Frontends:AmpShell
From Frontends
Contents |
Introduction
AmpShell is an easy to use front end for DOSBox written in C# (.NET). It is designed to be tiny, easy to use, fast, and has started as an improved version of DOSShell.
It can run on virtually any machine having the .NET framework installed.
Windows Vista (or Windows Seven) machines already have the .NET framework, and almost all Windows XP machines have it nowadays.
For GNU/Linux or MacOS users, the Mono librairies have to be installed.
AmpShell has been successfully tested on Windows 98SE, Windows XP, Windows XP x64 Edition, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and GNU/Linux Ubuntu.
It is free software licensed under the GNU GPL v3.
Features
- No hassle AmpShell will not prompt for the location of DOSBox's executable, unless it cannot be found. The location of the user's default DOSBox configuration file is also automatically searched (if it's not known or the file is unavailable), and not prompted for, even if it cannot be found (the user can set where it is in the Preferences window).
- AmpShell also looks for mousepad/gedit/kate/notepad if no games' configuration files editor is set (it can be set in "Edit -> Preferences...") and sets wichever comes first as the default text editor.
- Be international AmpShell uses Unicode (UTF-16) for character encoding, so eveyrone can use it worldwide.
- Be user-driven
- Games can be moved (drag & drop) between categories (since v1.0.1.2)
- Games and categories can have the same name multiple times, it will work (since v1.0.1.2, they have an unique random number used for identification).
- AmpShell can save the window's size and/or position (assuming it is enabled in the preferences) when the user exits, and restores it on the next run.
- Since v1.1.0.0 : Categories have 5 different view modes (Small icons, Large icons, Tile, List, Details) wich are saved for each category on exit.
- Since v1.1.0.0 : Games have now a default icon wich can be replaced by an user icon.
- Besides, in the preferences window, you can :
- Activate the new Portable Mode (see Portable Mode)
- Select the location of DOSBox's executable
- Select the location of the default DOSBox configuration file (or cancel it)
- Select the location of the default DOSBox language file (or cancel it)
- Set wich options should be set for when you create a new game
- Re-arrange categories as you like (or even sort them by name), choose the default view mode for new categories (or make it the default one for all of them)
- and select the size of the icons for the large view mode (up to 256x256 pixels!)
- In the 'Tools' menu, you can :
- Run DOSBox (the default configuration and language files for DOSBox will be used)
- Run your text editor
- Edit DOSBox' default configuration file with your text editor
- Be simple AmpShell is heavily inspired by DOSShell, but add to it a lot of features and other ideas for games configuring, such as :
- Easy CD mount Put the path to your .iso/.bin/.cue CD image file (or folder, like the root of a CD drive) and voilà! It will be automaticly mounted as 'D:'
- Easy configuration For each game you can also provide a custom DOSBox configuration file, or tell the front-end not to use any configuration file (the later can be useful for troubleshooting purposes). You can also edit them from inside AmpShell with your text editor of choice.
- Easy Setup You can also provide the path to the game's setup executable, and run it whenever you want.
- Easy Install If you want to install a game (such as a PC CD game), you can provide a directory path that will be mounted as 'C:', provide the path to the CD image, and when you run the game, you will only have to launch the installation program.
- Easy hack You can also provide wichever additionnal DOSBox commands you may need. They will be run before the game is run. Or, you can put them in the [autoexec] section of a custom DOSBox configuration file.
- Categorization. Most users only have a handful of games, so only one category will be useful. But you can add as many categories as you like.
- Multi platform. It's only dependancy is the .NET framework.
Portable Mode
When the Portable Mode is activated in the Preferences, you can run games anywhere, assuming :
- DOSBox' files are in the same directory as AmpShell
- The games are in the same directory as AmpShell (you can put them in a subdirectory)
A Portable Pack is available here.
To be able to use this mode do not put AmpShell in Program Files.
Screenshots
Main window screenshot *updated*. The other screenshot are only on the official web site, in order to save bandwidth on this page.
Download
Visit AmpShell's website to download.
Tips & Tricks
For games that are only runnable on the CD (ie. no hard disk install) such as Sam & Max : Hit the road, or Day of the Tentacle (PC CD version), you can run them easily. Here is a step by step procedure :
- When you create your game, instead of providing the executable, provide the directory that will be mounted as 'C:' (in order to save your games)
- Specify the CD image (or folder, like the root of a CD drive) that will be mounted as 'D:'
- Put additionnal commands in order to run the game. (example with Sam & Max : Hit the Road : -c "d:" -c "sam.bat") in the "additionnal commands" text box (or put them in a custom configuration file).
Future Plans
- Now implemented : Set the size of the icons for the large view mode
- Now implemented : Portable Mode (AmpShell can be run and moved anywhere in this mode)
- Now implemented : make a window to manage user preferences (available in "Edit -> Preferences...")
- Now implemented : make a text editor for games configurations (the user's text editor is used)
- Now implemented : make other preferences available (and move tools' menu preferences in 'Edit -> Preferences...')
- Now implemented : add a whole lot more of preferences
- Now implemented : being able to remove/re-enable the menu bar, the tools bar, and the status bar
- Now implemented : have a default icon (or an user icon) for games instead of plain text
- Now implemented : make other view modes available for categories (tiles, list, details, small icons, large icons)
- Now implemented : add an image to all controls having an Image property
- Now implemented : make ampshell portable if it isn't in Program Files
- Now implemented : have a 'details' view with several columns
- Working on : add DOSBox' options to the detailed view in form of combo boxes and text boxes (for faster editing).
Other plans :
- add an update feature & notification
- being able to drop a game on a category to add it automatically
- make translations possible with a simple xml file
- Use of JumpLists (Windows 7)
For any feature request (or bug report), please mail to noal (dot) maximilien (at) gmail (dot) com
