Hi,

I've got the latest version of Dosbox installed on my PC running on Ubuntu 22.04. I'm interested in buying a few of the old games that I used to play in the 90s starting with Descent. In the listing it says that it is only for Windows / Mac, but if it runs through Dosbox, does the underlying OS matter?

If anyone has experience of installing I'd love to hear how it went. Thanks.

The underlying OS should not matter. I have played other Dosbox-powered games (but not Descent) using a Linux-hosted Dosbox. In some cases, the GOG-shipped files were not usable as-is due to them assuming a case-insensitive filesystem.

However, for the case of Descent and Descent 2, there are open source projects such as Descent: Rebirth that allow you to get a native Linux version of the game. These are generally a better choice as they offer better direct use of system resources (such as joysticks), offer higher resolutions, and fixes for bugs that affected the original game.

The latest version of Dosbox is old and antiquated. Make sure you run Descent 1 or 2 in Dosbox-Staging instead:

https://dosbox-staging.github.io/getting-started/introduction/

https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/wiki/Frequently-asked-questions#where-is-the-config-file

Dosbox-Staging - Discord Chat Channel

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Descent 1 and 2 also have source ports that allow you to play Descent 1 and 2 outside of DOS. Refer to https://www.reddit.com/r/descent/comments/146grks/descent_getting_started_guide/ for further details.