I still think that we should merge all the important topics into one, like
this one for example. Giving hints for DOSBox in it would be wonderfull.
For the problem at hand tough I feel the real problem is Windows native people trying to play with DOS commands. Altough it looks like it would solve the problem if we could create a kind of automaton which give out commands instead of the user it would give out the two following problems;
1. The users will never truely learn how to use DOS and thus kind of miss the point of this site and
2. By doing this we would just create a new "Windows" version which is compatible with old DOS games.
More over, I hardly beleive someone willing to read will not be able to understand if they are sent to
the Newbie Guide to DOSBox. Then the only group of people who should not understand is those with poor english skill. If this is a problem then I propose it is translated in a different language then, and that problem should be solved.
Finnaly, I am pretty clueless on how you could "improve" the program yourself. You might give pointers to the program authors, you could write as much FAQ's as you want, in the long run you'll only improve the amount of people being able to use DOSBox right, not improving the program by itself...
Edit: To answer the questions asked by Data:
Quote:
* * * 1. DOSBox It's README:
* * * * * o 1a Is it too difficult ?
* * * * * o 1b Should it be advertised more actively by DOSBox ?
* * * * * o 1c Does DOSBox need more/different documentation ?
* * * 2. DOSBox has an startup message (that blue "window" with text in it).
* * * * * o 2a. What can be improved about that ?
* * * 3. Should DOSBox be more intelligent ?
* * * * * o 3a. automaticly mount your C drive if you type c: ?
* * * * * o 3b. if it detects that a drive is a cdrom -> automaticly mount it as "-t cdrom" ?
* * * 4. Your Points
* * * 5. Your Ideas
|
1a: No.
1b: I have no idea. Is that our problem first of all? It's hard to advertise it more than it is already when you think it comes with all the program versions...
1c: I don't see why. The Readme.txt is fine by itself and there is already a kind of "DOSBox for Dummies" (Aka, the Newbie Guide for DOSBox) which is essentially the graphical version of the Readme.txt.
2a: Unless you want to edit it yourself and host it on this site then I don't see how it could be improved. If you are willing to do the aforementoned option tough, adding a FAQ somewhere on this board and putting the link in the startup screen could be a great asset to newbies.
3a: I don't see why. Unless you want a very specialised startup for the same game (or bunch of game) you won't want to have it done on startup. I myself never use it twice for the same game so I don't mind typing everything, not to say that it's far from a long type anyway. It is probably nostalgia, but I tend to beleive that's also a kind of flexibility from the program that I like to see. Anyone utterly annoyed by the newbie help of Windows XP will understand me on this point.
3b: Joining 3a, I don't think that's necessary. If it was possible then put it as an option since some game won't need it and it could possibly take up memory for nothing or mess up some odd games for no reason.
4 and 5: Already done that in the first part of this post.