DOSSelect

This is a small project I made for self-learning purposes. I wanted to understand how a .config file works in DOSBox and how the [autoexec] section behaves.

At the beginning, my goal was to run SRB2Xmas 0.96 on Ubuntu 22.04. The simple solution was just mounting the game folder inside [autoexec] and launching it manually.

But that felt repetitive, so I decided to build something better: a simple DOS-style launcher menu that runs automatically when DOSBox starts.

This project works directly from the [autoexec] section of the DOSBox configuration file, meaning no manual startup commands are needed.

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1. Requirements to use it

· If you are on Windows:

• Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 / 11 (32 or 64 bits)

· If you are on Linux:

• Any distro that supports DOSBox (SDL-based systems)

· If you are on Mac:

• macOS X or newer

· You also need:

• DOSBox 0.7+ installed (recommended: 0.74.3)

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2. What this project does

DOSSelect runs automatically when DOSBox starts.

It replaces the usual manual workflow (mount, cd, start) with a simple menu:

• 1 → Play game

  • Mounts the game directory and launches the game

• 2 → Open command console

  • Opens a DOS shell inside the mounted environment

• 3 → Exit DOSBox

  • Closes the emulator

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3. How it works

Everything runs inside the [autoexec] section of dosbox.conf.

Instead of launching a separate .BAT file, the menu system is executed directly at startup.

It uses basic DOS batch commands like:

• choice
• if errorlevel
• mount
• goto

This makes DOSBox behave like a simple boot menu system.

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4. Installation

1. Install DOSBox
2. Open your dosbox.conf file
3. Edit the [autoexec] section like this in example.config.
4. Start DOSBox and DOSSelect would appear automatically.

5. License

I know there's already a file resuming these BUT I would put it anyway...

MIT License - This means you are free to use, modify and share it. BUT with the condition of CREDITING ME.

BYE!!! - Yours truly, ivandur112