I have no idea what irmx is, but why don't you just try? There are great guides in the Guides forum, both for getting started with DOSBox, and for getting Win 3.11 up and running.

rmx is the real time operating system. we have an application that is running on the above system. it is not possible for us to port the same to m/c running above 200mhz. checked internet to find that it is possible to run only at old processors like pentium-s.

could u please advice

1. is it possible to use a new higher processor based system to run the above program using dosbox .

I doubt anyone here has ever heard of IRMX, or even tried to run it in DOSBox. But maybe it will work. Only way to know is to try it.

DOSBox can be configure to boot a different operating system, but it can be a little difficult to configure.

Check the Wikipedia page on IRMX, it seems there's a DOS "extender" which can run IRMX apps "on top" of DOS, and thus could work with DOSBox. My uneducated guess is that the OS itself will not run in DOSBox. ANISH, why don't you use a "real" PC emulator (or virtualization solution or whatever you want to call it) like Qemu or VMWare? I believe DOSBox is not the best tool to run an OS natively. As this IRMX thingy is, according to Wikipedia, a RTOS, i believe you could have problems running it in any emulation - AFAIK, emulation can never be "real time", no matter how fast the host system is.

On a different note: from reading your post, i would guess that you're talking about business applications here. There are other post regarding business apps on VOGONS. I can't understand why a company would want to use a "dirty" approach like emulation to run possibly business critical apps. If i would run a company, i would either have the app ported to another system, or just let it run on the hardware it was designed for. Anything else is not very professional, IMHO.

I doubt as well that it will work in any emulation (that is not cheating, i.e. heavily patching the kernel to workaround OS limits). Purpose of realtime systems is to get guaranteed latency constraint and guaranteed per-process (high) timing resolution for critical apps. As dosbox usually runs on host systems that aren't anywhere near realtime, it's useless to run on it a DOS-based realtime system with requirements that even a host OS can't fulfill. Dosbox also wasn't designed with high-resolution timing or low-latency emulated irq's in mind.

But as there are some new RT Linux distros around, maybe it's possible to modify dosbox to run on very short intervals, if host OS can provide something like very high resolution timers (say 100kHz or more). Problem is that you start loosing CPU time on context switches and maybe some new race conditions in dosbox code with such short intervals.

ADDiCT wrote:

On a different note: from reading your post, i would guess that you're talking about business applications here. There are other post regarding business apps on VOGONS. I can't understand why a company would want to use a "dirty" approach like emulation to run possibly business critical apps. If i would run a company, i would either have the app ported to another system, or just let it run on the hardware it was designed for. Anything else is not very professional, IMHO.

Keeping an existing software system running can be very professional.

Running in emulation may be much easier and cheaper, especially if the software is no longer supported.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Gene Wirchenko wrote:

Running in emulation may be much easier and cheaper, especially if the software is no longer supported.

<Sarcasm>Thank you for telling me.</Sarcasm>. Sure it may be, that's obviously the reason for the requests. And these people are so "professional" they use a emulator that has been developed for playing DOS games. Well, maybe it's just a testament to how good DOSBox is. (;

[quote="ADDiCT"][quote="Gene Wirchenko"]Running in emulation may be much easier and cheaper, especially if the software is no longer supported.[/quote]
<Sarcasm>Thank you for telling me.</Sarcasm>. Sure it may be, that's obviously the reason for the requests. And these people are so "professional" they use a emulator that has been developed for playing DOS games. Well, maybe it's just a testament to how good DOSBox is. (;[/quote]

You are welcome.

DOSBox is an emulator that works. We professionals like things that work, both DOSBox and that old app. This is so, regardless of what DOSBox was originally intended to be used for.

Yes, it is a testament to how good DOSBox is. It is also a testament to that old app, and my old app (WordStar), and so on.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

And what if an imperfectly emulated or optimised environment causes the app in question to act abnormally or fail at some undetectable stage (say, information retrieval)? Is that also professional?

Gene Wirchenko wrote:

We professionals...

(;

Guys - keep the discussion on topic please, or take it to Milliways.

[quote="dh4rm4"]And what if an imperfectly emulated or optimised environment causes the app in question to act abnormally or fail at some undetectable stage (say, information retrieval)? Is that also professional?[/quote]

As professional as running natively on a Pentium with the FDIV bug. Any environment might cause trouble whether emulated or not. The professional thing is to deal with it.

I have not had any trouble running WordStar under DOSBox.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko