New in This Version

1. Notable New Features

• Greatly improved cross-platform clipboard features

  The clipboard functions have been significanly improved in this version. Clipboard copying and pasting, clipboard device (CLIP$) and DOS clipboard API are now all supported in all platforms (Windows, Linux and macOS). There is now also a “Paste Clipboard” button in AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS and 4DOS.INI sections of the Configuration Tool for pasting clipboard contents.

• New shell commands: CHCP, COLOR, PUSHD, POPD, REPLACE

  This version implements new DOS shell commands including CHCP (changing code page for TrueType font output), COLOR (changing foreground & background colors), PUSHD (storing and changing directories), POPD (changing back directories), and REPLACE (replacing files). Also the TREE command (show directory trees) has been rewritten to support long filenames (LFN) when available.

• New BIOS Setup Utility and BIOS screen improvements

  There is now a BIOS Setup Utlity which will show a summary of the current system configuration and allow users to change the date and time. Press Del key at the BIOS boot screen to enter the BIOS Setup Utility. The BIOS screen has been improved as well, notably the addition of a text-mode BIOS boot screen especially useful for the TrueType font (TTF) output.

• File locking and recording locking for Linux and macOS

  The file-locking and record-locking feature which is especially useful for networked DOS database applications has been implemented for Linux and macOS platforms in this version. So this feature is now supported in all platforms.

• Implemented functions for saving states automatically

  This version introduces the functions to save the current states automatically within the specified time intervals, and the functions can be adjusted for different DOS games and applications. There is also a GUI interface (selectable from the menu) to manage the auto-saving feature at run-time.

• Improved launching Windows applications

  The launching Windows applications feature has been improved in this version. When this feature is enabled (e.g. startcmd=true), then Windows applications can now be launched from within DOS programs or from the 4DOS shell in addition to built-in shell. Also fixed the featurewhen the working directory has no 8.3 filename entry.

• Improved handling for the non-ANSI mode

  You can now use a custom ANSI TSR program (such as NNASI.SYS) instead of the built-in one to display ANSI escape sequences. The DOSBox-X welcome banner will now be correctly displayed even without installed ANSI functions.

2. Notable Usability Improvements

• Scalable Configuration Tool windows

  The windows in the Configuration Tool are now scalable, so that they will no longer look very small when the window is in full-screen, maximized, or High DPI modes.

• Breaking from long outputs from DOS shell commands

  With this version you can now press Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Break to break from long outputs from commands like TYPE, MORE, COPY, DIR /S, and ATTRIB /S, in addition to the existing Ctrl+C/Ctrl+Break handler.

• Changing output options dynamically from the command-line

  You can now use the CONFIG command to change the current output, such as changing between OpenGL, Direct3D, and TrueType font outputs, in addition to doing so from the config file or the “Video” menu.

• Improved Linux default output option

  The default output option for the Linux platform has been changed from Surface to OpenGL for improved out-of-box user experiences.

• Improved messages in the welcome banner

  The messages in DOSBox-X’s welcome banners have been further improved, especially for CGA/MCGA/MDA/Hercules machine types, including showing the correct default shortcuts in these modes.

• Allow more customizations of DOSBox-X’s title bar

  You can now do more customizations to the DOSBox-X title bar, such as hide the DOSBox-X version number and running speed in the titlebar.

3. Bugfixes and Other Improvements

There are also many bugfixes and other improvements, including fixes to some existing features (e.g. fixing screen flickering when hovering over the menu with Direct3D output in the Windows SDL2 build, mounting disk/CD images with long paths from the “Drive” menu, etc.) and ported recent DOSBox SVN commits. Please see the full changelogs below for more information.

