Try having a look at the
official FAQ on the DosBox site.
Basic Setup and Installation
Command Line
Z instead of C at the command prompt
Internal Programs (important, especially MOUNT)
Most of the stuff in there is not really needed, but you would do best to familiarize yourself with the specific topics I linked to.
The mounting of your DosBox games directory, switching the promt to the emulated C: drive and clearing the screen from previous commands can all be executed from the [autoexec] section of
dosbox.conf, so you won't have to re-type them every time round.
Frontend programs can help running DosBox with varying configurations for different games.
For both a more accessible user interface and oldschool feel, you can use Norton Commander (get it from
our programs and utilities page - scroll down to the bottom to find it). NC might seem awkward at first, but in fact it is a very functional genuine DOS era file manager frontend. It has a plethora of functions that will help you in navigating around the directories, while still retaining the command prompt.
Though all of this might seem complicated, it's very easy once you get used to it. So remember:
DON'T PANIC!!! 