Aros/User/Docs

AROS is one of the intermediate levels between the computer hardware and the user. It is an open-source, clean-room implementation of AmigaOS 3.x that can be run on many different computer architectures. It runs primarily on x86 32bit and 64bit (as 32bit) hardware but also on motorola 68k and compatibles, AMD/Intel x86_64bit (work in progress), ARM and PowerPC.

This page will cover enough to be able to write the downloaded image to your preferred media, to run a LiveUSB, LiveCD or LiveDVD on your office/home PC (Live meaning you can test without changing your existing setup) and, ultimately, to use it.

Intel / AMD hardware support mostly covers the years 2000 to 2010, AROS has diminished support afterwards especially for SATA and USB3 (year 2014 onwards) which may prevent successful booting. At the moment, AROS is not recommended to be installed on a working vital data holding machine. Instead, installing to its own separate hard disk or USB stick is a much better option.

Ideal additions are

Multi-finger touchpad support
UEFI bios and gpt drives with grub-like detection of other partitions 
USB3 and 4, etc
AMD Radeon graphics

AROS is an hobby OS and can co-exist with Windows(TM), MacOSX(TM), Android(TM) or Linux(TM) and act as an alternative. Unfortunately, Aros has few developers so upgrades and improvements can take time to appear.

AROS core is now ~80% finished and is usable, so keep in mind that the software is still considered ALPHA/BETA and in development. Currently AROS is fun to play with on a curiosity level, but it is also interesting to program. AROS has some multimedia features and has internet access.

Most importantly, use AROS to its maximum potential as it stands now, find ways to have fun with it and share your experiences.

Good Sites to visit

Aros One x86 and m68k

Icaros Desktop x86

Tiny Aros x86

AspireOS, of the netbook Aspire One

Aros World User forum

Aros Exec site relocated

AROS News

Aros Archives

Amiga OS AOS 3.x forum

EAB Amiga

AmigaWorld

English translation of German site

Polish Amiga Like News

Apollo Forum

Basic How To guides

AROS Playground, Sabbate Aros uses, Jess Wet Machine, Jon Robertson's AROS Experiences and FPC Free Pascal, [], Apollo Accelerators m68k, Amiga Blogs, Trevor Dickinson blog, Genesi activity,

AROS

Codebase

Ezrec x86 m68k mirror of Codebase

Sourceforge Bug List.

Issues

Aros Workshop,

Distributions aka Distros

For end users there are distributions (ready made with many apps to be easy to use), mostly created and maintained by one person in their own workflow/style.

For native 64bit Intel/AMD (work in progress wip) :
For Intel/AMD 32bit which will run on 64bit machines: Aros One x86, Tiny Aros, Icaros Desktop,
For ARM there is Aeros and wip native Pi
For 68k Aros One m68k, AROS Vision Old Site for AROS Vision and AMINUX - Amithlon like
For Hosted on Linux Aeros, AMINUX,

AROS Native is the term coined to describe AROS being run without any OS underneath it. It runs alone just like AmigaOS(TM) did. As this version does not benefit from "Hosted" drivers, dedicated ones have to be ported/written. Hence the smaller range of supported hardware peripherals. We have other pages highlighting this support

AROS was originally developed on Linux running on an Intel-based computer, but now can be run as an app on many more operating systems (FreeBSD, Linux and Windows). This may sound strange: an OS running on top of another OS. Basically, this is to take advantage of existing Linux or Windows drivers (audio, internet, graphics, etc) and compiler environments with which people may be already familiar. The term we use for what AROS does is "Hosted".

AROS is open source so basically everyone can take part. The source is public and there are daily new commits and so based on these commits AROS is automatically compiled daily, result are the nightly builds which you can see and download.

The nightly builds NB are only used for testing changes, testing software and the starting point for distribution maintainers or even your own distribution. They are very basic, miss some functionality and apps and are not suited for end users.

The nightly builds or same builds here are made automatically every night directly from the SVN (Subversion) tree and contain the latest code for the AROS operating system. However, they have not been tested in any way and can be horrible broken. Most of the time though, they work fine but with a reduced number of applications i.e. no web browser or multimedia player.

There are two standards ABIv0 (old) and ABIv1 (newest).

ABIv1 nightly builds for future 64bit, it is where the most work is done by developers
ABIv0 is needed for 32bit (which also runs on 64bit) intel / amd distributions until the dedicated 64bit ABIv1 PC build is ready for users

Media

USB Aros One x86,

93da5898508c1a8c05bb8991ab7bd117 *AROS One Image-USB-2.4.zip

MD5      59fcabd7090e47f12d54f7eb78cf0f45 *ArosOne-x86-v2.2-USB-Image.zip
SHA512 6760b57533cfbd0919a8b29e54621fe0ae776b02b6208415ac179732eb224c4be2a9d0fcfeefed8d0d76f57649113312b19030c27394261c87880fc6ed61b5fb *ArosOne-x86-v2.2-USB-Image.zip

MD5     24fb8de726ae8fc5fe5bac6d30f03dc5  ArosOne-x86-v2.0-USB-Image.zip
SHA1    a3b82d7bf49a3e02cfd0bcb8fef210942315eade  ArosOne-x86-v2.0-USB-Image.zip
SHA256  7bc7a4a9c44e98d703b1bcbd375d556d48646f470a5db7a653cd23dc36f5d781  ArosOne-x86-v2.0-USB-Image.zip
CRC32   fd2bf0c1  ArosOne-x86-v2.0-USB-Image.zip

 MD5 f3d725e990072edce633b59747911b6b  ArosOne-x86-v1.8-USB-IMG.zip
 SHA1 009bd05fc2942b1593b2faf765726bc0cf3bb28a  ArosOne-x86-v1.8-USB-IMG.zip
 SHA256 e21ce947e1a2584fbfa6216f85800c82f59cb9652102c0167307bed35e99393f  ArosOne-x86-v1.8-USB-IMG.zip
 CRC32 d520b580  ArosOne-x86-v1.8-USB-IMG.zip

