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DOS Emulator In and Out of App Store

gent01 writes "A company called Fast Intelligence got DOSBox running on iOS and dubbed it iDOS. It's been stuck in review for the app store for some time. Evidently the iDOS app was in the app store this morning, but it has already been taken down."

47 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. I would've been first but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bad command or file name.

    1. Re:I would've been first but... by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 3, Insightful

      abort, retry, fail?

      Sounds like Microsoft's mobile phone strategy.

    2. Re:I would've been first but... by WWWWolf · · Score: 2, Insightful

      abort, retry, fail?

      Sounds like Microsoft's mobile phone strategy.

      Ah, but you forgot the crucial part of that plan: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail... =)

  2. Why emulate Denial of Service? by Orga · · Score: 4, Funny

    Aren't most iPhones still on AT&T? I'm not sure why you'd need to emulate no service.

  3. Well, duh. by pclminion · · Score: 4, Informative

    Duh. By emulating DOS, you allow the user to run any DOS program they want. In other words, you make the device programmable. That's a no-no on the App store.

    1. Re:Well, duh. by gman003 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So why did it get approved in the first place?

    2. Re:Well, duh. by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So why did it get approved in the first place?

      Because most of the people in charge of doing approvals are too young to remember what DOS is. ;->

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    3. Re:Well, duh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The reviewer probably thought it was a gimmick that just emulated the experience of DOS... Kinda like a "blue screen" screensaver or whatever.

    4. Re:Well, duh. by drcheap · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Are there any console emulators for the iPhone?

      Yes, quite a few. My personal favorite is the NES emulator which lets me use a WiiMote as the controller via bluetooth.

      Of course, this is all in the jailbroken realm, which is exactly where I suspect to this "removed" app will appear appear next.

      >eagerly awaits to fire up QBasic for some sweet bananna-over-building-tossing action<

    5. Re:Well, duh. by rsmith-mac · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Except that Apple allows programmable emulators as of last month, when they approved the C64 emulator with BASIC support. But hey, don't let that get in the way of a righteous story.

    6. Re:Well, duh. by Enderandrew · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The App Store has no problem with Battle for Wesnoth as a GPL app. Apple doesn't have a problem with the GPL. The FSF has a problem with Apple.

      --
      http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
    7. Re:Well, duh. by Culture20 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I was all: "Awesome!", Then I saw that it's $0.99. I could compile it myself, but that would cost me $99. Every time I think I've decided to stick with iPhone4 for my next phone, I see a reason to buy an n900 instead.

    8. Re:Well, duh. by adonoman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Given the stuff that is being approved, I think this is it exactly. It's sad that it's easier to get these gimmicks approved than something that's actually useful.

    9. Re:Well, duh. by maxume · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Are there hundreds of games that you think it would be "Awesome!" to have on your phone that costs $500 and requires a $2,000 service contract, or are you just trying to make a point in the most ridiculous way possible?

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    10. Re:Well, duh. by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Informative

      I hate to break the news to you friend but BfW basically did an end run around the GPL by having the main developers license to Apple under different restrictions. There is still some stink over this since not all the contributors agreed. you can read more here but I would say since the FSF wrote the GPL if they say it ain't compatible then it ain't, period. Considering the whole basis of the GPL is the four freedoms, which you simply can't have because Apple uses both hardware and legalese to restrict what you can do with the code, I just don't see the two coming to any real agreement.

      Either you have to own ALL the code so you can re-license it in a more restricted form as MYSQL used to do, or you simply can't play in Steve's garden. Personally I don't care for the walled garden approach but if that is your thing, enjoy. But logical hoop jumping won't make a walled garden into a free commons, nor will it make an Apple iDevice compatible with the four freedoms.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    11. Re:Well, duh. by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2, Funny

      DOS was vastly superior to modern OSes in that way, since apps could fully customize their own "screen of death" experience.

    12. Re:Well, duh. by countertrolling · · Score: 3, Funny

      They wanted to play gorilla.bas

      --
      For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
    13. Re:Well, duh. by maxume · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Not lying dude, just being sloppy and lazy, as in, my goal was not to deceive, it was to point out that balking at $1 for a favorite game when you are implicitly willing to spend hundreds (is that better?) just to carry the thing is ridiculous.

      (and I wasn't trying to paint the iPhone as being expensive, Wired says it isn't particularly so:

      http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/06/the-real-cost-of-iphone-4-vs-android-rivals/

      I was setting a benchmark of comparison for the $1, which isn't really a relevant amount for a person that can afford an iPhone. So the $1 is effectively $0, and the OP was using that $0 to make a statement about not liking Apple's management of their platform. Which was ridiculous.)

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    14. Re:Well, duh. by RichiH · · Score: 3, Interesting

      > Every time I think I've decided to stick with iPhone4 for my next phone, I see a reason to buy an n900 instead.

