DOSBox

DOSBox (see Wikipedia for more info) is a x86 emulator with DOS. It allows people to run their old DOS programs and games on their new operation systems, including Linux, Windows XP and Mac OS. For those who do not know what DOS is, you probably won't be interested in DOSBox. But for those who remember the days of typing "dir" and "cls", DOSBox allows you to relive those old memories.

DOSBox is compatible with many older DOS games. Check out the DOSBox page for a list of games and their compatibility with DOSBox. For myself, I had no trouble running the old Koei games, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 and Uncharted Waters, on DOSBox. Games like Dune 2, Warlords, Daggerfall and Eye of the Beholder ran well too.

Installing DOSBox is easy. Just download the correct version for your OS, install it as you would any other software. You may need to use a text editor to change some of the settings for your DOSBox configuration file, though. What usually needs to be changed is the settings for CPU cycles, sound and graphics. There are some DOSBox GUI frontends out there, you can find out more about them from the DOSBox download page.