 MD5 e089a24ae310e92fcc407a0125602ce8  Aros-One x86-IMG-USB-v1.6.zip
 SHA1 1ba852b20f0372bfe40b95576cdc4d054abb6e58  Aros-One x86-IMG-USB-v1.6.zip
 SHA256 ef98ea9fa89b15bc03399916a8264fcdf061a311ba70876f09bb7fab9371c686  Aros-One x86-IMG-USB-v1.6.zip
 CRC32 e2c84cb3  Aros-One x86-IMG-USB-v1.6.zip

Tiny AROS

22bc993625b7c75b17263c0cc7e7baaa *Tiny Aros_copy.vhd (March 2024)

There can be a vhd image inside the zip that can be written to usb sticks which is much faster than the old ISO method This .vhd can be written to an usb with these pieces of software

Windows - RPi Raspberry Imager, use custom and see all files, Etcher, [], Rufus up to version 3.20 may work with VirtualBox HD vhd images with Win7 but not new 4.x versions,

Linux - Raspberry Imager Ubuntu, Suse Image / Multi writer, dd,

Mac -

Icaros 2.3 USB image needs an header stripped so it can work correctly

dd bs=512 skip=1 status=progress if=icaros_light_2-3-0_pendrive.bin of=icaros_light_2-3-0_pendrive_OK.bin && sync

Virtual Machine

You can use a virtual emulator like VirtualBox, VMWare to mount the iso image which can then be used to boot and install to USB.

CD/DVD

MD5     86d808a40dc7be389a758799a9b4f595  ArosOne-x86-v2.0-ISO-DVD.zip
SHA1    0a11adfa96114e210e8fcb34bbb5ca22ab47a7cb  ArosOne-x86-v2.0-ISO-DVD.zip
SHA256  5e755afa5552c40b854984d2eb1aeeac7f2944723e6f56aa7ff38b71fc971938  ArosOne-x86-v2.0-ISO-DVD.zip
CRC32   f701ac19  ArosOne-x86-v2.0-ISO-DVD.zip

 MD5 f1fc8599ef6a39e5df394e0f41d55526  AROS-One-x86-ISO-DVD-v1.6.zip
 SHA1 533a853ff25f57d8464cb9686982753f44b14a2b  AROS-One-x86-ISO-DVD-v1.6.zip
 SHA256 4400a284013f726655b59b6307c03a4ccc0031ab01f9ae9ebe9e30fac874ac0b  AROS-One-x86-ISO-DVD-v1.6.zip
 CRC32 39fcc346  AROS-One-x86-ISO-DVD-v1.6.zip

Previously the only installation option was CD-RW or DVD-RW, since the whole system can be burnt onto a single disk and can be reused when the next version is released. Good branded discs like Taiyo Yuden (JVC) or Verbatim should be used to reduce frustration later. The days for this media is gone but kept here for information

Since nobody currently sells AROS on any other media, you will need access to a CD/DVD burner to create the installation disk yourself. After it is on a CD or DVD, then access and writing to USB pendrives becomes available (this should be viewed as an alternative method now), as well as using good USB manufacturers like Sandisk, Kingston, etc rather than some other no-names.

Try burning it to a CD-RW or DVD-RW using your CD/DVD burning program (most burning software have a burn iso option). The ideal writing speed is 2x or 4x, higher speeds can give errors and problems. Check the writing integrity of your CD or DVD if your software has an option to do so before going any further.

SD-card

For ARM Pi Aros, copy the files onto a FAT32 formatted SD card.

Booting

The LiveUSB, and in the past LiveCD LiveDVD, is designed to trial (test drive) various operating systems without having to install them to your working system

You may have to press F9, F10 or F12 or p on boot up to present a device boot options like usb or cd/dvd

The boot should be fully automatic, and if everything works you should see a multiple choice graphic card screen after a little while (USB seconds, CDs and DVDs can be a little more than a minute).

Since 2011, UEFI introduction to replace the BIOS made booting more confusing. Some changes needed

UEFI to CSM also known as IDE mode
disabled the Fast Boot config so it would recognize portable DVD-drive and changed the Boot-sequence
disabled the Secure Boot configuration.

If you're having boot issues and have a null modem cable and a spare pc, a boot log is always useful. Edit your grub line to include debug=serial but would try with an with sysdebug=all in the line later as it can cause issues booting on machines with sysdebug=all enabled (corrupts the cpu initialization).

For Virtual machines VMWare VirtualBox, etc, attach and press play to start the ISO image

If booting hasn't worked then it could be down to Bios/UEFI settings or USB3 (2014 onwards)

PCITool can show if the motherboard chipset is in IDE mode. Class = 0x01 means STORAGE, Subclass = 0x01 means IDE. Also ProductID 0x3a20 resolves to non-AHCI mode in Intel ICH10 documentation.

nvme.device

in development

Since 2018, nvme drives are standard on most machines

JMS583

Realtek rtl9210B

AHCI

Starting taking over since 2011 on a lot of machines - editing these settings should be avoided until AROS has better AHCI sata support

Check that UEFI (replacement for PC BIOS) has options set for UEFI boot, CSM, SecureBoot etc
SATA drive is set for Legacy or a mixture AHCI/IDE and not AHCI

Provide support for 64bit AROS to co-exist with existing gpt partitions on HD, SSDs and NVME and provide a boot selector for all partitions
Need USB3 and USB4 so can boot usb drives on newer 2014 onwards hardware
Need Radeon gallium 2D and 3D driver as Nouveau updates are lengthy

AHCI sata can be very difficult to get working

Most Windows installs are already set to AHCI sata, changing this to a legacy IDE mode setting will not boot again until changed back

Now as far as hardware goes on a newer machine with an NVME drive you may need to add NVME=disable as the NVME driver could potentially cause lockups.

If you have later USB3 only, these machines with USB3 only chipsets won't enable legacy ports (USB2 USB1 etc) without the XHCI drivers. You could buy a newer USB2 card like 4 port one Moschip MSC9990 PCIe version, but it's got flakey initialization so works best if you use with an external hub.

With a 16C/32T chip machine, disable SMT and it should boot.

ata.device for old BIOS's

Pre 2010 this was the defacto standard method of providing settings to the computer at a lower level

Some adjustments to the BIOS setup options are necessary (usually by pressing a key like DEL, F1, F2, F12 or ESC, p on the very early boot up of the computer).

Adjust booting options like moving USB hdd, CDROM higher as it is quite often disabled or placed lower by default, i.e. USB hdd, CD/DVD are placed at the top above the hard drive. Try looking here Windows or Bios or Boot or web search "BIOS BOOT CDROM"

At the SAME time, check if the SATA/AHCI option is set to Emulate or IDE Legacy, though this can have issues with any OS already on the hard disk. If in doubt, do nothing and seek advice.

check that under BIOS settings you DO NOT have plug&play OS selected as Aros at this point is unable to route interrupts on its own and needs the BIOS to do that.

Save options changed at the end.

Advice for various machines

Some of the stages involved and shown on the display in a typical AROS boot start up

[MultiLoader]
[ELF Loader]
[Boot]

[HPET] 
[Kernel:ACPI]
[Kernel:APIC-IA32]
[Kernel:SMP APIC]
[HiddStorage]

ACPI: ????
ACPI Error 
[ACPI]AcpiOs????
[BattClock] Got RTC century offset 0x32 from ACPI 

[PCI] Scanning bus ? 
[AHCI] Sata 
[Vesa]  only if vesa is chosen as graphics option 

[ATA] detect hd & cd drives 
[ATA0?] ata-identity 
[packet] fat.handler be.handler, etc 
[DOS] 
[Storage:Bus]
[Storage:Controller]

[MSS] USB setup
[ehciInit] Port ? maps to controller ? 

[I2C] 
[ATI]
[drm] nouveau 
[AROSTCP]   if you have network driver prefs set up to start when booting

If boot fails, please give us some indication where the boot stops and the message(s) on screen.

AROS's native SATA/AHCI driver doesn't always work. If you get errors related to ahci.device, try disabling it. At your chosen boot entry in the GRUB menu, Press E, scroll down to the ahci.device entry, and add a # or ; at the start of that line or delete it with Ctrl-K. Then press Ctrl-X or F10 to boot.

If your disk isn't accessible at all with this change, you might need to change the SATA controller to IDE legacy mode in the BIOS: however, making this change will likely cause problems booting Windows on the same machine (if it's already installed). To disable ahci.device permanently, edit the text file "SYS:Arch/pc/grub/grub.cfg", and remove the ahci.device line from all boot entries you intend to use.

SATA AHCI Timeout while waiting for device to complete operations with BIOS SATA entry set to AHCI mode stops at "waiting for bootable media" screen, changing BIOS SATA setting back to IDE mode may allow it to continue booting

The ATA driver doesn't always work. If you get errors related to ata.device, try using the alternative in sys:devs/alt which is an older version. Press E when your chosen boot entry is highlighted in the GRUB menu, scroll down to the ata.device entry, and change it to read "module /Devs/Alt/ata.device". Then press Ctrl-X to boot. To make this change permanent, edit the text file "SYS:Arch/pc/grub/grub.cfg", and change the path to ata.device in all boot entries you intend to use.

Further options (removing the " ") to add to the GRUB menus to disable certain other components for debugging:

Disable ATA:                        "ATA=disable"
Disable ATA:                        "ATA=nopci,nolegacy"
ATA safe mode:                      "ATA=nodma,32bit"
Disable IDE from SATA:              "ATA=32bit,nosata2pata"
VIA / SIS with cdrom read io errors "ATA=nodma,nopoll" 

noacpi - boot option causes all [PCI] devices to be invisible to AROS. disk drives work but network, sound won't 

Disable AHCI/SATA: remove ahci.device line with Ctrl-K
Disable USB: remove pciusb.device and poseidon.library lines with Ctrl-K
Disable native graphics: "nomonitors"

Other useful grub command line options - nomonitors, noacpi, vesahack, nopoll

Press Ctrl and X together (or F10) to exit and boot with the new options. Just experiment with different variations until successful. Those working options will need to be reused with every reboot of AROS until you can edit the grub.cfg and make it permanent ie. install to hard disk or USB.

If you use VESA mode, you can see the debug log if you add 'vesahack' to the command line. This will set up split-screen mode. In the upper half you'll see AROS screen, in the bottom - debug log.
ACPI ie. PCI hardware - If you get crashes at early boot, try adding 'NOACPI' to the command line

If all else fails, try a nightly iso build and add the option sysdebug=all to the grub line as that is able to report more feedback

However, if you feel you have found a genuine bug/fault in AROS that needs attention, please use the bug submission form to record as much information about what happened, why, and what hardware etc. you have so that people may try to assist you

Installing

We have a separate section here

We have a specific section for each CPU platform under the Specific platforms in the NavBar navigation bar on the right hand side menu

error code (-6) when using the ahci.device (has writing to disk problem but not reading) is enabled. change this line in your grub and reboot

#module /Devs/ahci.device      << disable
module /Devs/Alt/ata.device    << add this line instead

File structure overview

AROS' directory structure is mostly identical to AmigaOS directory structure, with some additions.

AROS: or SYS: also known as DH0: (i.e. the drive partition with AROS system) has the following simplified list of the main drawers (Amigas term for directories/folders).

C:	small apps, where AROS looks first for applications/games but will look at Tools, System afterwards
Devs:	.audio, .hidd, network, graphics and other hardware device drivers are stored
L:	where .handler files go
Libs:	where .library files go
Prefs:	applications that adjust or setup AROS functions and capabilities
S:	startup scripts (for the aros boot process not grub) are stored here
Storage:	place to keep old or alternative device drivers
System:	applications associated with AROS operating system
Tools:	extra applications

See DOS manual: Drives, Files, Assigns, Directories

Filesystem

Whilst the kernel is the heart, the filesystem is the blood of the system...

Journalling - ZFS XFS ext4 NTFS SFS PFS3
Non-journaling - BtrFS ext2 exFAT FAT32(VFAT) FFS

Filesystem options for AROS to install

SFS default
Professional File System PFS3 m68k
FFS old left for legacy usage

Other filesystems for storage purposes

NTFS (can lock system)
exFAT

PFS *minimises* the amount of fragmentation, but does not automatically defrags as it saves files to the drive

SFS tries to do exactly the same thing, but in certain cases it doesn't do as well as PFS. But since you can defrag SFS

The only filesystems that really NEED defragging are from Microsoft(TM) - exFAT/VFAT/NTFS

Copy L/exfat-handler L:

DOSDriver or Mountlist entry for an exFAT partition make sure that the FileSystem and Handler are set as follows:

FileSystem     = exfat-handler
DosType        = 0x46415458

Copy L/ntfs3g-handler L:

DOSDriver or Mountlist entry for an NTFS partition make sure that the FileSystem and Handler are set as follows:

FileSystem     = ntfs3g-handler
DosType        = 0x4e544653

Also to make a read-only mount you can set:

Control        = ro

The Smart File System (SFS) is a journaling filesystem used on Amiga computers and AmigaOS-derived operating systems. It is designed for performance, scalability and integrity, offering improvements over standard Amiga filesystems as well as some special or unique features.

