PCem, old PCs emulator for GNU/Linux

PCem, is an old PCs emulator than simulate certain old machines like los Amstrad PC for example, this is not emulate only DOS system like DosBOX do so good.

Let's go to install and configure it.

Download and instalation

1. Install all the necessary libraries:
   sudo apt-get install libsdl2-dev libopenal-dev libwxbase3.0-dev libwxgtk3.0-dev automake
2. Download  latest available version of code from bitbucket.
3. Create a folder and uncompress in it:
   mkdir pcem
   cd pcem
   tar -zxvf ../PCemV14Linux.tar.gz
4. Compile and install:
   sudo chmod +x ./configure
   ./configure --enable-release
   make
   sudo make install

Configuration

Run emulator a first time:

pcem

You get an error because you haven't any BIOS but .pcem folder will be created in your $HOME with all the folder structure to add all the files you need:

Folder	Contents
configs	Each system configuration file.
logs	emulator logs (errors and warnings).
nvr	nvr
roms	ESSENTIAL: the roms you need for each system. This folder contains a folder for each PC type to emulate.
screenshots	Screenshots.
Other folders	You can create HD and DSK folders to add HD or floppy images for example.

If we have a configuración of a Windows pcemu for example, we need to copy configuration in .pcem folder.

We can change some things in emulation while machine is running clicking with right button into the emulation window.

Or we can use dialog boxes we can see when pcem start with any roms files included. This allow us add more configuration profiles or change the ones we have.

Important: check that all configuration files have the right path.

Run old DOS games in GNU/Linux with DosBox

We can run old DOS games and utilities with 'DosBox'

You can install it on Ubuntu or Debian from Linux console with the command:

sudo apt-get install dosbox

Make a folder like $HOME/dosutils, and copy all the DOS software, each program in a separate folder.

To run DosBox just type 'dosbox' and  type this command in DOS console to mount C:

mount c /home/yourusername/dosutils

We can automatize the booting of software with $HOME/.dosbox/dosbox-x.xx.conf config file.

This file have several sections and parts, there are the most interesting ones:

• fullscreen : DosBOX may boot in fullscreen changing this. You can toogle between window and fullscreen pressing Alt + Enter keys
• [autoexec] : all the lines you put down of this section with run after DosBOX boot, for example:

mount c /home/yourusername/dosutils
c:

If you see that your game runs more slowly than usual yo can increase the speed with CTRL + F12 keys.

There is a lot of DOS games and general software in public domain, free software, etc... for example Champ Games.