View source for Networking using DOSBox IPX

DOSBox has builtin support for IPX networking. This howto contains tricks about using IPX networks as TCP/IP tunnels between two or more DOSBox processes. Current document contains an example configuration with two DOSBox VMs - you can chat between them after a successful deployment.

== Prerequisities ==

=== Host OS ===

Supposed to be *NIX-ish. Corollary that if dosbox processes are executed as non-root, then you should select an UDP port number over 1023 for tunneling IPX over UDP - in our example: 33213

=== Install software ===

Install dosbox, if it is not installed yet.

=== Creating working directories ===

 mkdir -p ~/ipxtunnel/server
 mkdir -p ~/ipxtunnel/client

=== Creating server.cnf ===

In folder '''server''', create server.conf with content:

 #!/bin/sh
 [gus]
 ultradir=C:\  cd "$(dirname "$0")"; dosbox -conf "$(basename "$0")" ; exit $? ; : <<rem
 gus=false
 [ipx]
 ipx=true
 [autoexec]
 mount c .
 c:
 ipxnet startserver 33213
 set mtcpcfg=c:\mtcp.cfg
 echo packetint 0x60>c:\mtcp.cfg
 echo hostname cli2>>c:\mtcp.cfg
 echo IPADDR 192.168.8.2>>c:\mtcp.cfg
 echo NETMASK 255.255.255.0>>c:\mtcp.cfg
 ipxnet connect 127.0.0.1 33213
 ipxnet status
 ipxnet ping
 ipxpkt 0x60
 nc -echo -listen 22222
 ipxpkt -u
 ipxnet disconnect
 ipxnet stopserver
 exit
 rem

Set executable rights on it:

 chmod +x server.cnf

=== Creating client.cnf ===

In folder '''client''', create client.conf with content:

 #!/bin/sh
 [gus]
 ultradir=C:\  cd "$(dirname "$0")"; sleep 5; dosbox -conf "$(basename "$0")" ; exit $? ; : <<rem
 gus=false
 [ipx]
 ipx=true
 [autoexec]
 mount c .
 c:
 set mtcpcfg=c:\mtcp.cfg
 echo packetint 0x60>c:\mtcp.cfg
 echo hostname cli1>>c:\mtcp.cfg
 echo IPADDR 192.168.8.1>>c:\mtcp.cfg
 echo NETMASK 255.255.255.0>>c:\mtcp.cfg
 ipxnet connect 127.0.0.1 33213
 ipxnet status
 ipxnet ping
 ipxpkt 0x60
 nc -echo -target 192.168.8.2 22222
 ipxpkt -u
 ipxnet disconnect
 exit
 rem

Set executable rights on it:

 chmod +x client.cnf

=== Getting files ===

* From crynwr's pktd11.zip, get IPXPKT.COM and copy it to both server/ and client/ folders
* From mTCP's mTCP_2013-05-23.zip, get NC.EXE and copy it to both server/ and client/ folders

== Launching server and client ==

Change to the common parent folder of server/ and client/ directory. This is '''~/ipxtunnel/''' in our example. Then run both client and server simultaneously from the same terminal:

 server/server.cnf & client/client.cnf &

Wait some seconds until '''Connected''' text appears in one window. After that, you can chat between the two windows!

'''Under non-*NIX host''': please execute from different terminals/shells/windows/whatever!

=== Screenshot from netcat (nc.exe) server ===

[[File:Dosbox_ipxtunnel_tcp_server.gif|DOSBox ipxtunnel tcp server]]

=== Screenshot from netcat (nc.exe) client ===

[[File:Dosbox_ipxtunnel_tcp_client.gif|DOSBox ipxtunnel tcp client]]

== External links ==

* http://www.brutman.com/mTCP/mTCP.html
* http://crynwr.com/drivers/