[General Topics] Menneisyys:
1.2.3 Cases you will NOT want to use an MS-DOS emulator - III: existing, native ports available for WM

It’s always preferable to play native WM ports / versions over emulating (if the quality of the port is at least comparable to that of the original running in a high-quality emulator), mostly because of CPU usage and hardware requirement issues. An emulator generally requires (unless we’re speaking of for example BitBank’s SmartGear, which has really modest hardware requirements) a far more powerful hardware than a native game. This means (most and, with emulating MS-DOS, all) emulators are either hard (at least without excessive overclocking) to run on slower devices at a usable speed or, on faster devices, they result in a very quick battery consumption because of the high processor usage.

Now that we’ve seen the cases where using MS-DOS emulators is NOT recommended, we can return to the original subject: running titles that are worth running under MS-DOS emulators because there isn’t another way of making them work.

Let’s see how you can acquire MS-DOS apps (if you don’t have the ones you’d like to play around) and, then, move on to introducing the (current) emulators.

1.3 Getting MS-DOS games

Start with the Wiki page List of commercial games released as freeware. Make sure you get games released before 1994 (or, if you can stand the increased slowness, 1995).

I am not allowed to provide you direct (!) links to so-called 'abandonware' sites. However, if you just use Google, you will find them at once. Also, if you spend more than five minutes at browsing Vogons, the highly useful DOS emulation page, you'll find thousands of links to these sites (it seems some people and even official forums don't take down abandonware links. However, I still refrain from giving you generic URL's, just to be on the safe side.)

Don't be afraid of dowloading from well-known abandonware sites. If you really are afraid of viruses, make sure you don't run these titles directly on your desktop PC, only under an emulator. Then, even if it, for example, formats your (virtual) hard drive (that is, the directory you give it as a hard drive), the damage will be limited. And, rest assured, it won't do any harm to your device. For this test, I've downloaded the games from abandonware sites so that I can test the games they host for viruses and trojans. I haven't found anything. That is, you can absolutely safely download from these sites.

1.4 What can I run?

Generally, games (and, of course, apps) released before 2004. Try NOT to play 3D games (this also includes classics like Betrayal at Krondor - they won't be very fast). You can have success with later, not very graphics-intensive games (for example, adventures).

1.5 Can I run Windows XP on my Windows Mobile device?

Nope. Under the most recommended emulators (n0p's DOSBox port and PocketDOS), all you can do is run Windows 3.11 if you want. I, however, don’t really recommend It - it's the best to stick to emulating strictly MS-DOS applications and games.

With Mamaich's (old) Windows Mobile port of Bochs (Bochs is a full x86 emulator, not just an MS-DOS one), however, you can even install Windows 95 as is described in THIS very long thread (also linked from PPCT). (You'll also need this Nano98 and this micro95 (also see THIS and THIS) tutorials for ripping Windows 95 and 98. Also see THIS for more info.) You, however, won't be able to do anything productive with these installs: it's REALLY slow and has major problems with input devices. That is, don’t even bother reading through these threads – not even the basic operating system will run flawlessly, let alone apps / games. Don’t even think of running for example Starcraft on a Windows Mobile handheld.

2. Desktop MS-DOS / x86 emulators and their ports on Windows Mobile

For the desktop operating systems, there exist several MS-DOS and x86 emulators. Gaming-wise, the ones discussed at Vogons are the most recommended; of them, only DOSBox has Windows Mobile ports. Actually, it has several ports; of them, n0p's port is the most important.

As far as emulating the entire hardware is concerned (also meaning the ability to run, say, Windows XP on a sufficiently powerful, high-class machine - definitely NOT a current Windows Mobile one!), the above-introduced Bochs should be mentioned. In addition, the same Mamaich has also ported QEMU, a very fast (on a current 624 MHz Windows Mobile device, it equals to about a 16 MHz 386 (screenshot 1, 2). Also see THIS.) CPU emulator. It, however, is buggy and has major problems; definitely NOT recommended for ANY serious work. (This is why I've also put it, along with the Bochs port, into the 'not recommended' section.)

In the following section, I elaborate on all the emulators available on WM.