chaos v1.1

This is the original release version of "James Gleick's Chaos: The Software," as published by Autodesk in 1991, with minor updates from 1998. The release includes a PDF of the User Manual, a ZIP of the release files, and a ZIP of the source.

Download the release ZIP file. Unzip the file. It will create a Chaos directory and it will copy all the executables and support files into the directory.

CHAOS can now be run using the free DOSBox ware, under Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and other platforms, as described below.

Using DOSBox to Run CHAOS

Download and install the free DOSBox ware, under Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and other platforms. (By the way, DOSBox is largely used for running antiquated video games.)

When you install DOSBox (at least in Windows), you see a shortcut for DOSBox on your desktop. You can open a DOSBox session of CHAOS by clicking on the DOSBox icon to get a DOS window, and then entering the following four lines. (If you unzipped your CHAOS package into a folder different than C:\Chaos, then use the name of your folder in the first command.)

mount C C:\Chaos
C:
cycles=max
CHAOS.BAT

(1) The first line tells DOSBox to treat your hard drive's Chaos directory like it's C drive.
(2) The second line tells DOSBox to move to this virtual drive.
(3) The third line tell DOSBox to run at a nice, fast speed (the default speed is too slow to be enjoyable).
(4) The fourth line says to start up CHAOS by using the original batch file, CHAOS.BAT

To close the DOSBox window when you're done playing with CHAOS, you may need to enter this command at the DOS prompt:

exit

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A shortcut way to run the four starting-up commands all at once is to create a desktop shortcut for DOSBox, and to change the shortcut's "Target" field to something like the line below, (although you need to use the correct folder names for your installation of DOSBox.exe and Chaos):

"C:\Program Files\DOSBox\DOSBox.exe" -userconf -c "mount C 'C:\Chaos'" -c "C:" -c "cycles=max" -c "CHAOS.BAT"

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By default, DOSBox runs in a very small window, having the old DOS VGA display dimensions of 640 x 480. You can do an edit on the hidden DOSBox configuration file Dosbox.conf to to change the size of your DOSBox window.

• Go into the DOSBox directory (which is someplace like C:\Program Files (x86)\DOSBox-0.74).
• Click on DOSBox 0.74 Options.BAT, which opens an edit window where you can change some DOSBox configuration options.

I have used two different configuration options, and I like the second one better.

* Option 1. This runs Chaos in a fullscreen window. Change two lines as follows. Leave all the other lines set to their default values.

fullscreen = true
output = ddraw

Option 2. This runs Chaos in a decent-sized window with close to the intended 4 x 3 aspect. Change two lines so you have. Leave all the other lines set to their default values.

output = ddraw
windowresolution = 1024x768

Note in option 2 that you'll only see the new screen size after you go in past the Chaos start screen to run one of the component programs. You can fool around and try some other resolutions if you like, although certain settings will mess up the mouse's synchronization with the screen position.

For a discussion of DOSBox screen size, see Stackoverflow .