Running WPDOS under Linux | Give WPDOS access to Alt-function keys | Basic DOSEMU installation | Modify DOSEMU configuration files | Install another DOS version | Configure DOS | Install or access WPDOS | Start DOSEMU from a hotkey | Full-screen DOSEMU, pro and (mostly) con | Home page
This page has been replaced by a new page that describes versions of Linux and DOSEMU that were current in 2007. The older material found below has been retained in case it is still of use to anyone.
WPDOS can be run under Linux through the use of the DOSEMU software that allows DOS to be booted in a virtual machine. Almost all features of WPDOS work extremely well. You can open large files, print to any printer that works with Linux, and even view WPDOS 6.x graphics in high-resolution VESA modes.
Note (March 2005): These instructions were prepared in 2002, and are now partly obsolete. Version 1.2.2 of DOSEMU now installs correctly from the download sites of most modern distributions, and separate installation of FREEDOS is no longer required. DOSEMU still has stability problems when used with WPDOS, and I will probably not update this page until those problems are solved.
DOSEMU is a superb achievement, and in many ways far superior to high-priced emulation software, but it still suffers from minor bugs. With the current version, on my system, DOSEMU shuts down if I try to run WPDOS a second time during the same session, but it takes only a few seconds to relaunch DOSEMU and restart WPDOS. (This bug has been identified by the authors and will be fixed in future downloadable versions.) Also, I find that DOSEMU crashes if I launch WPDOS with a filename as a parameter, but it runs reliably if I open a file inside WPDOS.
The following instructions were developed under Red Hat Linux 7.2, but the basic details should work with any recent Linux distribution. I do not pretend to be an expert user of Linux, but these instructions should work as written. You must perform all the numbered steps before WPDOS will run under Linux. If you can provide improved or more detailed instructions, please contact me.
Other useful sites: The best available set of instructions for setting up DOSEMU, is on the DOSEMU for Dummies site maintained by Jan Stumpel. The instructions are based on the Debian distribution of Linux, but most steps are applicable to other distributions. A Spanish-language page on DOSEMU in Slackware is also available.
Acknowledgments: I am grateful to Bart Oldeman and Charles Smith for valuable additions and corrections for this page. I was first inspired to try DOSEMU and WPDOS together by reading instructions for setting up a much older version of DOSEMU in a page by John M. Fisk in the Linux Weekend Mechanic, February 1997.
In many Linux distributions, the desktop window manager seizes the Alt-F1, Alt-F2, and other Alt-function keys and does not let them through to WPDOS. You can often, but not always, use Shift-Alt-F1, Shift-Alt-F2, etc., as replacements for Alt-F1, Alt-F2, etc., and WPDOS will detect the Alt-function key equivalents. This does not always work, and if you intend to use WPDOS often, you can reclaim the Alt-function keys from the desktop window manager with the following procedure.
These instructions apply to the Gnome configuration installed by default in Red Hat Linux 7.2; your distribution may require a different procedure!
Before setting up DOSEMU, you may need to modify your Linux setup so that WPDOS will detect the Alt-F1, Alt-F2, and other Alt-function keys. In Red Hat Linux 7.2 and other Linux distributions, these keys are used by the Gnome environment to switch between "virtual desktops." To make these keys accessible to WPDOS under the Gnome environment, use the Gnome main menu, then Programs, Settings, Sawfish window manager, then Shortcuts. Make sure the drop-down menu at the top says Global. In the list of key mappings, select each mapping that begins with M-F1, M-F2, etc., and click on the Edit button. ("M" stands for "meta key," which by default matches the Alt key on IBM-style keyboards.) Click on the Grab... button and press Shift-Alt-F1 for the first mapping, Shift-Alt-F2 for the second, etc. When you click OK and close the Shortcuts window, Shift-Alt-F2 (instead of Alt-F2) will switch to the second virtual desktop, and Alt-F2 (and similar keys) will be available to WordPerfect.
Note: In the KDE environment, I am told that you can make similar changes by using Control Center, Regional & Accessibility, Keyboard Shortcuts (or, in older versions of the Control Center, under Look & Feel, Key Bindings).
