DOSBox-X can run anything up to 98, I think; not sure about ME. It also runs across multiple operating systems (it's even in NetBSD's pkgsrc).
For number 2, "it depends"; qemu, vmware, etc all have different features. An alternative is to use something like 86Box (https://github.com/86Box/86Box/) which can present the OS with a complete DOS-era computer with video and other peripherals.
For number 3; I think there's a networking set in the freedos distribution. I have no idea how robust it is, though.
Number four -why? Unless I'm very wrong, the aim of freedos isn't to preserve the dos software landscape but to ensure that there's an ms-dos compatible operating system out there if people want to use it. Also, winworldpc has a fair amount of dos software as does archive.org as I remember.
>As stated, DOSBox handles most DOS software. But one of the biggest emulation/preservation blind spots right now is the Windows 3.1 --> Windows 98 non-NT kernel software that was semi-DOS and semi-not.
The software is largely still out there, and 86box covers the emulation. The real blind spot is the early 00's hole where computers were too complex to emulate well but things are just slightly incompatible with modern operating systems.
For number 2, "it depends"; qemu, vmware, etc all have different features. An alternative is to use something like 86Box (https://github.com/86Box/86Box/) which can present the OS with a complete DOS-era computer with video and other peripherals.
For number 3; I think there's a networking set in the freedos distribution. I have no idea how robust it is, though.
Number four -why? Unless I'm very wrong, the aim of freedos isn't to preserve the dos software landscape but to ensure that there's an ms-dos compatible operating system out there if people want to use it. Also, winworldpc has a fair amount of dos software as does archive.org as I remember.
>As stated, DOSBox handles most DOS software. But one of the biggest emulation/preservation blind spots right now is the Windows 3.1 --> Windows 98 non-NT kernel software that was semi-DOS and semi-not.
The software is largely still out there, and 86box covers the emulation. The real blind spot is the early 00's hole where computers were too complex to emulate well but things are just slightly incompatible with modern operating systems.