VK3SMB

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.

1. Goto DOSBox and download it.
2. Install the program after downloading it
3. Go to the DOSBox menu in the start menu and choose DOSBox Configuration. This will load the configuration file into notepad.
4. Scroll down the configuration file and look for the section [Serial].
5. In this section you will find the following:

   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

6. 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.
7. 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:

   mount c c:\

8. 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.
9. Save the configuration file.
10. Goto the start menu and run the DOSBox program.
11. Program any old radio as you would have with an old DOS Computer!!!