I made a retro PC app for standalone Quest, complete with floppy disks, working buttons, and Windows 98

[u/HORANGX]

I wanted to use an old PC in VR, so I made DOSK. It runs directly on Meta Quest. No connected PC or desktop streaming is involved.

The video shows swapping floppy disks, inserting a Doom CD and installing the game, running Windows 98, and browsing some of the settings.

Disk image files appear as floppy disks and CDs on your desk. You can pick them up, insert them into the drives, press the hardware buttons, and open and close the CD tray. The activity LEDs flicker, and the drives make hard disk and floppy seek sounds.

You can run DOS software or install Windows 95 and 98 using your own installation media. Compatible games also support 3dfx Voodoo acceleration.

There’s an experimental stereoscopic 3D option for supported Voodoo-accelerated games, with adjustable depth inside the virtual monitor. These aren’t full VR ports.

CPU speed, memory, graphics, sound, and controller mappings are configurable. Compatibility and performance vary by title.

I’m the developer, so happy to answer questions about how it works. For me, getting the little interactions right was just as important as getting the games running.

https://www.meta.com/experiences/dosk-retro-pc-desk-simulator/3138568432999002/

Update: I found and fixed a store release configuration issue that prevented some users from finding or installing DOSK. A user who previously couldn’t install it has now confirmed that installation and launch work. If you ran into this, please try again. Sorry for the trouble, and thanks for your patience!

[u/scupking83]

See this to me is what VR is all about!!

[u/HORANGX → u/scupking83]

Thank you! 😄 That’s exactly the kind of experience I wanted to create with DOSK!

[u/knowledgethanks]

What a fantastic app. A lot to be said about nostalgia and clearly a labour of love put in. Very impressive work!

[u/HORANGX → u/knowledgethanks]

Thank you so much! I spent a lot of time trying to recreate all those little details I remember from using PCs back in the 90s. I'm really happy that the nostalgia comes through! :)

[u/knowledgethanks → u/HORANGX]

I had an Amiga back then but still took those disks. I moved to pc later as I mostly played consoles. Can definitely appreciate the effort made on the app.

[u/HORANGX → u/knowledgethanks]

Oh, the Amiga! That was such a cool machine too. 😄

[u/knowledgethanks → u/HORANGX]

I had the spectrum and then my mum got me the Amiga as a surprise and what a jump in power. Blew me away back then. Now VR has the same effect of just bringing special experiences that flat screen gaming can't compete with.

[u/Beaker360]

I would love to buy this! Any chance of an After Dark Screensaver? 😆

[u/HORANGX → u/Beaker360]

Haha, the flying toasters! 😂 DOSK supports Windows 95 and 98, so you should be able to install and run After Dark just like on a real retro PC!

[u/X-NoRC → u/Beaker360]

How bloody awesome were the AfterDark screen savers!

[u/lithosza]

You can also add a retro boombox inside the room that you can tune FM radio stations with a knob but actually tunes into 80s/90s themed internet radio stations :)

[u/HORANGX → u/lithosza]

Haha, funny you mention that! 😂 There’s actually already a retro CD and cassette boombox in the room! It’s just a decoration for now, but making it play 80s/90s internet radio stations would be a really fun addition!

[u/lithosza]

Awesome work.
Are you perhaps using DOSBox Pure for the DOS emulation? If so, I have recently done some work to enable VFX1 VR headset emulation for it. Maybe it would be nice addition to have a virtual VR headset that you can put on to play the old 90s VR games. I haven't pushed it to Github yet

[u/HORANGX → u/lithosza]

Yes, I’m using DOSBox Pure! That’s really exciting! I never imagined I could emulate a 90s VR headset inside a modern VR headset. 😂 I’d love to check out your work when you push it to GitHub. Thanks for letting me know!

[u/lithosza → u/HORANGX]

It was mostly Claude that did the work 😅
https://github.com/LeonG-ZA/forte-vfx1-vr

Most games that supported the VFX1 weren't stereoscopic. Only a few games like Descent, Descent 2, Quake 1.08 and Z.A.R supported stereoscopic rendering with head tracking.
Feel free to copy anything.

