Can I use Linux to run DOS programs?

[Jonathan Hutchins]

David,

Please send only Plain Text messages to the mailing list.

----- Original Message -----
From: David Carter

> I've been using OS/2 Warp 3 since Sep 1993 and it ran
> DOS programs well.  Until my wife bought a new Dell
> mega-machine mid-Nov with Windows ME on it, I've
> been happily insulated from the bugs in Windows OS's.

First, you should know that OS/2 is just an early version of Windows NT,
developed by Microsoft in conjunction with IBM.  You might find that NT4 or
W2K would be a good system if you needed MS compatibility.  A lot of
progress has been made with personal computers since OS/2 made the scene.

> I have 3 old DOS programs that I want to continue using:
> A USAF flight planning program, a Navy sunrise-sunset/moonrise-moonset
> program, and WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS.

You may be able to find native Linux equivalents of the first two, and Word
Perfect has Linux compatible versions available.  Linux doesn't have any
inherent emulation of DOS, but there are sevaral DOS emulators available.
Linux itself is a mosaic built by many different contributors, and while
some of the distributions give the impression of a coordinated package,
that's an illusion.  I would suggest doing some research in the HOWTO's at
www.linuxdoc.org and looking through www.freshmeat.net to see what emulators
and other software is available.

Good luck, and don't forget to turn off that HTML mail!