SFS is written in C and was originally created and released as freeware in 1998 by John Hendrikx. After the original author left the Amiga scene in 2000, the source code to SFS was released and its development continued by Ralph Schmidt in MorphOS.

Its development has now forked; as well as the original Amiga version, there are now versions for MorphOS, AROS, AmigaOS 3, and a version for AmigaOS 4, which have different feature sets but remain compatible to each other. Versions for AROS, AmigaOS and MorphOS are based on different branches.

In addition, there is a driver for Linux to read Amiga SFS volumes, GRUB natively supports it and there are free drivers to use it from UEFI. The Linux version is independent code.

SFS (Smart File System) partially defragments itself while the filesystem is in use. The defragmentation process is almost completely stateless

AROS SFS version has a 120GB partition size limit on hard disks and DVDs current 4gig size limit. The sources for the MorphOS 64-bit version of SFS were available but no porting to AROS has happened so far due to endian issues, etc.

SFS Tools

GUI - arSFSDoctor,
CLI - sfscheck , sfsundelete, sfsformat, setcache hits a usability ceiling around the 10GB / 100,000 file mark,

sfscheck dh0: seek purge fraglist defragment

If there are two simultaneous file writes in progress and you reboot machine (or it locks up or crashes) you may end up with a corrupted filesystem. Although arSFSDoctor may help, you might have to copy the files to another partition, format the partition with the errors on and copy the files back.

A bit error on the harddisk would give this error.

PFS / SFS are way more advanced and much much faster than the FFS. FFS is supported for legacy reasons only. The Professional File System (PFS) is a filesystem originally developed commercially for the Amiga and now distributed on Aminet with a 4-clause BSD license. It is a compatible successor of AmiFileSafe (AFS), with an emphasis on added reliability and speed compared to standard Amiga filesystems. It also features multi-user abilities like the older MuFS.

PFS has so many advantages including the important things, speed, the ability to recover all deleted files even simply same name by typing the command ". Deldir" convenient if done in Directory Opus, virtually deleted files are copied normally as if they had never been deleted, other convenience is to not ever invalidate the filesystem, just put it on top of the startup-sequence command "diskvalid", which automatically corrects any irregularities in the system startup; PFS also provides a device for floppy which makes them very fast and takes advantage of the full capacity of the floppy including the area dedicated to the bootloader.

The device is split into two main areas. At the beginning of the device is the metadata section, which consists of a root block, and a generic array of blocks that can be allocated to store metadata. The rest of the device is another contiguous generic array of blocks that can be allocated to store data. The metadata section usually uses a few percent of the device, depending on the size of the device.

The metadata is stored as a tree of single blocks in the metadata section. The entire directory structure is recorded in the metadata, so the data section purely contains data from files. The metadata describes the location of data in files with extents of blocks, which makes the metadata quite compact.

When a metadata update occurs, the system looks at the block containing the metadata to be changed, and copies it to a newly allocated block from the metadata section, with the change made, then it recursively changes the metadata in the block that points to that block in the same way. This way, eventually the root block needs to be changed, which causes the atomic metadata update.

The filesystem is reasonably good at keeping files unfragmented, although there is a defragmentation tool available which will work on an online filesystem ie whilst being used.

It was the first filesystem to introduce the concept of the Recycle Bin natively at filesystem-level to the Amiga, holding the last few deleted files in a hidden directory on the disk root.

PFS version 5.3 was developed in C and a small portion of assembly code by Michiel Pelt. There are endian issues to be overcome and adapting the small amount of m68k to C before use on intel based machines, etc.

Autoupdate of files in a directory is already implemented in Wanderer, but not all file systems handle dos.library/StartNotify() in its full extent. It seems to work correctly in Ram Disk (thanks to AmberRAM handler), and it also works on SFS formatted devices. Other file systems might not yet have it implemented correctly though.

The PC equivalent of the Amiga's RDB is the master boot record (MBR).

Installing Applications

The typical means to install applications under AROS/AmigaOS involves simply copying/extracting the archive (.zip .lha .rar .tar.gz) file containing the applications files to your own desired location i.e. drawer/folder. Once extracted, launching it by double clicking on an icon (recommended) or using the shell (alternative). Generally, this is on a separate partition from your AROS system files, however in reality it can be any location - including RAM: if you don't want it staying around too long especially when you switch off.

At some time in the future it may be desirable for AROS to have a package-manager like subsystem able to retrieve information online about packages available for AROS and whether they update anything you currently have installed, however at the moment no such ability exists.

User Data files

AmigaOS has no notion of a default location to store user data files, and presently neither does AROS - though it may be desirable at some time to provide a common start location.

For most people, extra small FAT32 NTFS partition(s) as well as the usual Sys: (DH0:) and Work: (DH1:) / Briefcase (DU1:) partitions to store data seems preferable. Especially if a reinstall is ever needed.

User Environment configuration files

AmigaOS/AROS stores persistent system configuration data in directory assigned to ENVARC:. This, by default, points to SYS:Prefs/EnvArc.

During boot a copy is made to another assign, ENV:, which is for runtime usage. Changes to the files here will not survive a reboot.

Setting the env variables is generally done by applications themselves, or when neccessary by the user using the SetEnv command. SetEnv has a SAVE switch to force the persistent copy in ENVARC: to be written also for when you are sure the change should be permanent.

Under the standard installation of AmigaOS style OSs, ENVARC: is copied to ENV: upon startup, which, if you have a hard drive installation, is in RAM:, hence, ENV: ends up being RAM:Env.

ENVARC: is the Environment Archive, which is the permanent copy of ENV:, which is the Environment. It's roughly like the Registry in Windoze.

Most programs do (and all should) store their settings in ENVARC: somewhere, and load them from ENV:. The effect of this can be seen in the Preference editors. If you Save your preferences, they go in ENVARC: and ENV:. If you click Use, they only go in ENV:. If you reboot, normally, anything saved to ENV: is lost, and is replaced with a copy of what is in ENVARC:.

Drivers

All hardware support is placed in the Devs drawer (folder/directory). The network drivers <something.device> go in the Networks sub-drawer. Audio drivers <something.audio> are put in the AHI sub-drawer. Graphics drivers <something.hidd> are put in the Drivers sub-drawer.

Configuring

AROS has mainly decided on a MUI-like requester/menu/ clone so changing the background, icons, font, menus can be done with SYS:Prefs/Zune

AROS has several desktop GUI front ends like

DOpus5 Magellan, Wanderer and Scalos (medium)
AROS Workbench, Workbook (smaller)

File / Directory managers like Dopus4, MCAmiga,

App Launch Shortcuts like FKey, Amistart, BoingIconBar, right mouse click on magellan, wanderer desktop, etc

General usability decisions - Prefs/IControl,

Most apps can be autostarted by copying into SYS:WBStartup directory folder e.g. WeatherBar.zip can be downloaded, unzip and the contents of the zip copied to wbstartup folder

ClicktoFront and .info to SYS:WBStartup so always be activated when turning on the computer

or add a text line to user-startup is SYS:S (scripts version of wbstartup)

e.g. standard Amiga / AROS does not allow clicking of background windows to come to the front to make it easy to get to the window you need but it has the ability if these apps are copied again to WBStartUp or are added to SYS:S/user-startup script

run QUIET sys:Tools/Commodities/ClickToFront >Nil: 
run QUIET sys:Tools/Commodities/DepthMenu >Nil: 
run QUIET sys:Tools/Commodities/Blanker seconds=300 >Nil:

Exchange controls Commodities and can be opened with alt, ctrl, h

Although there are heaps of docks, menus and other launcher programs on the Amiga like OSs, FKey has got to be one of the quickest and less complicated ways to launch programs, and it comes with the OS.

In SYS:Tools/Commodities, the FKey commodity (Ctrl Alt F) allows you to make actions assigned to some combinations of keys

ALT TAB       Cycle Windows
              Cycle Screens
              Enlarge Window
              Shrink Window
              Toggle Window Size
              Insert Text
              Run Program
              Run Arexx Script

e.g.

LAmiga F1               = Avail Flush
LAmiga F2               = Open Prefs
LAmiga F3               = Finder
Alt Tab                 = Cycle Windows
LAmiga Tab or M         = Cycle Screens
Alt Up arrow            = Enlarge Window 
Alt Down arrow          = Shrink Window
Alt Home                = Toggle Window Size 
                        = Insert Text             
LAmiga e                = Run Program             
                        = Run Arexx Script

If your FKey GUI pops up when you start your Workbench up and you don't want it to, click once on the icon, go to the Icons-Information in the menu and make sure it has the tooltype set "CX_POPUP=NO".

Now let's launch it and assign the locale switching. After you double-click on FKey icon, launch the Exchange, choose the FKey from list and click the Show button. This will invoke the FKey window. You can see the ALT TAB in list assigned to window switching. Now enter the first key combination, say, ALT Z and go to the right panel. Choose Launch the program from pulldown menu and enter SYS:Prefs/Input as an argument. Append the USE switch and english preset name to the string as shown:

SYS:Prefs/Input USE SYS:Prefs/Presets/english

Click on the New Button to add the another combination. Now set the combination for your locale as shown above, replacing English name with your preset name. Click New button again and then Save Settings. Now you can use defined combinations to switch the layouts.

Although not needed by most users, the system wide ARexx script capability can manage many file manipulation task(s) but this would work only with those program that support ARexx like

Desktop - DOpus5, Scalos
Dock - FKey,
Files - Multiview, DOpus4,
Internet Apps - Odyssey, WookieChat,
General Apps -

the shell can be modified with escape strings but not needed in most cases

Common Keyboard Shortcuts

RAlt Right Alt Key 
LAlt Left Alt Key 
RWinKey Right Windows Key 
LWinKey Left Windows Key 
RAmiga Right Amiga Key (if one)
LAmiga Left Amiga Key (if one)

Bootup Options: Spacebar during boot, enters the bootmenu which allows a boot without startup sequence, etc

Left Click: LAmiga = LWinKey = F11

Right Click: RAmiga = RWinKey = F12

Mark: RAmiga and B

Cut: RAmiga and X

Copy: RAmiga and C

Paste: RAmiga and V

Search: RAmiga and S

Mouse Movement

LAmiga and together with arrow keys - shift as well at the same time as well to move faster

Mouse Selection

LAmiga and LAlt to select

Screen Switching

LAmiga and M or N

HELP key

Can sometimes be mapped to F11 but can be changed via FKey

DOpus 5 Directory Magellan

Dopus 5.x is a whole desktop replacement on the Amiga Workbench (Desktop).

Left mouse button clicked twice on the desktop background brings up the Device List window. Green strip notifies SRCE (source) and if another is open it may be red for DEST (destination). clicking on the red strip changes to green

Word list of actions with a left mouse click on the DOWN Arrow and directory stuff with < button next to it

single-key hotkeys? exactly the same as in dopus4, edit your functions (button bank, toolbar, menus etc.) and under the flags gadget is a key gadget, just click in it and press the key you want to use.

As for the extra text field... try turning off Extended lister key selection in environment / miscellaneous.

Settings (Right Win key together with 4) -> Themes i.e. assign D5THEMES: DOPUS5:Themes

Toolbar -> Editor (Right Win Key together with 1) for Copy, Move, Delete, etc above the Device List
Listers -> Menu (Right Win Key together with 2)
Buttons -> Editor (Right Win Key together with 3) unknown
Settings -> Clock (add to title bar as well as the date)
Settings -> Environment (Right Win key together with 4) for Backgrounds, etc
Hotkeys -> Setup for quick shortcut keypresses (Right Win Key together with 7)

Each Dopus5 theme are stored in a separate directory, named appropriately, which contains further sub directories

Screens (jpg or any picture supported by datatypes but not animations)
Sounds (wav iff snd svx supported)
Icons (png newicons glowicons )
Desktop Patterns (iff )

Shift and click on the icon - runs the icon

arcdir

arexx / dopus5 scripts see dopus5/arexx/ folder

Just use wildcards in background filenames and you get different pics in reboots!