These instructions rely heavily on the extensive but sometimes obscure documentation at DOSEMU.org.
The following assumes that you understand basic Linux concepts and that you have a bootable DOS disk created under MS-DOS 6.22 or some other standard version. (Windows 95 or 98 DOS should be suitable, but I have not tested them; DOS boot disks are available, perhaps not entirely legally, on various web sites.) Also, you should have a print queue defined in your Linux system, and you should confirm that you can print to your printer. If the default printer queue is named lp your later setup will be slightly easier, but the queue can have any name you like.
Download the files. Start installing DOSEMU by visiting DOSEMU.org, where you can download the most recent stable binary releases of DOSEMU and Freedos-dosemu. Download them to your home directory (typically something like /home/yourname). At the time this page was posted, the current stable binary releases were named:
README.bindist
dosemu-freedos-bin.tgz
dosemu-1.0.2.1-bin.tgz
Warning: Do not use your distribution's RPM manager to download and install more recent versions of DOSEMU. As of January 2002, the more recent versions of DOSEMU available on-line through the Red Hat and Mandrake package managers do not work at all. (You will see a warning that alludes to this problem on the DOSEMU.org site.)
Install and run DOSEMU. Open a terminal in your home directory and enter the following commands:
tar xzf dosemu-freedos-bin.tgz
tar xzf dosemu-1.0.2.1-bin.tgz
This will create a directory named/home/yourname/dosemu containing all the files you need to run DOSEMU, but unfortunately you will probably need to do more work to run WPDOS. First, though, go to the dosemu directory and enter the command./xdosemu to start the DOS emulator in an X-window. After reading the agreement and typing yes, a DOS window should start using the Freedos version of DOS. You can close the window with theexitemu command or simply click on the close button at the upper-right corner of the window.
Note: All these instructions assume that you will run DOSEMU in an X-window, not in a console or terminal. WPDOS does not work well when run in a DOSEMU console or terminal (the function keys are incorrectly mapped), but it works very well when run in an X-window. (Latest bulletin: Problems with DOSEMU in the console have been solved by Jan Stumpel, as described on his DOSEMU for Dummies web page, in section 10.)
Unfortunately, WPDOS does not run under the FreeDOS DOS that comes with DOSEMU (at least, not on my system), so you may need to use another DOS version. (You may want to try the "Updated DOSEMU-tailored FreeDOS" available from the DOSEMU.org page.) If WPDOS refuses to start under FreeDOS, you can get reliable performance with MS-DOS 6.22 The following instructions assume that you use MS-DOS 6.22, but any standard DOS should work.
With your bootable DOS floppy disk ready, create a directory in/home/yourname/dosemu named something likedos622 or any other name you like. Change to that directory; insert the DOS floppy disk into the drive, and use the Linuxmcopy command to copy the following files to yourdos622 directory:io.sys, msdos.sys, andcommand.com. You may want to copy other files that you use with DOS, especiallyedit.com or some other text editor, and, if you want CD-ROM access in DOSEMU,mscdex.exe.
Also (very important), go to/home/yourname/dosemu/freedos and copy the following files to yourdos622 directory (or whichever directory you are using for your DOS version):
ems.sys
emufs.sys
exitemu.com
lredir.com
If you want to enable CD-ROM access in DOSEMU, go to/home/yourname/dosemu/freedos/dosemu and copycdrom.sys to yourdos622 directory (or whichever directory you are using for your DOS version). You will also needmscdex.exe from your real DOS version, as noted above.
Note: A simpler and more elegant alternative to the preceding two paragraphs (starting "Also (very important)" is to create a symbolic link that lets you access the files in yourfreedos directory as if they were in a subdirectory (namedfreedos) of yourdos622 directory. In DOS, make sure that C:\DOSEMU is in your DOS path (as specified in C:\Autoexec.bat). And in Linux terminal, create the symbolic link by entering this command (notice the space after freedos/):
ln -s /home/yourname/dosemu/freedos/ /home/yourname/dosemu/dos622/
If you have access to a directory of DOS files that match the version you are installing, it may be convenient to create ados directory inside thedos622 directory and copy all your DOS files into it. (Consult any Linux guide to learn how to access a DOS/Windows drive on a dual-boot Linux-Windows machine.)
