. Using DosBox, you can play games in a window or full-screen. In the latter case, your games should be virtually indistinguishable from one running under native DOS.
One inherent limitation to any emulator is speed. The documentation admits that DosBox will give the performance of a 386 or 486 machine on most Pentiums. So, don't expect blazing speeds, especially if your machine isn't up to snuff, in simulations or action games (This would not be much of a problem in turn-based games). However, this would not be a problem for the majority of old games out there, being originally written when 386 PC's were kings. Actually, in some cases you would like to slow down the emulation speed. Some games perform erratically if the emulation speed is too high. For example, the missiles in Falcon 3.0 seem to have problem hitting their target in this case. DosBox offers 2 adjustable parameters, namely CPU cycles and frame skipping (no need for external slow-down programs like MoSlo). By properly adjusting these parameters, you should be able to run most games correctly. The only catch is that finding the correct setting is a matter of trial and error.
I have tested DosBox on 2 different computers. One is an old laptop (Pentium IV 1.7 GHz, 256 MB RAM) running Windows XP SP2 and the other is a desktop (Pentium IV 2.8 GHz, 512 MB RAM) running Ubuntu 6.10. In both cases DosBox performs very well, sound and all, out of the box (i.e., I hardly have to touch the configuration file).
In conclusion, if you are into retro-gaming and most of the games you'd like to play are DOS-based, then you should definitely give DosBox a try (download it here).