7. dosemu and X-windows(97/2/9).

7.1 Can I run dosemu in console mode while running X?

Ronald Schalk (R.Schalk@uci.kun.nl) reported (94/1/17) that

Yes, no problem. Just remember to use ctrl-alt-<Fn> to go to a Virtual Console (VC), and you can run any Linux application (dosemu is a linux-application). I've got almost always WP5.1 in a dos session.

[Note: Use ctrl-alt-F7 to switch back to X from dosemu, if X runs on VC7.]

7.2 Is it possible to run dosemu in a window in X-windows?

If you have X installed and you have successfully compiled dosemu and run it successfully outside X-windows, you should be able to run "xdos" or "dos -X" right away to bring up a dosemu window. If this does not work, make sure:

  1. Dosemu has X support compiled in. This is default, however
     if you you have compiled dosemu with "x off" in the
     compiletime-settings file you don't have X support. So changing
     "x off" to "x on" in the compiletime-settings file, followed by
     "make pristine; make; make install" should build 
     you a dosemu-executable with X support, if you have the 
     X-libraries installed in /usr/X11R6.
  2. Set up your X key-mappings.  In an xterm, type

     xmodmap -e "keycode 22 = 0xff08"
     xmodmap -e "keycode 107 = 0xffff"

     These lines fix the backspace and delete keys respectively.
  3. Configure the X-related configuration options in your 
     /etc/dosemu.conf file.

Alternatively, you can run dosemu inside a color xterm, which is not recommended because many color xterms have buggy support for the complex text display capabilities of dosemu. This does not require X_SUPPORT to be compiled into dosemu. However, if you really want to do this, do the following steps:

  1. Install ansi_xterm.  The recommended package is available as:
     tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/ALPHA/dosemu/Development/ansi-xterm-R6.tar.gz

  2. Set up your X key-mappings.  In an xterm, type

     xmodmap -e "keycode 22 = 0xff08"
     xmodmap -e "keycode 107 = 0xffff"

     These lines fix the backspace and delete keys, respectively.
  
  3. Configure the terminal-related (not X-related) settings in
     /etc/dosemu.conf

Marty Leisner (leisner@sdsp.mc.xerox.com) reported (95/3/31) that

I have xrdb log the following resources

dosxterm*Font: vga dosxterm*geometry: 80x25 dosxterm*saveLines: 25

If you use the xrdb method, all you have to do is run "xterm -name dosxterm"

7.3 Xdos dosen't work on a remote X-display!

At present, dosemu is set up to use the MIT shared memory extensions. This extension only works on a local display. If you want to run xdos on a remote display, compile dosemu with "mitshm off" in the compiletime-settings file after a "make pristine" or on the clean source tree(97/2/9).

7.4 Xdos dosen't find the VGA font

Check that the vga fonts you installed are listed in the font.dir of the directory you installed the fonts in:

hertz:~> grep misc /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config
    FontPath    "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
hertz:~> grep vga /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/fonts.dir 
vga.pcf vga
vga11x19.pcf vga11x19
hertz:~> ls /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/vga*
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/vga.pcf
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/vga11x19.bdf
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/vga11x19.pcf

7.5 The vga font is very small on my high resolution display

Look for the vga11x19 font. (97/2/13)

7.6 Dosemu compilation fails with some strange error regarding X!

As stated above, dosemu uses the MIT shared memory extensions by default. Under XFree86 they are only available with Version 3.1.2 and above. If you have an older version, consider to upgrade, or configure dosemu to not use this extension (see last section)(97/2/9).

7.7 Does ansi emulation work properly?

Marty Leisner (leisner@sdsp.mc.xerox.com) reported (95/3/31) that

Yes. I use nnansi.com under X windows. I find 25, 43 and 50 line mode work properly, however 50 line mode is difficult to use on a 1024x768 screen (unless smaller fonts are used or you use a bigger screen. 43 line mode will resize the xterm window to use 43 lines.