If you’re in love with those early MS-DOS games, you’re in luck. IA Launcher is a launcher that will allow you to enjoy the thousands of games on the Internet Archive without any complications. How? We’ll tell you then.
IA Launcher and the thousands of Internet Archive games
Currently there are many emulators for practically all platforms and operating systems. It is true that some work better than others, but in general it is very easy for any user interested in them to enjoy everything they offer.
Of course, there are also times when it is not as simple as some would like. Mainly because for each platform or operating system there are different emulators and their use is not always identical, etc. In addition, there is always the question of which is the one with the best performance or the least problems?
Well, that question can be answered by testing or reading the opinions of the users most involved in the subject. If you are trying to emulate MS-DOS, it seems that right now it is clear that the best option is to combine IA Launcher and DOSBox .
DOSBox is a well-known emulator for MS-DOS and is available for many systems such as Windows, Linux, macOS, OS / 2, etc. And on the other hand, there is IA Launcher, which is a launcher that makes it easier to use the first one and, above all, to find those games that may interest you the most completely free of charge and through the Internet Archive.
And is that IA Launcher includes a preloaded database with all the MS-DOS games that are hosted on the Internet Archive (more than 2,900) and you can download for free. All you have to do is launch the application and select the game that interests you the most. Through a process where you will have to do nothing else, this launch will download the game to your Windows, Linux or Mac computer and you will run it.
How to install IA Launcher
The installation of this MS-DOS game launcher is not as simple as that of other proposals, but it is still not complex if you follow the steps on the IA Launcher website . So, if you like, we will indicate them, so that you can do it at the same time as us.
The first thing you have to do is install DOSBox, which is the emulator that you will use as the basis for emulating all these games. You can do this by visiting the official website and downloading the appropriate version for your operating system. So, download directly from this DOSBox link .
Once you have it, the next step is to install IA Launcher and here it must be said that depending on the operating system you use, you will have to take more or fewer steps. In the case of using Windows, you just have to click here and install the file that is downloaded by double clicking on it. On the contrary, if you use macOS or Linux, you will have to do the odd step.
For the installation in both Linux and macOS you will need to resort to the Terminal , but don’t worry because there are only two commands that you must execute and we are going to make them very clear. Of course, in the case of Apple computers, when you run the first one, if you don’t have the developer tools installed, it will give you the option to download them in order to continue.
Therefore, to install IA Launcher on Linux and macOS do the following:
- Open Terminal and run the following command
$ pip3 install ialauncher - Then run this other command to start the
$ ialauncherapp - Ready
From now on you will be able to enjoy the thousands of MS-DOS games on the Internet Archive completely free of charge. Of course, the best of all is that this launcher offers you a much more pleasant and comfortable interface when looking for what games you want to play. Because doing it any other way ends up being a bit dizzy. Although with so many games it is still just as easy to get lost.