4. Full Changelog In This Version

• Added support for the clipboard device (CLIP$) and DOS clipboard API on non-Windows systems (they were previously only supported on the Windows platform). In Linux SDL1 build only read access is supported whereas both read and write access are supported in all other builds. Also, selecting and copying text to the host clipboard using a mouse button or arrow key is now supported in macOS SDL1 build. (Wengier)
• Added “Paste Clipboard” button to the AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS and 4DOS.INI sections in Configuration Tool for pasting clipboard contents. (Wengier)
• Windows SDL2 builds now use same clipboard pasting method as Windows SDL1 builds by default instead of the BIOS keyboard function. The method is now also available for Linux and macOS (both SDL1 and SDL2) builds (although it is disabled by default on these platforms). A menu option “Use BIOS function for keyboard pasting” is added to the “Shared clipboard functions” menu group (under “Main”) to use BIOS function for the clipboard pasting instead of the keystroke method. Make sure this option is disabled if pasting clipboad text into Windows 3.x/9x apps (e.g. Notepad & Write) is desired. This setting can be changed with “clip_paste_bios” config option in in [sdl] section of the config file too. (Wengier)
• With the config option “startcmd=true” or command- line option -winrun, Windows applications can now be launched from within a DOS program or from the 4DOS shell in addition to built-in shell. (Wengier)
• Added the “disable graphical splash” config option in [dosbox] section which when set will cause a text-mode BIOS splash screen to be always displayed at startup instead of the graphical one. If the TrueType font (TTF) output is enabled the text- mode BIOS screen is used automatically. (Wengier)
• Added a simple BIOS Setup Utlity, which will show a summary of the current system configuration and allow users to change the date and time. Press Del key at the BIOS boot screen to enter. (Wengier)
• Added config option “showbasic” in [sdl] section which when set to false will hide DOSBox-X version number and running speed in the titlebar. (Wengier)
• Added experimental option to load a VGA BIOS ROM image and execute it, instead of our own INT 10h emulation. If enabled, it will load the specific ROM file into C000:0000. If not specified, it will choose based on machine type. VGA BIOS ROM images (e.g. et4000.bin for Tseng ET4000 emulation) can be dumped from real hardware or downloaded from the PCem ROMs collection. It can be set with config option “vga bios rom image” in [video] section.
• Improved handling for file- and record-locking for non-Windows platforms. Portions of the code are adopted from DOSEmu. (Wengier)
• Improved handling for the setting “ansi.sys=false”, such as fixing the welcome screen messup in this case and allowing the use of a custom ANSI TSR (such as NNANSI.COM) instead. (Wengier & stu)
• You can now press Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Break to break from long outputs from commands like TYPE, MORE, COPY, DIR /S, and ATTRIB /S. (Wengier)
• Renamed MEM.COM to MEM.EXE to match DOS. (Wengier)
• Rewrote built-in TREE command instead of the one from FreeDOS to support long filenames. (Wengier)
• DELTREE is now an external command appearing on drive Z: as DELTREE.EXE instead of a builtin shell command, since it is an external command in a real DOS system. (Wengier)
• Added REPLACE command to replace files, resembling the MS-DOS counterpart. This command is compiled with long filename support. (Wengier)
• Added PUSHD and POPD commands so that you can store the current directory and changes to the specified directory (optionally also the current drive), then changes the directory/drive back. PUSHD command without arguments show stored path(s). (Wengier)
• Added COLOR command to change current foreground and background colors. It usage is similar to the same-named command in the Windows command prompt. For example, command “COLOR fc” produces light red on bright white; COLOR without an argument restores the original color. (Wengier)
• Added CHCP command to view the current code page, or change the current code page for the TrueType font (TTF) output. Supported code pages include: 437, 808, 850, 852, 853, 855, 857, 858, 860, 861, 862, 863, 864, 865, 866, 869, 872, and 874. You can now also set the code page for TTF output via the optional second parameter of the “country” option in [config] section of the configuration. (Wengier)
• Added function to automatically save states in the specified time interval (in seconds). You can also specify a save slot or start and end save slots to be used. For example, “autosave=10 11-20” will set a 10-second time interval for auto-saving, and the save slots used will be between 11 and 20. If no save slot is specified, then the current save slot will be used for auto-saving. Putting a minus sign before time interval causes the auto-saving function to not be activated at start. You can optionally also specify up to 9 program names for this feature, e.g. “autosave=10 11-20 EDIT:21-30 EDITOR:35” will cause program “EDIT” to use save slots 21-30, and “EDITOR” to use save slot 35, and other programs to use save slots 11-20. Added a menu option “Auto-save settings…” to manage the auto-saving feature at run-time. A menu option “Enable auto-saving state” is added to the “Save/load options” menu group under “Capture” to toggle auto-saving when the function is enabled. Likewise, a menu option “Select last auto- saved slot” is added to the “Select save slot” menu group (also under “Capture”) to switch to the last auto-saved slot (if any). (Wengier)
• The Configuration Tool windows are now scalable, so that they will no longer look very small in e.g. full-screen or High DPI modes. (ant_222)
• If the -defaultdir option is the only or the last command-line option and no parameter is specified, then directory of the primary config file (if any) becomes the DOSBox-X default directory. (Wengier)
• You can now change the current output dynamically with CONFIG command, e.g. “CONFIG -set output=ttf” and “CONFIG -set output=default”. (Wengier)
• The command “KEYB US” will return the DOS codepage to 437 if current codepage is different. (Wengier)
• The setting “output=default” will enable the OpenGL output for Linux systems if possible. (Wengier)
• Fixed the CGA/MCGA/MDA/Hercules-specfic shortcut function buttons in Mapper Editor, and the screen colors after exiting from Mapper Editor when using these machine types in Direct3D output (SDL1 build). Also fixed the messages in the welcome banner for these machine types to inform users the new default shortcuts (Ctrl(+Shift)+[F7/F8]). (Wengier)
• Fixed DOS Int21/AH=0x5a “Create temporary file” function not generating unique files. (Wengier)
• Fixed that the current drive goes back to Z drive when combined unmounts & mounts are used. (Wengier)
• Fixed PC-98 keyboard handling of CTRL+A through CTRL+Z. CTRL+C now works correctly in PC-98 mode.
• Fixed crash of Free Pascal compiler with dynamic core and setting “use dynamic core with paging on = auto” introduced in the previous version. (Wengier)
• Fixed launching Windows programs when the working directory has no 8.3 filename entry. (Wengier)
• Fixed issues with full-screen switch in some cases when the TrueType font output is enabled. (Wengier)
• Fixed an issue in MinGW builds that no data will be sent to the OPL3Duo board. (DhrBaksteen)
• Fixed screen flickering when hovering over the menu with Direct3D output in the Windows SDL2 build that was introduced in the last version. (Wengier)
• Fixed mounting disk/CD images with long paths from the “Drive” menu may not work properly. (Wengier)
• Fixed that the “Save” button in Configuration Tool did not save config file in last version. (Wengier)
• Integrated SVN commits (Allofich)
  • r4346: Fix a long-standing crash that occurred when disconnecting a second joystick after partially mapping it.
  • r4344: Add F8 to toggle printable characters on and off in the debugger.
  • r4340: Fix behavior when main memory allocation fails.
  • r4336: Correct an oversight of r4186 when floppy disks are mounted.
  • r4330: some big endian improvements and drive_fat fixes. (jmarsh)
  • r4320: Report Q-Channel track number in BCD, meaning it is not converted to binary by the CD-ROM device driver. Fixes the CD-Player feature of DOS Navigator 1.51 when playing past track 15.
  • r4318: Add LOGC debug command to log cs:ip only.