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Graciano Goudreau
How to Install the Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition) on CD-ROM
If you are a lover of words and language, you may have dreamed of owning the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the most authoritative and comprehensive dictionary of the English language. The OED defines over 500,000 words and traces their usage through 2.5 million illustrative quotations from a wide range of literary and other sources. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, pronunciation, and history of the English language[^1^].
However, the OED is not only a massive work of scholarship, but also a massive physical object. The 20-volume print edition weighs over 60 kg and takes up more than a meter of shelf space[^1^]. Not to mention the hefty price tag of over $1000[^1^]. Fortunately, there is a more convenient and affordable way to access the OED: the CD-ROM version.
The CD-ROM version of the OED (Second Edition) offers unparalleled access to the world's most important reference work for the English language. It contains the full text of the 20-volume print edition, as well as the Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series (Volumes 1-3), published in 1993 and 1997, the Bibliography to the Second Edition, and other ancillary material[^1^]. It also has powerful search features that allow you to explore the OED in depth and find exactly what you are looking for.
But how do you install the OED on CD-ROM on your computer? The CD-ROM version was released in 1996 and was designed to run on Windows 3.1 or later[^2^]. However, many users have reported compatibility issues with newer versions of Windows, especially Windows 10[^2^]. In this article, we will show you how to install the OED on CD-ROM on your Windows computer using a free software called DOSBox.
What You Need
- The OED on CD-ROM (Second Edition) disc or ISO file. You can buy the disc online or download the ISO file from archive.org [^2^].
- A CD-ROM drive or a virtual drive software such as DAEMON Tools Lite.
- A free software called DOSBox, which is an emulator that can run DOS programs on modern computers.
- A text editor such as Notepad++.
Step 1: Install DOSBox
Download DOSBox from here and install it on your computer. You can accept the default settings during the installation process.
Step 2: Mount the OED CD-ROM
If you have the OED CD-ROM disc, insert it into your CD-ROM drive. If you have the ISO file, mount it using a virtual drive software such as DAEMON Tools Lite.
Note down the drive letter of your CD-ROM or virtual drive. For example, D:\.
Step 3: Edit the DOSBox Configuration File
Open Notepad++ or any other text editor and open the DOSBox configuration file. The file is located at C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\DOSBox\dosbox-0.74.conf.
Scroll down to the end of the file and add these lines:
[autoexec]Replace c:\oed with any folder where you want to install the OED files. Replace d:\ with your CD-ROM or virtual drive letter.
Save and close the file.
Step 4: Run DOSBox and Install the OED
Run DOSBox from your Start
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