What do I do if I want to play the Ultima series from I to VII? And - can I somehow do this on Linux rather than Windows (without a Windows VM)? e.g. perhaps with DosBox?
As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, Ultima VII has the Exult project (http://exult.sourceforge.net) which makes playing Ultima VII on modern platforms extremely simple. I'm guessing the earlier games are much easier to emulate using programs like DOSBox.
I beat Ultima 1 on an HP 200 LX. It barely has a number before the (86) on the processor :) Fun fact: it ran fine on half height CGA.