DOS Emulator In and Out of App Store 338
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."
I would've been first but... (Score:3, Funny)
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Re:I would've been first but... (Score:4, Insightful)
abort, retry, fail?
Sounds like Microsoft's mobile phone strategy.
Aw. (Score:4, 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...
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oh and the signing keys required to access sensitive API's costs 20 bucks, one time per developer.
Why emulate Denial of Service? (Score:5, Funny)
Well, duh. (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Well, duh. (Score:4, 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. ;->
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The reviewer probably thought it was a gimmick that just emulated the experience of DOS... Kinda like a "blue screen" screensaver or whatever.
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DOS was vastly superior to modern OSes in that way, since apps could fully customize their own "screen of death" experience.
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They wanted to play gorilla.bas
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That or because it is based on dosbox, that is GPL licensed, and we already know that Apple App Store and GPL does not mix [fsf.org]
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VLC [apple.com] would disagree with that.
GPL3 (Score:2)
Re:Well, duh. (Score:5, 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.
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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?
Re:Well, duh. (Score:4, 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.
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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.
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Bastards! I was getting stoked for some Microsoft Decathlon action...I used to be the fastest "greater than" symbol in the 400 meter dash.
I consistently broke the shot-put guy's arm. It's not supposed to bend that way!
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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<
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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?
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Why run a batch file when you can run a proper shell script?
Because they're the same thing. For example, Windows Command Prompt is what UNIX users would call a "shell", and its scripts are text files with names ending in .bat.
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Comparing the DOS prompt to a Unix shell is like comparing a toddler's big-wheels to a top end performance motorcycle.
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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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And for that, we thank them...
Some of us who weren't raised upon and thoroughly steeped in an overcomplicated GUI find that batch files, and scripting in general, very useful indeed.
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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
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SOME of the Third Party solutions:
As well there's IronAHK, a DOT NET version of AHK.
Then there's the first party (Windows solutions):
While DOS/CMD.exe itself is somewhat limited to hooking into the system, all one would have to do is compile something like AHK's DLLCALL() or RegisterCallBack() for line command usage.
As well most of the useful GNU line command too
Re:Lets change the title to: (Score:4, 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.
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> 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!
reason why: (Score:2)
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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.
frankly my dear... (Score:2)
It's unlikely most Apple employees today even know what an Apple II is (is that some kind of Mac?) much less DOS 3.2/3 or ProDOS/8. I hesitate to even think if they know the difference between 13 and 16 sector disks.
the difference between 13 and 16 sector disks (Score:2)
The answer is "3", right?
( ducks )
Cheers,
This proves the previous story... (Score:2, Informative)
Apple [slashdot.org] leans very far to the left.
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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.
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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 i
Re:This proves the previous story... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This proves the previous story... (Score:4, Insightful)
yeah but (Score:4, Funny)
you can't spell it without CIALIS either so at least we know that after the revolution we will all be aroused.
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Apple [slashdot.org] leans very far to the left
Seems like the lean far right when it comes to controlling what their users can and can't do. In fact maybe just a little right of draconian.
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I've always thought it was strange that draconian control was considered right-of-center. Modern-day liberalism in America, taken to its extreme, usually entails petitioning a centralized entity, such as the government, to enforce ways of living on everyone else, redistribute their income, censor their government criticism, and so on. It's like the political spectrum isn't a horizontal line but a circle where both sides meet at the bottom in the stinking pit of fascism, as if the ultimate goal of any ideolo
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Yup (Score:2)
Nothing new there, for better or worse the appstore is ruled under dictatorship-like rules. Apple's rules.
The publishing of the emulator was obviously an unfortunate mistake from someone at apple, since they would be getting lots of request from other emulator writers who previously got their app rejected.
For example, the famous psx emulator writer tweeted the following just a couple hours ago: http://twitter.com/#!/zodttd/status/28814884233 [twitter.com] followed by http://twitter.com/#!/zodttd/status/28817744190 [twitter.com]
Re:Yup (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.
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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 o
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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.
To be fair, although it's Apple's fault for promoting this idea in the first place, the idiotic masses have lapped the idea up and claim to love it.
Personally, I'm wondering why the app developers even tried to release this emulator in the App Store. I'd imagine that anyone who'd want to use this would be geeky enough to have a jailbroken iphone, so why not just release it in Cydia? As an added bonus, if they wanted to charge for it, they'd be much less likely to have the app pirated if they released it t
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Remember, the Apple ideology is that people [...] should simply use [their systems], 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.
And as long as this remains the case for the general public, Apple will remain phenomenally successful.
