no comprende dosbox!
 

Free software always has lousy documentation (programmers are too tired coding for free to write docs, doh). I'm really tired running between various forums (VOGONS) or wikis to find tips on advanced configuration. Even added few bits of info on dosbox wiki.

What I propose here is to explain few advanced configuration options which don't get proper coverage in dosbox wiki. This is esp. true with the latest 0.73 version, which changed A LOT.
Squeeze it out of the dosbox creators. Use empirical method if you must. But for the love of DOS do something! Pretty please?

[sdl]
fulldouble = true | false
Shouldn't that speed things up, I mean redrawing? Why is it off by default? In what circumstances we'd get benefit from turning it on?

output = surface | overlay | opengl | openglnb | ddraw
My favorite mystery. Theoretically it can be a way to speed up demanding games (like those running in hi-res), but wrong settings can always mess things up.
Surface is software only, right? And overlay uses hardware? OpenGL introduced aspect ratio problems on my system, maybe it's just different video mode for which I'd need to configure my screen, or maybe opengl poorly handles low resolutions? I always run games in their native res., as I hate blurry scaling that only slows things.
Which mode is the fastest? which one is recommended for hi-res games?

machine = ... svga_s3 | svga_et3000 | svga_et4000 | svga_paradise | vesa_nolfb | vesa_oldvbe
What are the pros/cons of trying various svga emulation modes? The last two are pretty self-explanatory (if games require vesa), but I'd love at least basic info on the other chipset emulation modes

[cpu]
core = simple | normal| full | dynamic | auto
I get that if the game uses DOS extender like DOS4GW or DOS32A it's preferred to run it using dynamic mode (if auto fails)? Because it's for the protected mode right?

It doesn't speed things up, far as I could tell. What you get from it is increased smoothness of animations for the price of speed. (can help with screen "tearing" issues, if you experience them)

What I know is that surface is the slowest. DDraw uses some blurry scaling, but is the fastest. Overlay looks the same as surface, but does not experience screen refresh issues that may occur with some games/animations (eg the CD version of Flashback) That's also the optimum one for the most part.

IIRC something was mentioned about the dynamic mode interpreting the CPU commands instead of emulating a CPU. Might be wrong on that.