If you have a Linux-Windows dual-boot machine with WPDOS already installed under DOS, you should decide whether you want to use the existing WPDOS directories on your Windows drive, or if you want to install a fresh copy of WPDOS that resides entirely in your Linux system.
If you want to use your existing WPDOS setup on your Windows drive, ignore the following paragraph, but make sure to read the section elsewhere on this page on accessing a WPDOS system already on your hard disk.
If you want to create a new WPDOS setup in your Linux system, and you have access to the directory or directories in which you store WPDOS and its associated files, create directories for those files inside thedos622 directory and copy the WPDOS files to these directories. (If you have a high-speed internet connection, you may want to use FTP to upload these directories to a server from your Windows machine and then use FTP under Linux to download the files to your new system.) Alternately, later in this process, you can install WPDOS from floppy disks (or from a CD-ROM) inside DOSEMU, in the same way that you install it under DOS or Windows.
Go to/home/yourname/dosemu/conf and use a text editor to modify the dosemu.conf file. Find the string that reads:
$_hdimage = "freedos"
and change it to read:
$_hdimage = "dos622"
(replace "dos622" with whatever directory you are using).
Then find the lines that read:
$_xms = (1024)
$_ems = (1024)
and, if you have enough memory, change the numbers from1024 to16384 in order to give WP all the memory it needs.
Then find the line that reads:
$_printer = "lp"
and, if your printer queue uses a different name, replacelp with the name of your printer queue.
Then, if you intend to use DOSEMU from the console, instead of the graphics-based xdosemu, find the line that reads:
$_graphics = (0)
and change0 to1 (that is, change zero to one). This lets DOSEMU use your video chip to generate graphics. This step is not necessary for using DOSEMU in graphics mode in an X window.
Save the dosemu.conf file.
Also modify the DOSEMU user configuration file. Go to (or remain in)/home/yourname/dosemu/conf and use a text editor to modify the dosemurc file. Find the string that reads:
$_X_keycode = (off)
Change(off) to(on) and save the doesemurc file.
This change allows WPDOS to use the number pad Plus and Minus keys to scroll up and down one screen, but only if the NumLock key is toggled on, which is the reverse of the way the NumLock key works with WPDOS under real DOS. (Charles Smith discovered how to use the number pad Plus and Minus keys and generously provided the details for this page; see also Jan Stumpel's DOSEMU for Dummies page, section 8.)
Return to /home/yourname/dosemu and, in a terminal, enter the command./xdosemu to start DOSEMU under the new configuration. This time, the DOS version that you configured in earlier steps should begin. You may close DOSEMU by running exitemu.com from the root directory of the DOS system (if you copied exitemu.com to your new DOS directory as recommended earlier), or by clicking the close button at the upper right of the emulator window. While DOSEMU is running, you may, if you want, setup a full DOS installation by installing DOS from floppy disks in drive A:.
Note: You may also run DOSEMU within the existing Gnome or other terminal, instead of opening a separate terminal for it, by using this command./dosemu instead of./xdosemu but the shifted function keys do not work properly, and you must first change the size of the terminal window to at least 25 lines from the default 24 lines. (If you set it to a larger size, WPDOS will automatically expand to fill the row- and column-setting of the terminal window.) You can specify the number of rows and columns when starting a Gnome terminal by using this command:
gnome-terminal --geometry 80x25
Note the two hyphens at the beginning of the parameter. If you want to run the Gnome terminal from a hotkey (using the hotkey creation method described elsewhere on this page), you can add the --geometry 80x25 parameter immediately after the name of the program. See also the section below on running DOSEMU in full-screen mode.
