Get Civilisation running under Linux

This article describes the steps that you must take to get Sid Meier’s Civilisation running on Ubuntu (Hard Heron). So now I have to clear some things up:

1. I know that Ubuntu is not Linux, but the process for other distros should be similar enough.
2. We are talking about the Sid Meier’s civilisation game from 1991

First you have to have the game installed somewhere on your machine. Since I use dual boot I have it installed under windows. The directory is mounted and accessible under /media/WinXP/Programme/CIV. Under Windows XP I have the game running in a DOS emulator. So we can do the same under Linux. I choose DOSBox Emulator. The following line installs it on a debian based distro (as long the package is found in repository listed in /etc/apt/sources.list):
sudo apt-get install dosbox
DOSBox uses the american keyboard layout which may have some quirks if your hardware does not match up 😉 Fortunately you need the special keys only in the set up. So let’s start DOSBox up:

With Ctrl+F1 you can see the keymapping:

What we have now to do is mounting the drive. You must do this every time you start up DOSBox:
mount c /media/WinXP/Programme/CIV
Now you can change with c: to the mounted virtual drive. The command dirlists everything that is in the directory same as on a DOS system. Finally make yourself accustomed with the special keys: Alt+Enter to toggle full screen and Ctrl+F9 to exist.

Now you can start civilisation by typing civ. To grab the mouse you have to move it into the window and click a button.
That’s it.