For example, configure in Environment -> Backgrounds -> Desktop something like this:

Work:Pictures/Backgrounds/#?
...or:
Work:Pictures/back#?.iff
...etc...

If you want change the bg backdrop pic in runtime after some time, an arexx-script for it (paste it into a text file called dopusrandbg.rexx or dopusrandbg.dopus5

/* Changes DOpus background image forever

   Start with:
   Run >NIL: RX dopusrandbg.rexx 
*/

if ~show("L", "rexxsupport.library") then do
	if ~addlib("rexxsupport.library", 0, -30,0) then exit 10
end

/* Configure these two lines for your needs: */
minutes=1
picpath="Work:Pics/#?.iff"

address DOPUS.1

do forever
	call delay 3000*minutes
	dopus set background '"'picpath'"' desktop center custom
	dopus refresh background custom
end

If you don`t want to use/open rexxsupport.library just for DELAY() then use the DOS Wait command

/* random diropus backdrop changer */
/* by paul trauth, 1999 */
/* to do: non-repeatable randomness? */

options results

parse arg path

address DOPUS.1

/* get current backdrop pattern so it actually changes */

dopus query background desktop custom
currentpatt=result
lastslash=lastpos('/',currentpatt)
currentpatt=substr(currentpatt,lastslash+1,(pos('"',currentpatt,2)-lastslash-1))

dir=showdir(path,'FILE','/')
num=0
do while dir~=''
    where=pos('/',dir)
    if where>0 then do
        file=left(dir,where-1)
        dir=right(dir,length(dir)-where)
    end
    else do
        file=dir
        dir=''
    end

    if left(file,1) ~='.' & file~=currentpatt then
        do
            pics.num=file
            num=num+1
        end
end

which=random(0,num-1,time(s))
newbg='"'||path||'/'||pics.which||'"'

dopus set background newbg desktop tile precision exact
dopus set background on
dopus refresh background

It's WB ARexx interface, you could enter a cli command as a menu item to open a WB drawer like this...

RX "address WORKBENCH;WINDOW 'device:drawer' OPEN"

Where device:drawer is replaced by the path of the drawer to open.

The ARexx script would be capable to manage such a task but this would work only with those program that support ARexx

DirOpus 5 Magellan, discussions, src code,

Wanderer

Backgrounds icon text sizes, colors, etc with wanderer prefs in the prefs drawer but cannot use #? or *.* in the backgrounds file entry to randomly choose pictures

Provides a way to hide the old Workbench 3.1 style of windows and screens.

Themes - SYS:Prefs -> Appearance The default content of Prefs/Env-Archive/SYS/themes.var should be "themes:ice" but can be changed via the theme prefs, please do NOT click the Use button. Its useless. As you know, it will ask for the theme volume. Just pick the theme you want, click on Save, then reboot.

Decoration is on. Any time trying to change theme, you get: "Please insert volume Theme: in any drive"?

You could check if you find SYS:System/Themes or if it is missing. Then you could open startup-sequence which you can find in drawer "S". There should be a line:

Assign THEMES: SYS:SYSTEM/THEMES >Nil:

This does the trick. Open a shell and run:

Assign THEMES: SYS:SYSTEM/THEMES

Than start the Theme prefs again... this should work

The theme is the only thing that could slow the system a bit, but it's not that performance impacting on most uses, and you can switch it of completely. Remove C:Decoration from the bottom of the file sys:s/startup-sequence.

ALua/Zulu script built for faster Wanderer skin management. You can modify config files, install new (wdz format/zipped skin files) and delete skins via the Theme Manager.

Global.Prefs

Scalos

v1.0 (V39.201) - November 1999
v1.1 (V39.212) - 1999 (?)
v1.2b (39.220) - June 6, 2000
v1.2d (39.222) - 2000 (latest public beta executable)
v1.3 (40.7) (beta) - August 2, 2001
v1.3 (40.22) - September 25, 2002
v1.4 ([http://migalliance.free.fr/History.html 40.32]) (beta) March 31, 2005
v1.6 (41.4) - March 27, 2007
v1.7 (41.5) - August 12, 2007
v1.8 (41.6) - March 12, 2009
v1.9 (41.7) (beta) - March 15, 2010
v1.9 (41.8) (RC1) - August 25, 2012
v1.9.2 Deadwoods 2023

AROS One may have it under SYS:System/ as part of Deadwood contrib builds, deadwood github src, very old version. Please run Prefs:Scalos_Menu first and Save settings

Manual Scalos expects Prefs to be in ENVARC:

Please ensure you copy Scalos:Prefs Scalos:Storage/Envarc to SYS:Prefs/Scalos and copy which language you need

ASSIGN Scalos:             SYS:xxx/xxx DEFER   
ASSIGN Libs:               Scalos:Libs add    
ASSIGN SYS:Devs/Datatypes  Scalos:Devs/Datatypes   add

to SYS:S/user-startup

Scalos's Prefs (right mouse button, Drawers, Scalos Prefs) and double click Scalos_Prefs app icon

the other prefs - Scalos_Menu, Scalos_FileTypes, Scalos_Palette, Scalos_Pattern - are smaller parts of this one preference app

Prefs cover these subject areas

About Scalos
Paths
Startup
Desktop             - after adding title_clock.plugin %ti %da does not work %wp not showing %pr shows 68000 not x86 
Icons
Drag and Drop
Windows
Text Windows
TrueType Fonts
Miscellaneous
Plugins             - 
Modules
PopupMenu
Pattern             - Wallpaper backgrounds DE pic 1, 
Palette             - change the color of things 
Menu                - Menu.pre saves to SYS:Prefs/presets/scalos 
FileTypes           - recognise files and open right app

Scalos_Prefs - Pattern - Minimum options to changed are

DE Desktop/Background
IW Window/Background ie Icons showing
TW Window/TextBackground ie Text listing showing if icon type not recognised

Pattern List tab Page - Allows you to compile a list of pictures (one at a time rather than a whole folder eg with #? or *.*), assigning a number Nr to one or more of them for easy reference. Using this number you will be able to assign the pictures to specific windows on the Defaults tab Page. If multiple pictures have the same number, one of the pictures will be chosen randomly. This will allow you to have random desktop pictures, random window backdrops etc.