Edit Config.sys and Autoexec.bat. After booting DOSEMU, create a C:\Config.sys file that looks like this:
device=ems.sys
buffers=30
dos=umb,high
files=60
You should not specify himem.sys or emm386.exe, but you should use theems.sys file that you copied earlier from the freedos directory. You may also add any other lines you need. You should also create a C:\Autoexec.bat file to set the path and other options that you use under DOS.
If you want CD-ROM access, add this line to C:\Config.sys:
devicehigh=c:\cdrom.sys /d:mscd0001
and this line to C:\Autoexec.bat (replace f at the end with the desired drive letter of your CD-ROM):
lh mscdex.exe /d:mscd0001 /l:f
Note: If you use Freedos, replace mscdex.exe
with shsucdx.exe. Alternatively, you can save DOS memory by
not installing any CD-ROM software at all, but, instead, use the
command
If you want to start WPDOS every time you boot into DOSEMU, and want DOSEMU to close when you exit WPDOS, you can write a batch file that looks something like this:
c:\wp51\wp /r
exitemu
and place at the end of C:\Autoexec.bat a line that runs the batch file. (But you may prefer to feed keystrokes to DOSEMU from a hotkey as described below.)
If you want your DOS window to be larger than 80x25 lines, you can use two utilities available from this site's text mode page. David Manthey's VMODE.EXE can set the screen to many standard video modes; experiment with 50 through 57 and 108 through 10C (hex). Jason Hood's TM.COM program can set the screen any practical number of rows, but the option to set the screen to 90 columns does not work.
Important note for users of WPDOS 6.x: Before you begin, remember that DOSEMU supports VESA graphics internally; no matter what video card is actually installed in your computer, DOSEMU can use the WPDOS 6.x VESA VBE graphic driver. When installing WPDOS 6.x, always select the VESA VBE graphics driver; if you use an already-existing setup, add the VESA.VRS graphics driver to your WPDOS directory (a copy of the file may be downloaded from this site's graphic mode page) and under Shift-F1/Display/Graphics Mode, select VESA VBE and choose a screen size suitable for your system.
Either: (a) install WPDOS into DOSEMU (if you do not want to use an existing WPDOS setup already on your hard disk)
If you copied the installation files for WPDOS into yourdos622 directory at an earlier stage, you may use them to install WordPerfect in DOSEMU. Otherwise, install the program using floppy disks or a CD-ROM. When you are finished, WPDOS should run normally.
... or: (b) Access WPDOS on an already-existing Windows or DOS drive on your hard disk. If you have a dual-boot Windows-Linux (or DOS-Linux) system, with WPDOS already installed under DOS or Windows, DOSEMU can access the existing setup. The following instructions assume that you want read-write access to your DOS drives.
I recommend this second method only if your DOS or Windows system has WPDOS on a drive letter other than drive C:, because you can easily assign your WPDOS drive the same drive letter inside DOSEMU that it has under DOS or Windows (this keeps DOSEMU from . It is possible to make DOSEMU treat your real DOS-based drive C: as if it were drive C: in DOSEMU itself, but the method is too complicated to describe here. If you want to use your real drive C: as drive C: in DOSEMU, see the section "Using Lredir" in the documentation at DOSEMU.org.
Begin this method by creating a directory in your Linux drive with an easily recognizable name; you will use that name when you give the Linux command to mount your DOS/Windows disk. To create this directory, log in as root (or enter the command su in a terminal window to log in temporarily as root) and enter a command like this:
mkdir -m 777 /dosdisk
Next, use the Gnome main menu, then Programs, System, Hardware browser, and look at the Hard Disks listing. Identify your DOS/Windows drive that contains WPDOS; on my system, WPDOS is on drive E:, which Linux identifies as /hda3.
Then, while logged in as root, edit your /etc/fstab file by adding a line that looks like this, with the first item being the Linux name of your WPDOS drive, the second being the name of the directory you created earlier, and the third and fourth items as shown here:
/dev/hda3 /dosdisk msdos umask=000
Note the spelling of the last item (there is no letter between "u" and
"m"). Save the file, then, still logged in as root enter the
command
Now run DOSEMU and edit your C:\Autoexec.bat file to add a line like this at the end of the file (notice the backslash and forward slash)
lredir e: linux\fs/dosdisk
Restart DOSEMU. You should be able to access your DOS disk in exactly the same way you access your disk under real DOS.