      That will continue to be the case. Until the N9 comes out at which point your focus will change from N900 to N9. Or HTC Desire / Desire HD, if you like Android.

      I have a co-worker with a iPhone 3GS and one with an iPad. Both are annoyed at what the HTC Desire does what they can't.

    15. Re:Well, duh. by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You modify it in the text editor, and compile it using gcc.

      If you mean installation on your phone, then, yes, you'll have to pay $99. This does not relate to GPL, since it's not a restriction the app author has introduced.

      Just the same, a GPL'd app can e.g. be written in a non-free (in any way) development tool, and you'll have to buy that tool to compile it even if you get the code. This has been very common on Windows.

  4. This proves the previous story... by copponex · · Score: 2, Informative

    Apple leans very far to the left.

    1. Re:This proves the previous story... by Ardaen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Is that to the left? When it comes to totalitarians I have trouble telling the difference between the far left and far right.

    2. Re:This proves the previous story... by dave562 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's because as you get further away from the center, the far left and far right tend to lean toward each other. It ends up looking more a horseshoe than a V.

    3. Re:This proves the previous story... by hedwards · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's because in the US it's considered acceptable to accuse a politician of being both fascist and socialist at the same time. Both sides when you get far enough are completely nuts, but try comparing Naziism with Soviet Communism. The difference is significant.

    4. Re:This proves the previous story... by Vancorps · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Very significant, millions died on both sides.

    5. Re:This proves the previous story... by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No, it's because the whole left-right scale is nonsensical. It had some meaning back when it was first used, and up until late 19th, at most early 20th century. It became completely obsolete the moment the self-styled "third way" - fascists and their ilk - appeared.

      Even the two-axis social/economical liberty scale often used by libertarians doesn't quite do the difference justice. Personally, I prefer to separate social freedoms such as lack of sexual or religious discrimination, and political freedoms as in the ability to affect the policy of the state.

  5. Re:Newsworthy? by Darkness404 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yeah, and the BIOS is IBM's property which is why you can only buy IBM-made PCs....

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  6. It's available for Android by LodCrappo · · Score: 5, Informative
    --
    -Lod
  7. Re:Yup by harrkev · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Really, are they so threatened by a 30-year-old operating system that they have to kill it?

    This is the ONE reason that I hate Apple. Wonderful hardware, great software, management needs to be shot. I am a geek. If somebody arbitrarily decrees that certain classes of software WILL NOT be allowed on a platform, I arbitrarily decree that they get absolutely none of my money.

    If Apple would have a change of heart about such things, I would be their biggest fan. As it is, I am their worst foe.

    --
    "-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
  8. GPL3 by CritterNYC · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's actually GPL3 code that can't be used in any apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad due to the anti-Tivoization clauses in GPL3 and the completely locked down nature of iOS and the app store.

  9. Re:Newsworthy? by NotQuiteInsane · · Score: 4, Informative

    DOSBox is a reverse-engineered re-implementation of the PC BIOS (int13h et al) and DOS APIs (int21h et al) and the x86 CPU. There's no Microsoft, Digital Research, IBM or whatever code in there. At all.

  10. Re:Yup by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Really, are they so threatened by a 30-year-old operating system that they have to kill it?

    Anything that would allow a user to run a non-Apple-approved program, anything at all, even a DOS emulator, is against the rules. After all, the users might start thinking that they have some kind of right to run software that was not approved, and next thing you know, they'll be wanting to write programs without paying the fee, or worse yet, they might start wanting to use libre software! None of this, of course, is allowable in Steve Jobs' world, where people are just sheep who are in desperate need of a shepherd.

    Remember, the Apple ideology is that people should not have any desire to hack their systems; they should simply use them, and rely on Apple to take care of technical details. This has been the case for a very long time now, and as long as Steve Jobs is in charge, you can bet that there won't be any change.

    --
    Palm trees and 8
  11. I could have run cygwin! by Alain+Williams · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If I had DOS then I could have installed an old version of cygwin and then got my favourite GNU tools working! Jobs would have had a fit it I could have done that.

    1. Re:I could have run cygwin! by CliffH · · Score: 2, Funny

      If I had DOS then I could have installed an old version of cygwin and then got my favourite GNU tools working! Jobs would have had a fit it I could have done that.

      Even worse, you could have run loadlin and run an old distro on your phone. Play with it a bit and I'm sure someone would have found another way of getting Android up and running on it. :)

      --
      sigs are like a box of chocolates, they all suck remove the underscores to email me
    2. Re:I could have run cygwin! by Nimey · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, you couldn't. Cygwin's always required Windows.

