Why Aros ?

[Planetinfinity]

Hi,


I saw a video where someone described that a Amiga OS named Aros are preinstalled on a Vampire V4. I looked at the Website of Aros and noticed a ISO file named Aros Live CD. I used VMWare to install it.


I am now a little bit confused why I should use Aros on an Vampire (around 600 Euro) when I am able to use it at a X64 processor within a vmware.


Did I missunderstand something ?


BR Planetinfinity

[Samurai_Crow]

There is practically no software for the x64 when running AROS but the ApolloOS distribution for 68080 softcore runs most AmigaOS 3.1 software.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Originally Posted by Planetinfinity

Hi,


I saw a video where someone described that a Amiga OS named Aros are preinstalled on a Vampire V4. I looked at the Website of Aros and noticed a ISO file named Aros Live CD. I used VMWare to install it.


I am now a little bit confused why I should use Aros on an Vampire (around 600 Euro) when I am able to use it at a X64 processor within a vmware.


Did I missunderstand something ?


BR Planetinfinity

There are 2 AROS types, one AROS x86 that you can install on a Virtual Machine or directly on a PC, and AROS 68k that you can boot from WinUAE or a very powerful Amiga.


I enclose two of my Distributions, one based on AROS x86 started by VMWare and the other on AROS 68 started by WinUAE (this is similar to ApolloOS used by Vampire).


AROS One x86:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19TZ...kjVpwgIxR/edit

AROS One 68K:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kXz...Z05UFhT-V/view

[grond]

Originally Posted by Planetinfinity

I am now a little bit confused why I should use Aros on an Vampire (around 600 Euro) when I am able to use it at a X64 processor within a vmware.

The Vampire4 is a new Amiga-compatible computer that can run AmigaOS and most Amiga legacy software. That may be interesting to you or not. In fact it is a very emotional subject to many that unfortunately quickly deteriorates into flame wars. In any case you can install AmigaOS or use the AROS distribution that comes with it.

You can use the Vampire to run legacy Amiga software. AROS compiled for x64, ARM or whatever, on the other hand, cannot run legacy Amiga software without a software emulator that would emulate the Amiga custom chips and the 68k processor. The Vampire includes implementations of all these chips inside a single FPGA.

The reason the Vampire 4 comes with AROS is that they want to offer a complete bundle of software and hardware and with at least two parties claiming to own the rights to AmigaOS (and a possibility that neither party owns them) the project decided to not pay any royalties to either party but rather use AROS instead.

The second and more important reason to use AROS is that the Vampire project is about an improved next-generation 68k Amiga (next generation as seen from the end of the Amiga in the first half of the 90s) which also implies an improved operating system. AROS is inferior to AmigaOS in many aspects but, since it is open source, allows for bug fixes and gradual enhancements. The hope is that AROS (or the AROS-derived ApollOS as they call it) will one day outperform and ultimately supersede AmigaOS.

These are certainly ambitious goals but the project has always had ambitious goals and has met many of them so far.

[Planetinfinity]

Thank you for the detailed description.

I have a couple of additional questions:

- Does Aros for x64 programs like WHDLoad or other applications ?
- Is Aros for x64 able to playback ADF files or install games for Amiga OS (like Populous 2) ?

- I use an Amiga 1200 with ACA1233 Turbo Card. Do I need a newer card or a flickr fixer to get AOS 68k up and running ?
- Is their a differents between Aros x64 and 68k ?

BR Planetinfinity

[Planetinfinity]

Another question is whether the icaros desktop is the default desktop for AROS or in other words why are their multiple AROS desktops ?

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Originally Posted by Planetinfinity

- Does Aros for x64 programs like WHDLoad or other applications ?
y

For AROS for PC there are two different versions AROS ABIv0 and AROS ABI-v1

Per ABI-v1 (new version) there is very little software available, only operating system and a few appliqués

Per ABIv0 (old) we exist much more softwarel find them HERE
About WHDLoad on AROS x86 there is an excellent software that can run game with WHDLoad through JANUS-UAE emulation, with this emulator you can also run OS Amiga and its Applications.

AROS x86 GUI for WHDLoad Games:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W7s...ew?usp=sharing

AROS 68k Play WHDLoad Games:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sam...ew?usp=sharing

[grond]

Originally Posted by Planetinfinity

- Does Aros for x64 programs like WHDLoad or other applications ?

No. WHDLoad programs are 68k binaries that expect to run on a 68k processor and on Amiga custom chips. You need to use some kind of UAE to run such software. I do not know whether there is a UAE for AROS x64.

- Is Aros for x64 able to playback ADF files or install games for Amiga OS (like Populous 2) ?

Same as above. AROS x64 may be able to read ADF files like virtual floppy disks but this won't give you running any executable programs on the ADFs and most probably no non-DOS disk access.

- I use an Amiga 1200 with ACA1233 Turbo Card. Do I need a newer card or a flickr fixer to get AOS 68k up and running ?

AROS68k is very slow because AROS was abstracted away from the hardware to make it run on non-Amiga hardware of different kinds. I think the Vampire4 and the Vampire2 accelerator boards are currently the only hardware to run AROS68k reasonably well. The Warp060 accelerators, if provided with a fast 060 processor, will also run AROS68k well enough as they are the option closest to the Vampires in speed (if you are one of the few to have a fast 060 processor). Other 060 hardware like a 50 MHz Blizzard 1260 will probably work but is already going to feel slower than a standard Amiga without accelerator running AmigaOS.

- Is their a differents between Aros x64 and 68k ?

In theory not but in reality the 68k branch was neglected and there are a lot of things that just don't work on an Amiga. Sometimes it is stupid stuff like the early boot menu expecting a certain graphics mode and rendering the buttons on the bottom of the screen where they are invisible on an NTSC Amiga with just 200 lines of graphics. There are also unexplained crashes and incompatibilities. The Vampire and ApollOS teams are working on improving this but they are doing things primarily for the Vampire. This means that some things may be workarounds or fixes that fix things on the Vampire but not on other Amiga 68k hardware. Their focus is on the Vampire and bug fixes may not find their way upstream for some time.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Originally Posted by grond

No. WHDLoad programs are 68k binaries that expect to run on a 68k processor and on Amiga custom chips. You need to use some kind of UAE to run such software.

From my video you can see that Janus UAE is used on AROS x86, there is also a WinUAE porting under development.

AROS68k is very slow because AROS was abstracted away from the hardware to make it run on non-Amiga hardware of different kinds. I think the Vampire4 and the Vampire2 accelerator boards are currently the only hardware to run AROS68k reasonably well.

AROS 68x as described by the developers HERE cite: The native version for m68k Amigas, or WinUAE. This version is binary compatible with AmigaOS.

Currently the best speed and compatibility of AROS 68k and WinUAE, see RTG video resolutions see OS3 software compatibility.