You may use the same basic technique to access any directory in the Linux file system as if it were a DOS drive. For example, this line in C:\Autoexec.bat makes your Linux home directory appear in DOSEMU as drive D:
lredir d: linux\fs/home/yourname
Note: As an alternative to adding the lredir command to C:\Autoexec.bat, you can add the following command (modified to suit your system) to C:\Config.sys, but this has the disadvantage that you cannot specify a drive letter:
device=c:\emufs.sys /dosdisk
Also, in the Freedos DOS system supplied with DOSEMU,
C:\Auotexec.bat includes lines that assign your home directory to drive D:
when you append the
A reminder about the number pad keys. Because of a bug in DOSEMU, you must turn on NumLock under DOSEMU if you want the number pad keys to act as they do when NumLock is off under real DOS. In other words, if you want to use the number pad Plus and Minus keys to scroll up and down one screen in WPDOS, you must press the NumLock key. This is the opposite of the behavior of the NumLock key under real DOS. (Thanks to Charles Smith for discovering this behavior.)
You can start DOSEMU simply by pressing a combination of keys like Ctrl-Alt-d. Open the Gnome main menu, then Programs, Settings, Sawfish window manager, then Shortcuts. Make sure the drop-down menu at the top says Global. Add a new item, use the Grab button and press Ctrl-Alt-d; in the scroll-down list of commands, select Run Shell Command and, in the field that opens, specify a command in this form:
/home/yourname/dosemu/xdosemu
or, more simply:
~/dosemu/xdosemu
After you click OK and close the dialog box, you can run DOSEMU with your newly defined hotkey.
Because DOSEMU lets you "feed" keystrokes to the emulator from the command line, you can create separate hotkeys that launch DOSEMU and run different commands. For example, you might create a batch file inside DOSEMU that runs WPDOS and then the exitemu command to close the emulator, and name the batch file startwp.bat. To launch DOSEMU and then start that batch file from (for example) a WP51 directory on drive E:, you would create a hotkey (following the directions above) with this as the command (follow the dashes, spaces, single and double quotation marks, and upper-case and lower-case letters exactly, and type the entire command on one line):
~/dosemu/xdosemu -D-a -I 'keystroke "e:\r cd \\wp51\r startwp.bat\r"'
In the string within the double quotation marks, \r sends the Enter key, \\ sends a single backslash, and the spaces after the Enter key are present for readability only. For other command-line options (including a code that speeds up the keystrokes) see the section on "Running a DOS-application directly from Unix" in the documentation at DOSEMU.org.
Latest bulletin (December 2002): Some of the problems described below have been solved by Jan Stumpel; consult his DOSEMU for Dummies page.
DOSEMU can be run in full-screen console mode (character-based, not graphic), but the experience is frustrating: the Shift-function keys are interpreted incorrectly, so that (for example) Shift-F1 performs the action normally performed by Shift-F3; the Alt-function and Ctrl-function keys seem not to work at all. (This may be fixed in the next version of DOSEMU.) Graphics are apparently not available unless you install and run DOSEMU as the root user (I have not tested this).
If you want to try DOSEMU in full-screen mode, press Ctrl-Alt-F2 to open a character-based terminal window, and log in. Move to your /home/yourname/dosemu folder, enter ./dosemu and press Enter to start DOSEMU. You may exit DOSEMU with Ctrl-C, and you can return to Linux's graphic mode by pressing Ctrl-Alt-F7.
WPDOS will not display the correct box- and line-drawing characters around its dialog boxes unless you make this change in the dosemu.conf file: in the line that reads $_term_char_set="" you must insert the string ibm between the quotation marks. To display all the characters in the IBM character set (including the up and down arrows, playing-card symbols, etc.,), you must apparently also run DOSEMU as root. (Information from Jan Stumpel.)
Any further suggestions that would help make DOSEMU work well in full-screen mode will be gratefully received.