This repository contains wmake style makefiles and patches to build Lua on Open Watcom 1.9 or later.
The primary goal was to allow Lua scripts to be run on DOS systems in real mode but has expanded
to include all Open Watcom targets that don't require external dependencies to build.
Pre-compiled builds are available on the Release page.
There are two zips available for download in each release. Which one you should download depends on how you plan to use the software. Both zips contain binaries for all listed platforms. See Binary Native Targets and Binary Compatibility Matrix to determine which binary is right for your system.
This zip contains all demo scripts and platform binaries as regular files. The zip is formatted with DOS headers and has 8.3 friendly names.
This zip contains two floppy disk format images (.ima format)
which are ready to be written to real disks for distributing to retro machines
or opened by emulators directly.
To save space on these disk images, binaries have been compressed
by UPX where possible.
| Disk Image | Description |
|---|---|
LUAMULTI.IMA |
A 1.4MB 3½ floppy disk image that contains all the same files as executable zip |
LUA160k.IMA |
A 160k 5¼ floppy disk image with subset of scripts with only the DOS binary due to space limitations of this type of disk |
Lua for Watcom binaries can run on a number of legacy systems as well as some modern ones. The exact memory requirements will depend on the complexity of the script you want to run.
Since Open Watcom can produce binaries for several operating systems, each binary has been given a unique name to distinguish the native Operating System (OS) and Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) it is intended for.
| Binary Name | Native OS | Native ISA |
|---|---|---|
| LUA16.EXE | Real mode DOS | 8086 |
| LUA21.EXE | OS/2 1.2 | 80286 |
| LUA22.EXE | OS/2 2.0 | 80386 |
| LUA4G.EXE | DOS4GW extender | 80386 |
| LUANT.EXE | Windows 95 | 80386 |
Some OSes can run binaries intended for another out of the box. Do keep in mind, however, that in most of these cases the OS is newer and has higher minimum requirements.
| Operating System | Minimum OS ISA(s) | LUA16.EXE | LUA21.EXE | LUA22.EXE | LUA4G.EXE | LUANT.EXE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOS 2.x - 4.x Windows 1.x - 3.x |
8086 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| DOS 5.x - 7.x | 8086 80386SX |
Yes | No | No | No Yes |
No |
| OS2 1.0 - 1.1 | 80286 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| OS2 1.2 - 1.3 | 80286 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| OS2 2.x | 80386SX | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| OS2 3.x | 80386SX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| OS2 4.x | 80486SX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Windows 95 | 80386SX | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Windows 98 | 80486DX 80486SX+80487SX |
Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| ReactOS 0.4.15 | 80586 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Windows 2000 - ME | 80586 | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Windows XP | 80586 x86_64 |
No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Windows Vista - 10 | 80686 x86_64 |
No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Windows 11 | x86_64 | No | No | No | No | Yes |
See the Build documentation and GitHub Workflow
If you do not have retro hardware but want to try Lua for Watcom any of the following emulators can be used to run the Lua binaries from a modern machine.
| Emulator | Emulation Type | Repository | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 86Box | PC Hardware | https://github.com/86Box/86Box | Requires firmware blobs. For best experience use with 86Box launcher |
| DOSBox-X | DOS Software | https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x | Not to be confused with DOSBox |
| MISTer FPGA | Field Programmable Gate Array | https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/ao486_MiSTer https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/PCXT_MiSTer |
Requires compatible field programmable gate array (FPGA) hardware. |
| PCem | PC Hardware | https://github.com/sarah-walker-pcem/pcem/ | Requires firmware blobs. |
| Qemu | Hypervisor | https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu | Often used with libvirt. Only recommended for guests with driver support (Windows XP and later) |
Retro computer enthusiasts may be interested in Lua for ELKS (and ELKS in general).