It has come to light in the PRM80 yahoo group that having a computer with "real" dos is something that doesn't exist anymore. With this I set upon investigating and writing instructions to use old radio service software in DOSBox.

Here is a "Quick Start" Guide I have written to get DOSBox up and running on a PC with Winblows on it.

For complete reliability use real serial ports with DOSBox as it is a bit hit and miss with RS232-USB adaptors. I have tried 3 different versions of the adaptor and only 1 worked with FPP. All 3 worked with the Tait and Motorola programmers I have however.

  - Goto DOSBox and download it.
  - Install the program after downloading it
  - Go to the DOSBox menu in the start menu and choose DOSBox Configuration. This will load the configuration file into notepad.
  - Scroll down the configuration file and look for the section [Serial].
  - In this section you will find the following: <code>
serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

For your real serial ports on your computer, you will have to change it to:

serial1=directserial realport:COM1
serial2=directserial realport:COM2
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled</code>
  - You could set either serial1 or 2 to your usb adaptor, but this may or may not work. See the [[CP2012]] page for an update on this.
  - Know the location of your FPP folder. (Most likely C:\FPP). If this is the case, scroll down to the end of the configuration file and there is a section called [autoexec]. In this section, add the following line:<code>mount c c:\</code>
  - This will mount your Windows C drive to the DOSBox emulators C drive. This will allow you to go to c:\FPP and run your version of the PRM80 software.
  - Save the configuration file.
  - Goto the start menu and run the DOSBox program.
  - Program any old radio as you would have with an old DOS Computer!!!

{{ :dosbox.jpg |}}