Even in today’s world, cross-compatibility is still a necessary evil sometimes. Thankfully there is the ability to run a MS styled DOS environment from a Linux box if one so desires. While the reasons for this may vary, the instance in this article prove to be an entertaining read.

A combination of Linux and the DOS version of the PowerBASIC compiler is a powerful solution for simple (and not so simple) programming tasks. You can create blazingly fast fully multi-user databases and other applications that run under Linux. As PowerBASIC was designed to run at reasonable speed on XT’s, 286’s and 386’s, it runs like nobody’s business on modern multi-gigahertz CPU’s. It is also an easy way to write programs on Linux machines that can be instantly copied to and run on MS Windows with no changes required at all, as all versions of Windows can run DOS programs natively. This article describes how to get everything working on Linux, and provides handy programming tips for integrating a DOS program written in PowerBASIC with the rest of your desktop.