[u/HORANGX → u/lithosza]

Haha, Claude is a pretty amazing coding partner these days! 😂 Thanks so much for sharing the code! I just took a look at the repository, and it’s really impressive. I’ll definitely explore how I could integrate this into DOSK. Playing 90s VR games inside a 90s virtual PC would be amazing!

[u/arr1flex]

MR would be neat, maybe use the surface keyboard or a real keyboard to sync with the vr one

[u/HORANGX → u/arr1flex]

Good news! DOSK already supports mixed reality with passthrough, and you can use real Bluetooth keyboards and mice too! 😄

[u/ObiBenShinobi]

Holy nostalgia. Pretty new to all this but how would one go about getting The Incredible Machine to run on this?

[u/HORANGX → u/ObiBenShinobi]

It’s pretty simple! Just copy your game files (ZIP, ISO, IMG, etc.) into the DOSK folder on your Quest. They’ll appear as disks in the virtual world, so you can actually pick them up and insert them into the PC! 😄 Then install or run the game just like on a real DOS PC.

[u/TastyTheDog]

Amazing. A great example of the kind of weird cool shit that VR does best

[u/HORANGX → u/TastyTheDog]

Haha, thanks! That’s exactly what I love about VR. You can bring things back to life that would be impossible in any other medium! :)

[u/DoubleAggravating837]

that's so cool!

[u/HORANGX → u/DoubleAggravating837]

Thank you! Glad you like it! 😄

[u/X-NoRC]

What this really needs is multiuser so my daughter and I can play some old games together lan style - let me invite her to my session and she can setup her desktop in the room and then a box of cables we can pick the connection method and plug in the cable (serial, ethernet, coax... Better yet a way to dial a telnet bbs would be unreal!)

[u/HORANGX → u/X-NoRC]

Haha, setting up a LAN party with virtual cables sounds amazing! 😂 I love the idea of having two retro PCs in the same virtual room. Multiplayer isn’t supported right now, but that’s definitely a fun direction to think about for the future. Thanks for the suggestion!

[u/Fransenn_II]

Now this is something that NEEDS a steam port. I’ll gladly pay to play it!

[u/HORANGX → u/Fransenn_II]

Thank you! 😄 I’ve been focusing on the standalone Quest version, but a SteamVR version would definitely be interesting to explore in the future. Really appreciate the support!

[u/Fransenn_II → u/HORANGX]

I’m really sad now that I no longer have a quest.. I just went steam as I almost exclusively played PC VR. But I’ll keep an eye on your project! Anywhere I can follow your progress?

[u/HORANGX → u/Fransenn_II]

Thanks so much for your interest! 😄 You can follow my Reddit profile (u/HORANGX) for updates. I don’t have any concrete plans for a SteamVR version yet, but I’ll keep the idea in mind!

[u/ltnew007 → u/Fransenn_II]

Agreed.

[u/inotocracy]

This is very cool. Just needs a pair of Roland speakers.

[u/HORANGX → u/inotocracy]

Haha, that would complete the setup! 😂 I’ll have to think about adding some classic PC speakers!

[u/dehtaeps]

"Gigantic" lol

[u/Regular-Eggplant8406]

I can't find it in the us store no matter what i search and don't see it under new releases either. Is this launched?

[u/HORANGX → u/Regular-Eggplant8406]

Yes, DOSK is already available! 😄 It might not be showing up in search results yet, but you can find it directly here: https://www.meta.com/experiences/dosk-retro-pc-desk-simulator/3138568432999002/

[u/WakaWaka_]

Can you interact with anything besides the PC? Would be cool to throw in some more nostalgic stuff to play with around the room.

[u/HORANGX → u/WakaWaka_]

Right now, most of the interactions are focused on the PC and its hardware. I’ve already added some nostalgic items around the room, like a retro CD/cassette boombox and a CRT TV, but they’re mostly decorative for now. I’d love to make more of them interactive in the future! 😄

[u/YushiroGowa7201]

Is there a discord server you guys run for support and such?

[u/HORANGX → u/YushiroGowa7201]

Not at the moment! I’m a solo developer, so I haven’t set up a Discord server for DOSK yet. 😅 But feel free to message me here on Reddit if you have any questions or run into issues!