# NEWBIE: What is the dos-box for and why is it there?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-what-is-the-dos-box-for-and-why-is-it-there/85473>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [February 13, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-what-is-the-dos-box-for-and-why-is-it-there/85473 "2007-02-13T22:51:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![noble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e19b73/32.png) [@noble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/noble)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-what-is-the-dos-box-for-and-why-is-it-there/85473/1 "2007-02-13T22:51:36Z")

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I am very new to Ruby. In fact I just downloaded it and started looking  
at it today. I am using Windows.

Here is my question:

I loaded the program “fxri” and upon starting I got a screen full of  
warning messages in a ms-dos box. Then a new window was opened with the  
running program.

Do all Windows Ruby programs operate like this? I mean is there a  
dos-box and also a regular Window for each program?

I am lost and any help would be appreciated here.

What I want to do is write GUI desktop applications in Ruby that are  
platform-independent but yet have a native look and feel of the  
underlying OS. Is this possible?

Thanks in advance and God bless,  
Noble

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**Author:** ![noble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e19b73/32.png) [@noble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/noble)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-what-is-the-dos-box-for-and-why-is-it-there/85473/2 "2007-02-13T23:06:02Z")

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On Feb 13, 1:51 pm, Noble B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> ## dos-box and also a regular Window for each program?
> 
> Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.

You can search this group for detailed answers to your question. In a  
nutshell, the ruby program is launched into a command shell when run  
via ruby.exe. This shell is where you’ll see your stdout and from  
which your program can read from stdin, if desired. If you want to  
run a ruby program without it being “encapsulated” in a command shell  
run it with “rubyw.exe”.

Ken