Re:Yup (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem is not that they make it easy. The problem is that they intentionally make it hard to tinker with.
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Come on, this is not an ideology, it's just a product philosophy and a design principle. The iThings are meant to be used, not to be hacked. And while I'm a geek I'm very happy about these things. Somethi
Re:Yup (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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Great message! Good tone. A solid effort, and I agree wholeheartedly!
Not enough people use "decree", I think.
Still, as I read it to our guys in the breakroom, none of us much care for the closer:
"As it is, I am their worst foe"
Something missing, there. It lacks Zing.
Also, it makes it sound like you're a FOE, just not a very effective one.
How about these for your next post?
As it is,
"...I am their most strident foe!" -- sounds more opposed, I think.
"...I am their worst nightmare!" -- works well if you're St
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Easily solved: do your emulating in javascript! I'll get you started. Here's an Apple BASIC interpretor [calormen.com] in javascript. Here's a C64 emulator [kingsquare.nl] in javascript. And here's an NES emulator [benfirshman.com] in javascript!
How fast is iOS Safari JavaScript? (Score:2)
Easily solved: do your emulating in javascript!
I don't yet own an iPod touch 4 on which to test the JavaScript emulators that you linked. Do they operate anywhere near full speed (1.02 MHz for Apple II and C64 or 1.79 MHz for NES) in Safari on the device?
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There you go mistaking a dedicated device for a generic computing platform.
Silly, you fell right into Apple's hands--thinking just what they wanted you to think, you are even holding the iPhone to a higher standard than other phones (which generally have a significantly more strict policy--few if any phones have been as open pre Android).
Next thing you know you'll be saying the iPad sucks for not being a general-purpose computer, something it was never intended to be. It's a web appliance that happens to
It's available for Android (Score:5, Informative)
As "aDosBox".. http://androiddosbox.appspot.com/ [appspot.com]
Re:It's available for Windows Mobile (Score:2)
Interpreted Code Is Not Allowed (Score:2)
Apps that use interpreted code are not permitted in the app store. This is the same reason that no full browsers other than Safari are allowed on iPhones (Opera Mini has to use a server to interpret Javascript to get around this). iDOS's original approval was a mistake. It won't be admitted to the app store under the current policy.
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Ok Ok We get it (Score:2)
I wonder why people still waste a lot of time developing for it (stuff they know that will break the rules), or developing it at all.
I also wonder why people still buy apple products if they are so horrible.
The tone of this post (sarcastic, questioning, forceful?) is left up to your imagination.
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Previously it wasn't as much of an issue because the only serious competition was Blackberry,and I'm not sure that a lot of those apps would've worked on a Blackberry.
Android costs twice as much as iPod touch (Score:2)
I also wonder why people still buy apple products if they are so horrible.
An iPod touch, which officially runs apps from the App Store, is a lot cheaper than an Android device that officially runs apps from Android Market. As of right now, one needs to buy a $500 phone to run Market apps, compared to an iPod touch 4 that costs half that. There are packages containing infringing copies of Google's applications that will get the Market working on devices that aren't phones, but Google has cease-and-desisted distribution of packages like these [slashdot.org].
Is Apple so dominant? (Score:2)
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No, but when the domain in the article's URL is apple.slashdot.org, yes, we can.
Also, when the summary refers to the iOS.
I could have run cygwin! (Score:5, Interesting)
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If I had DOS then I could have installed an old version of cygwin [cygwin.com] 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. :)
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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.
Screenshot (Score:2)
C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN, DOS, RUN!
OK, so Slashdot doen't like all caps, so I'll include another comment: it would be cool to have Win3.1 running on an iPhone too.
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It could have been based on FreeDOS.
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It wasn't taken down at MS's request.
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MS-DOS is still Microsoft's property, Microsoft weren't the only Disk Operating System in town, just the most successful.
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And this is newsworthy.... how? DOS is still Microsoft's property, regardless of how thoroughly reverse engineered it has become. This is like dedicating an article to YouTube making a video unavailable because a record label said take it down.
MS/DOS is Microsoft's "property" (stolen property btw, but that's another story), DOSBox is not. But this is not what this is about: iDOS was taken away not because it would infringe on Microsoft, but probably because it would turn the non-jailbroken iPhone/iTab into a programmable device.
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Re:Newsworthy? (Score:5, 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.
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Its a nice to have thing which is being blocked for no particular reason.
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Okay its being blocked for no good reason.
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I have a dev license I already run anything I want on my device.
GPL3 (Score:5, 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.
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No, the problem is that it would make the i$thing user programmable. This is why any and all emulators are banned.
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