Is there a feasible way to make a portable DOSBox machine? I’d love to play some old Sierra games and such using a portable machine. Maybe with a controller with per-game keys and such.
Portable DOSBox machine
dosbox
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Best Answer
There are many ways to achieve what you're asking but let's look at the quickest (& cheapest) to set up:
Initial Setup
Start by installing DOSBox, and put your games in an accessible location (let's say
C:\Games
). Now we need to configure the shortcuts to DOSBox. The DOSBoxShortcuts page on the Wiki explains this in detail:Controller Configuration
If you want multiple games to have different keybinds & configurations, it's probably easiest to set up multiple copies of DOSBox, then use the inbuilt Mapper tool to map certain keys to the controller's buttons & sticks. Doing it this way, each copy of DOSBox will be precisely configured for the particular game that you wish to play.
Hardware
A laptop, notebook or tablet running Windows or a Linux distro, and a controller (wired or wireless) is probably the cheapest & simplest option. Personally I use a laptop with a wired Xbox 360 controller (cheap and reliable, lots of support for the controller).
A 'custom' hardware solution built to look like a handheld gaming portable Nintendo Switch or other portable console is a little out of scope for this site, but certainly not out of the realm of possibility if you have the tools & know-how. Modifying an existing semi-modern device like a Nintendo 3DS with a bootloader would also be an option, but I can't speak to how easy this would be as I've never done it personally.