DarkLordoftheMonkeys

I have recently found a new fixation: MS-DOS games. I downloaded an MS-DOS emulator called DOSBox a few days ago, and I love it. It doesn't have the full DOS command set, but it's enough to run batch files and .COM and .EXE executables. I found a cornucopia of free DOS games here.

Right now I'm playing Caverns of Kroz. It's an ASCII game produced by Apogee Software in the late 1980s, which has since been released as freeware. It involves going through a dungeon looking for gems and whips, and trying to avoid the creatures living in the dungeon. When the creatures touch you, they take some of your gems, and if you have no gems, they kill you. You can use whips to kill the creatures and to break down walls. I'm up to Level 4 so far. I just figured out how to make the game not-impossible, by playing in Experienced mode, rather than Novice mode (WTH?).

Last night I downloaded Nethack, which previously I wasn't able to do, since the Nethack website hasn't been updated in about 10 years and there is no version available for Mac OS X, just Linux, some older *nix's, Mac classic, OS/2, and Windows/DOS. I downloaded the Windows/DOS version and started running it in DOSBox. I can't figure out how to get out of level 1, which is just a small room with a single stairway to the next dungeon level. I can't take the stairs or I will die. If anyone here has played Nethack and can help me work around this problem, that would be helpful. How do I get to Level 2?


I think MS-DOS is neat. Micro$oft should just trash Window$ and start making DOS again, because the DOS command line comprises 99% of M$ software products that aren't total crap. I think Apple at least made a step in the right direction when they killed Mac OS Classic and switched to Unix. Command lines are always better, and to me, a computer that doesn't have a CLI is not a real computer; it is a toy. Window$ is becoming a toy operating system as it moves further away from the glorious past of MS-DOS. Does Window$ 7 even have a command prompt? I never actually checked, so I don't know.