| AROS Research Operating System | |
|---|---|
 Icaros (AROS distribution) Desktop 1.3.1 with Amiga 68K integration (August 2011) | |
| Developer | The AROS Development Team |
| OS family | AmigaOS-like |
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | Open source |
| Initial release | 1995; 30 years ago (1995) |
| Repository | |
| Supported platforms | IA-32,x86-64,PowerPC,m68k,ARM |
| Kernel type | Microkernel |
| License | AROS Public |
| Official website | aros |
AROS Research Operating System (AROS, pronounced "AR-OS") is afree and open-source multi media centric implementation of theAmigaOS 3.1 application programming interface (API) which is designed to be portable and flexible. As of 2021[update],ports are available forpersonal computers (PCs) based onx86 andPowerPC, innative and hostedflavors, with other architectures in development. In a show of full circle development, AROS has been ported to theMotorola 68000 series (m68k) basedAmiga 1200,[1] and there is also anARM port for theRaspberry Pi series.
AROS originally stood forAmiga Research Operating System, but to avoid any trademark issues with theAmiga name,[2][3] it was changed to therecursive acronymAROS Research Operating System.[4]
The mascot of AROS is an anthropomorphic cat named Kitty, created by Eric Schwartz and officially adopted by the AROS Team in December 2002.
Used in the core AROS About and installer tools, it was also adopted by several AROS community sites and early distributions.
Other AROS identifiable symbols and logos are based around the cat shape, such as the Icaros logo, which is a stylised cat's eye, or AFA (Aros For Amiga).
The project, begun in 1995, has over the years become an almost "feature complete" implementation of AmigaOS – which, as of May 2017,[needs update] only lacks a few areas of functionality. This was achieved by the efforts of a small team of developers.
It can be installed on mostIBM PC compatibles, and features native graphics drivers for video cards such as theGeForce range made byNvidia. As of May 2007 USB keyboards and mice are also supported. AROS has been ported to theSam440epPowerPC board and a first test version for theEfika was released in 2009.
While the OS is still lacking in applications, a few have been ported, includingE-UAE, an emulation program that allows m68k-native AmigaOS applications to run. Some AROS-specific applications have also been written. AROS hasTCP/IP networking support, and has available an experimental version ofAMosaic web browser, for test purposes, among other Internet-related applications. The PoseidonUSB stack has been ported to AROS.[5]
AROS is designed to besource-compatible withAmigaOS. On m68kAmiga hardware it is alsobinary-compatible, so binaries already compiled for AmigaOS 3 can be run on AROS.[6] On x86IA-32 32-bit platforms Janus-UAE,[7] an enhancedE-UAE, integrates Amiga emulation directly into AROS to run AmigaOS m68k binaries nearly transparent to the user. As of August 2011[update], original AmigaOS 3 operating system files are needed for the emulation.
The aim of AROS is to remain aloof of the legal and political spats that have plagued other AmigaOS implementations by being independent of hardware and of any central control. The de facto motto of AROS, "No schedule and rocking" both lampoons the infamous words "On Schedule and Rockin" fromAmiga, Inc. CEO Bill McEwen, and declares a lack of the formal deadlines.[8]
A workable AmigaOSKickstart clone for theMotorola 68000 processor was released on March 31, 2011 as part of aprogramming bounty.[9][10] The memory requirement is 2 MBChip RAM and 1 MB Fast RAM. This software is a complete free open-source alternative to AmigaOS.
The main AROS system files can be downloaded in many flavors from the project website. These files are compiled straight from the SVN source tree at night time, and are available as nightly builds. Nightlies also include some third party applications to allow people using the system to perform some very basic tasks.
For final/average user, like Linux, there are several distributions available:
Since April 2009, the name VMWAros has been changed into "Icaros Desktop" to avoid ambiguities with any existing copyrightedvirtual machine of any kind. Amiga 68K emulation integration, 3D acceleration for Nvidia cards and latest updates of applications can be found there.[11] The latest version of Icaros Desktop is version 2.3 (released 22 December 2020).[12][13]
Broadway is a distribution of AROS begun late 2009. The goal is to provide an easy-to-use and complete AROS experience. AROS Broadway contains some commercial software such as a media center, acloud storage service, and an app store. The latest version is 1.0 preview 5, released April 16, 2016.[14]
AspireOS is a distribution, begun in 2011, by Nikos Tomatsidis, which is focused on Dell Latitude D520 and Acer Aspire One 110, 150 computers. Latest version is 2.2, codenamed "Obitus", released November 2018.[15][16]
AROS Vision is a native m68k distribution, which can run on both real hardware or in emulators likeUAE.
ApolloOS is an active m68k distribution, crafted specially for the Vampire V4 StandaloneFPGA-based system.
AxRuntime uses the AROS source code to create a portable runtime, which is what AROS in hosted mode is actually anyway.As a tool for developers the runtime makes use of this mode more convenient. The current version is version V41.4.[17]AxRuntime binaries are Linux binaries, but work with Windows Subsystem for Linux on both Windows 10 and Windows 11.For use on Linux the best recommendation is Ubuntu 20.04 64-bit, other Linux systems are less well supported but work.
Haage & Partner used small pieces of the AROS source code for AmigaOS 3.5 and 3.9.[18]Large parts ofMorphOS (AmigaDOS,Intuition[19] and more) have been ported from AROS.[20]
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