      You may be thinking of DJGPP, which was (is) a port of gcc to 32-bit DOS (via DPMI) and also a collection of GNU utilities compiled with same. The utilities are occasionally updated.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
  12. Re:Lets change the title to: by Bassman59 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Despite 20 years of criticism, Apple still makes sure that nobody can run a batch file.

    Why run a batch file when you can run a proper shell script?

  13. Re:reason why: by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm still ticked that Produs 8 was phased out for Prodos 16. I believe one of the Ultimas used a custom version of Produs 8.

    Sad that (Apple) Dos 3.3 had 30 character filenames in 1979, (Prodos 8 had 15 character filenames AND sub-directories in 1983), yet MS-DOS was stuck in asinine 8.3 mode for 12 years from 1983.

  14. Re:Yup by meerling · · Score: 4, Insightful

    An incorrect quote. "The (laws) are meant to be (followed), not to be (questioned). And while I'm a (citizen) I'm very happy about these things. Something that doesn't require to be (thought about) and that doesn't need to be (discussed) and where even someone is actively taking away any temptation for me to waste my time on it is a nice change now and then."

    Products aren't meant to hacked. That's a voluntary process done by those with the skill and inclination when they feel the need, either from a defect in the original product, a lack of functionality in the original product, or a sense of curiosity and invention. You don't have to hack anything, you don't have to think either, but some people do, and many people feel that someone attempting to prevent them from doing non-dangerous and perfectly legal things with the products they bought is wrong. If you want to read something about the legal basis many people refer to, please look up "Doctrine of First Sale".

    IMO, if you aren't hurting anyone, it's none of their business what you do with your property. So if you don't want to alter your stuff, that's fine, all you need to do is to do nothing, but to say that others shouldn't because you don't feel like it is rather deplorable on your part.

  15. Re:Yup by Sancho · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The problem is not that they make it easy. The problem is that they intentionally make it hard to tinker with.

  16. Re:Lets change the title to: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You are you referring to the other camp as MS? I assume you know that MS has 2008 core that has no default GUI and is 100% managable and configurable from remote scripting or through local powershell scripts as is the entire line of 2008 server products. Just last week, I built a 5 node HyperV cluster using 2008 Data Center core with cluster shared volumes (new clustering feature in 2008 for use with HyperV), six physical network cards teamed in various ways using HP NIC teaming and a dual port Emulex FC HBA using EMC Powerpath for multipathing, all through the command line. I'm more comfortable with Linux server installations so the MS powershell lingo wasn't easy for me at first but it wasn't that hard to figure out either, by the 3rd node, I had the scripts down pat and the 4th and 5th node were done with only having to substitute machine specific values. With some tweaks and a little more practive, I could probably script the entire thing from booting up the from the install DVD through HP's iLo to the server being in the correct OU in the domain and added as a node to the HyperV cluster ready to run virtual machines.

  17. Aw. by fyngyrz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm the author of a very compact, complete and quite speedy 6809/FLEX emulator... I'd love to port that to the iP(o|a)d. Hadn't even tried because of the "no emulated code" policy Apple inflicts on developers. If they approve this DOS thing - eventually, I understand they're still rejecting on that basis right now - I'll hit that baby hard. What a trip it would be to go from my old SS-50 system, really quite a bit of hardware ca. 1970s, to having it in my pocket. Hoo. Double hoo. In the meantime, back to my usual level of discontent...

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    1. Re:Aw. by Lehk228 · · Score: 2, Informative

      get a blackberry, they don't restrict developers and encourage you to integrate your app with the standard blackberry apps and UI with their "super apps" initiative.

      oh and the signing keys required to access sensitive API's costs 20 bucks, one time per developer.

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
  18. yeah but by commodoresloat · · Score: 3, Funny

    you can't spell it without CIALIS either so at least we know that after the revolution we will all be aroused.

  19. Re:Lets change the title to: by ScrewMaster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    that's why Steve create Apple-Script and all sort of applications have exposed hooks so that users can script things that just ain't gonna happen in the other camp.

    Steve created Apple-Script? Yeah, right. I'd like to know how many lines Steve contributed to OSX, actually. I suspect not very many.

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  20. Re:Lets change the title to: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    > that's why Steve create Apple-Script

    Let's see... when did AppleScript appear? Oh yeah, 1993.

    Where was The Steve in 1993? Oh yeah, at NeXT!

  21. Re:Lets change the title to: by Entropy2016 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Comparing the DOS prompt to a Unix shell is like comparing a toddler's big-wheels to a top end performance motorcycle.

  22. Re:Lets change the title to: by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'd say more like an F1 car. Incredibly powerful but most people wouldn't have a clue how to drive it.

    Early versions of Windows were a lot like early Fords - crap but popular. Now Windows 7 is like a modern Ford, after decades of refinement and being overtaken by other manufacturers they finally come out with something that is actually pretty good... Just as everyone is moving to flying cars.

    --
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