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2ksbox

Release notes

1.1.0

Section titled “1.1.0”
  • Windows 11 on Arm starts from the Mac App Store app. It stopped at “Guest has not initialized the display yet”, because macOS keeps the app’s firmware files compressed.
  • 2ksbox asks where to keep your machines the first time it starts, and Help > Choose Machines Folder… changes it later. In the Mac App Store app this also makes Browse… open in a machine’s own folder.
  • The Mac’s folder dialog has a New Folder button.
  • A launcher with no machines yet opens at its full width.
  • In the Mac App Store app, a machine on the network no longer lags, and its name lookups work. Windows 11 was slowest while it downloaded and installed updates.

1.0.0

Section titled “1.0.0”

The first release, on the Mac App Store and the Microsoft Store.

Machines

Section titled “Machines”
  • A launcher that makes Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 11, DOS and other machines, each with hardware that suits it. Each machine opens in its own window.
  • Windows 98 and DOS are emulated, on purpose, so old games see the kind of PC they were written for. On Windows and Linux, Windows XP and 7 can run on your computer’s hypervisor.
  • Windows 11 installs from Microsoft’s own ISO with Secure Boot and a TPM 2.0, and shares the clipboard with your computer. On a Mac or a Linux computer it can share a folder too. On a Mac it is Windows 11 on Arm.
  • Snapshots of a machine turned off or running, kept as a tree, and clones.

Games

Section titled “Games”
  • Direct3D from DirectX 1 to 9 on your graphics card, through the 2ksbox adapter’s driver on Windows 98 and XP.
  • OpenGL games on your graphics card, through one file next to the game.
  • An emulated 3dfx Voodoo 2 for Glide games, with 3dfx’s own driver, from Windows 98 and from DOS.
  • Disc images in cue/bin, CloneCD, Alcohol and ISO, or a folder, with copy-protected discs and CD audio. The disc shelf swaps discs while a machine runs.
  • Sound Blaster 16 and General MIDI music, and the Roland MT-32 with ROMs you supply.
  • USB gamepads, a gameport joystick, and a gamepad mapped to keyboard keys.

The picture

Section titled “The picture”
  • The guest’s picture at its own resolution, scaled in whole steps, through a CRT shader you can tune and save as a profile per machine.

Known limits

Section titled “Known limits”
  • The Mac App Store version needs macOS 26 and a Mac with Apple Silicon.
  • Windows 7 is for its Aero desktop, not for games.
  • Windows 11’s display has no 3D acceleration. Its screen follows the window’s size.