Defaults tab Page - Here you can set the defaults for the background pictures in Scalos. Randomize every time [check box] - Usually Pictures with the same number will be randomly selected as soon as the configuration loads. If this option is set, the picture will be selected as soon as a window with the same number assignment is opened.

Popup Menu preferences fully configurable menus (includes ToolsDaemon and ParM launch apps import), including support for context-sensitive Popup menus configs for top pull down menus for apps, etc.

right mouse button - Scalos_Prefs, Menu, New Menu, New Item, New Command add name at top then in Command Properties eg. add Workbench then underneath add app location e.g. DOpus:DOpus4

Modules - delete, empty_trashcan, execute, find, format_disk, information, iconproperties, newdrawer, reboot, rename, systeminfo, windowproperties

Plugins

devicefilter.plugin
persist.plugin            should a crash or reboot occur - next time Scalos is started your windows will be re-opened 
title_clock.plugin        add digital clock to title 
title_envvar.plugin
title_freepens.plugin
volumegauge.plugin
wb39.plugin
wbrexx.plugin             AREXX scripts which alter the Workbench
xtwindows.plugin          left or right ALT or left or right SHIFT keys when open/close windows 

filetype.plugin
menu.plugin

Tools - scripts and apps like LoadWB, quit.rexx, open_volume.rexx,

Each theme drawer (folder) has further folders

About
Desktop
FileTrans
FileType
Icons
Menu 
Modules
PointerIcons
Prefs
Sound
Window

    100% Workbench replacement - All functions work like the original Workbench ones
    Undo and Redo for most window and icon operation
    Fully multitasking - Every window has its own task. While loading icons, any window function (e.g. Drag&Drop) is available


    Cybergraphics and Picasso96 24bit color support
    Window patterns - Unlimited and easily configurable via tooltypes
    Optimised backgroundpatterns routine - Patterns can be tiled, centred or even scaled to fit into the windows. With the use of render.library, you get full control over the dithering and pen usage of your patterns
    Live updating window scrolling - Supports middle mouse button panning too!
    Drawer windows can be iconified


    Icon imagetypes - All types are supported such as backfill or complement. Configurable surrounding iconborder
    Icon datatype system - NewIcon datatype included. Icon support also visually highlights files which are soft-links in the file system.
    Icon dragging is more stable - And far less flickery on graphics cards. Whilst dragging, icons are displayed with text and they become transparent over anything where they can be dropped! MUI-alike transparency on low colour screens. Real transparency if running at 15-bit or greater.
    Single-window lasso mode, with scrolling window contents invoked by dragging mouse with configurable qualifier key
    Text icon lasso selection used to ignore "Name column selects text icons" flag
    Added support for backfilled thumbnail icons, with selectable color and transparency
    Added option to always generate square thumbnail icons
    Thumbnail preview icons for images - Thumbnails can be permanently saved in icons


    Supports PNG icons with alpha channel and real transparency
    Displays OS3.5 GlowIcons even on OS3.1 machines
    Scalable icons
    Iconborders - Nice looking, Icontext variations (normal, shadowed, outlined)
    Screentitle text - Shows what you want, how you want


    Application Interface (API) - Anything is possible from outside the program itself
    Completely configurable, filetype-specific user-definable popup menus and tooltips
    Plugin system to exchange or add features - It enhances the Workbench and makes it more configurable
    Filetype plugins to display filetype-specific information. - Currently, EXIF information viewer for JPEG images is included.
    Plugin included for 100% support of OS3.9 Workbench features
    Plugin included for AREXX API compatible to OS3.9 Workbench
    Online update with updater.module



We want to add the following features:

    Add a diskcopy.module, format.module and reboot.module
    Replace the other modules with newer ones featuring lots of nice little niggly fixes and animated eye candy where possible :o)
    Add some sort of configurable sounds for certain events
    Make the installer more intelligent
    Add themes support (if not in V1.x this WILL be in V2.x)

Shutdown -> right mouse button Scalos, About, Reboot, Shutdown

ToolTypes can be added to the Scalos.info icon like

SCALOS_PATTERNNO=<number> : background image matching the number
SCALOS_NOTEXT : The Icon will be drawn without Text.
SCALOS_NODRAG : The Icon will not be draggable. Its position will be fixed.
Module iconproperties - Added SCALOS_BROWSERMODE tooltype support

For the RAM Icon, to obtain this you have only to copy the icon in the Icon Path as "RAM.info" or "Ram Disk.info". All functions will automaticallly be performed

Scalos works also as a Workbench replacement. In this case the 'emulation mode' has to be set. Changes if 'Emulation mode' is on:

Scalos uses the Workbench Screen for its windows instead opening a new one.
AppIcon, AppMenuItem, AppWindow functions are redirected to Scalos
all Programs placed in "WBStartup" should start
The Screen will be reopened in case of changes in ScreenMode and Palette settings

Fit size: The picture will be resized to the

dimension of the new window.You *MUST* have set GUIGfx on. asyncron layout: Pictures will be loaded and rendered while the windows opens (Like original Workbench). If this function is 'off', pictures will always be loaded before opening the windows.

Use friendbitmap : The picture is present twice in

memory for best speed. This option has no effect if V43 picture.datatype or GUIGfx are used. Always relayout: If "Fit size" is set, the picture will be scaled everytime the window's dimensions change.

Randomize everytime: Usually Pictures with the same

number will be randomly selected as soon as the If more pictures have the same number, one of them will be chosen randomly. Patternlist New/Delete : Add a new picture. After that you should assign a number to it. The picture will be rendered as tiles. configuration loads. If this option is set, the picture

Asyncron-Task priority: You can set the CPU prioriry for the Task if "asyncron layout" is set. Desktop: Number of the Picture for the main window. Screen: Number of the picture for the Scalos-Screen. Window: Number of the picture for the Scalos-windows. TextMode: Number of the picture for the Scalos-windows in Text Mode.

The Program wil be started from the Shell. If "WB Args" is set, with the Argument "%p" will be replaced by the path of the activated Icons. The Program will started with the specified Stack value. IconWindow: Scalos opens the window of the specified path.

