[anthk]

A 2nd version on the going, and the 1.x branch boots current FreeDOS just fine.

It's the fastest and most secure way to run DOS except the native one. No, I tried Qemu+KVM+FreeDOS, and is not as good.

[snvzz]

It's apparently a fork, and really actively developed: https://dosemu2.github.io/dosemu2/

PCem and the like do have some advantages, such as emulating specific hardware, or not being limited to running in x86/amd64.