Dosbox Use Serial Port

In order to allow DOSBox to use the serial ports of the computer you need to change the settings. I do this in the conf file to have it in one location serial # serial1-4 - set type of device connected to com port.

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Dosbox Use Serial Port On Computer

Active4 months ago

I have done serial port RS-232 connection in C++ using 16-bit compiler (I was using Turbo C++ IDE). It included header file bios.h which contain all the required functions for reading values from the port. Now I want to read value from serial port using C++ 32-bit Mingw compiler. I am using Dev CPP as my IDE. Here I could not find bios.h. Are there any special header files available for this purpose in Mingw? I am using 32-bit compiler now because in my college project I got to use Exception handling which I guess is not supported in Turbo C. Please help me out.

iammurtazaiammurtaza

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1 Answer

Please take a look here:

RS-232 for Linux and Windows¹⁾
Windows Serial Port Programming²⁾
Using the Serial Ports in Visual C++³⁾

¹⁾You can use this with Windows (incl. MinGW) as well as Linux. Alternative you can only use the code as an example.

²⁾Step-by-step tutorial how to use serial ports on windows

³⁾You can use this literally on MinGW

Here's some very, very simple code (without any error handling or settings):

Now you can use WriteFile() / ReadFile() to write / read bytes.Don't forget to close your connection:

olloollo

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Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged c++serial-portmingw or ask your own question.

Active5 years, 11 months ago

I'm trying to find a way to run an old Dos based application that uses a printer connected to the parallel port, I don't think Dosbox supports lpt.

I am interested both in using that printer and in trying to emulate the printer somehow and connect a USB based printer.

Sathyajith Bhat♦

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OfirOfir

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migrated from stackoverflow.comJan 17 '10 at 6:57

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

4 Answers

You can use one of the patched/forked versions of DOSBox that support printing. There are a few.

One I've recently started using is Taewoong's enhanced 'ykhwong' version (as of writing, it was last updated Oct. 12. 2011):

Included Patches:

Direct3D with pixelshaders, OpenglHQ, Innovation, Glide, zip/7z mount, Beep, NE2000 Ethernet, Graphis user interface (menu), Save/Load states, Vertical sync, CPU flags optimization, Various DOS commands (PROMPT VOL, LABEL, MOUSE, etc) and CONFIG.SYS commands (DEVICE, BUFFERS, FILES, etc), Continuous turbo key, Core-switch key, Show details (from menu bar), Nice DOSBox icon, Font patch (cp437), MAKEIMG command, INTRO, Ctrl-break patch, DBCS support patch, Automatic mount, Printer output, MT-32 emulation (MUNT), MP3CUE, Overscan border, Stereo-swap, SDL_Resize, MemSize128, Internal 3dfx voodoo chip emulation, Amstrad & PS/1 sound emulation, Fluidsynth soundfont support, Timidity++ backend support, CGA w/ Monochrome Monitor Support, Improve PC Speaker emulation accuracy patch, etc.

It allows redirecting LPT1 (through LPT3) to an actual LPT port, a printer file (.prn), or to the virtual printer. The valid options in the Parallel/Dongle dialog are reallpt, printer, file and disabled.

If you set it up to send to the virtual printer, it can 'print' to a graphic file (.PNG, .BMP, .PS), or to a Windows printer on the host (it pops up Windows a print dialog):

bwDraco

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Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007

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I somehow doubt that proper emulation of the parallel port was a priority for the DosBox devs.

Id did find this patch someone wrote in 2006:

which links to what is apparently a DosBox fork support forum?

Dosbox.com Port Settings

Depending on how bad you want this, honestly, your best option might be getting older hardware and running DOS natively on it.

Alternately you might try running it in a true virtual machine like VirtualBox, VMWare, Xen, Virtual PC, etc.

Jeff AtwoodJeff Atwood

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Use WinPrint for this:

Takes standard printer output produced by a DOS application, and forwards it to a default Windows printer. Converts code page, strips empty pages, supports BOX DRAWINGS chars. Works on all Windows platforms. Written in Borland DELPHI.

It's specifically designed to help you print from old DOS programs onto new, USB connected printers.

alexalex

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DOSBOX MegaBuild from here : http://home.arcor.de/h-a-l-9000/

Edit config file DOSBOX Megabuild like this

Change to