Anapaest & others...
I never encountered this problem AFAIK...
Until recently I had a separate DOS boot on my laptop so maybe that's why.
You can get freeware (or at least freely downloadable) virtual machines now so you may be able to run a 'real' DOS install from a USB key/small partition.
Free VMs here:
http://www.thefreecountry.com/emulators/pc.shtml
It is certainly FAR easier to setup DOSBox and change setup etc. but it still isn't perfect. If you still have your old DOS install discs, though they are probably available online, you should be able to get this running nicely.
Maybe that should be my next project...