MS-DOS
MS-DOS (short for Microsoft Disk Operating System) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most popular member of the DOS family and the main operating system for IBM PC compatibles.
It reigned from the 1980s to the mid-1990s, when it was gradually replaced by operating systems with a graphical user interface (GUI), most notably Microsoft Windows.
Because DOS was around for so long, a huge amount of software was written for it, and almost none of it will run on a modern operating system. Emulators such as DOSBox recreate a DOS PC so that old programs and games can run on modern systems.
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DOS Emulators
DOSBox Staging is a modern, actively developed continuation of DOSBox with sensible defaults, CRT shaders and a wide range of emulated sound devices.
DOSBox-X is an open source DOSBox fork focused on accuracy. It runs DOS games and applications, Windows 3.x to Me, and PC-98 and DOS/V software.
DOSBox is the original open source DOS emulator for running old PC games. It is no longer updated; its last release, 0.74-3, came out in 2019.