PlugIn: Starts a Scalos Menu-PlugIn. If a Menu Item with empty name is specified, Scalos displays a separator line. It's possible to Drag&Drop an Icon in the Configuration Window. All values will be set accordingly. Entries may be dragged across the list.

Mac-like selection : This function aktivates a multiselection method used on MacOS or Win95. If you've selected multiple icons you don't have to hold down shift to drag them. Clicking on an already activated icon will not deselect all other icons. MMB move: The window contents may be moved using the middle mouse button. WindowPopup title only: PopupMenu for windows can be opened only on window's title bars. FullBench: Screen-Titles removed and Main Window set Full Size.

Default Icons saveable : The icons which Scalos generates if "show all files" is enabled, can now be saved using "snapshot" menu option. load DefDisk first : Try to read the icons first from the DefIcons Path before using disk info.

Hide hidden files : If this function is activated all files or directories where the "hide" flag is set will not be shown.

Many of my Icons display more than once on the screen, while on the workbench all seems ok. The Workbench filters double displayed icons, Scalos does not. Solution: please edit the ".backdrop" file and clear double lines.

Background images not scaled. GUIGfx option not set or guigfx.library and/or render.library not installed.

If working with CD's causes crashs or Scalos doesn't work correctly. Most Filesystems doesn't support the ExAll function correctly. Disable "Use ExAll" in Scalos prefs.

Scalos needs much chip ram for every window. Scalos needs normally more chip RAM than the WB, but IPrefs loads it's patterns too. Remove all pictures in WBPattern.

Scalos doesn't start any program in the WBStartup. WBStartup Path may be set wrongly or Scalos not started in Emulation Mode On Scalos x86 native doesn't start any programs from the WBStartup drawer at the moment

With the help of the wbrexx.plugin Scalos gains support for more of the compatible arexx API

If an arexx command produces an error you will find the error code placed in the WORKBENCH.LASTERROR variable.

ACTIVATEWINDOW

/* Activate the root window */
ADDRESS workbench
ACTIVATEWINDOW root

/* Activate the "Work:" partition's window if already open*/
ACTIVATEWINDOW "Work:"

CHANGEWINDOW

/* Change the root window; move it to position 10,30. * and change its size to 200100 pixels */
ADDRESS workbench
CHANGEWINDOW root LEFTEDGE 10 TOPEDGE 30 WIDTH 200 HEIGHT 100

/* Change the currently active window */
CHANGEWINDOW active 20 40 200 100

need a def_ icon with the same name predefined, then create an appropriate entry in the list and rename it, if def icon exists it is shown. Below this can define how files are identified.

either "pattern", similar to magellan to identify file by ending
or

Then click on the shown icon and define in it what program is used when you double-klick on it and save it. On the tab action you can define popup menu for it. All in all handling is of course different to magellan but can do similar

DOpus 4 Directory Opus

Copy DOpus4 app to WBStartup directory folder so it starts on boot up each time

Another method is add the below to the bottom of the user-startup script in S: drawer/directory

run DOPUS:DirectoryOpus -i >NIL

makes DOpus starts up in Iconified state at the top of Wanderer's screen. Left click on this to highlight and right mouse click to open.

Just click on the sides of either outer edges of DOpus windows and it will display the parent device/volume list.

DOpus saves it features in a CFG file which can be edited to suit anyones' needs by reading the Dopus Manual which is in Guide format.

AmiStart

Auto generates the apps menu but scans the drive each time - AmiStart can choose apps you are not interested

how to disable annoying zune/mui 'bubbles'?

try a right-click on AmiStart and release on Global settings. Then click on the bubbles gadget. Move the Show Bubbles slider all the way to the left.

BoingIconBar

User chooses the apps to add to the dock at the centre bottom of the screen but has to be done manually, please use Save afterwards

right mouse click on bottom edge of screen where boingiconbar shows - select settings which opens BoingIconBar Preferences to add apps

If no dock showing Add, to add apps click Add Program and search for the executable

SYS:System/Shell 
SYS:Tools/DOpus4/DOpus4
SYS:Utilities/Editor
SYS:System/SysMon
SYS:System/Scout
Work:Extras/Internet/OWB/OWB
Work:Extras/Graphics/Lunapaint
Work:Extras/Graphics/ZunePaint
AROS:Tools/MPlayer/MPlayer

another method is to drag icons to ends of the bar and move them on the Bar using the Prefs/BoingIconBar

Icons

Icons are typically now .png pictures renamed as .info e.g. so Office application name would have a Office.png renamed as Office.info or MyApp.png as MyApp.info, etc.

Leave Out menu option to leave app icon on desktop

To select multiple icons and save their positions, click on the first icon and after while you hold the Shift key down select further icons and don't release it before SnapShot is finished. You can also select a whole group of icons by pressing the LMB at the top left of the icons and while keeping the LMB down moving the power towards the bottom right. A expanding bounding box will appear and all the icons within it will be selected.

Clean Up menu option (right mouse button -> Icons) rearranges icons in a drawer or disk window into a neater condition. To use, open the window to rearrange and select Clean Up. To keep the icons in the new positions, select all the icons (shift key or mouse selection) and select 'Snapshot' and then Window and then again with All.

In DOpus5, Saclos, wanderer, most files have a icon file associated with it. To change the default tool, select Icon menu, Information, and change the default tool string. For example, you could use Multiview, Editor and so on for most text, graphics and some sound files as long as the appropriate Datatype classes are installed. For scripts, set the tool to C:IconX

C:Join Image1.png Image2.png TO MyFile.info is enough to make a dual state icon from two png images. You can then use Wanderer's menu Icon/Information on it to edit its fields and tooltypes.

Amiga OS 3.x AfA icons thread, Later DualPNG and OS4 icons thread and Alternative Icons sets like ClassicWB

AISS toolbar images unpack unarc them into RAM: and copy Images directory to SYS:Prefs/Presets/

AISS icons are looked for in PROGDIR:, PROGDIR:Images, SYS:Prefs/Presets/Images and then in TBImages: according to Open Amiga guidelines.

there is Demos/iconscale which could be launched from S:User-Startup with two arguments, telling it the horizontal and vertical size. IE something like

Demos/iconscale 40 40

It will shrink icons... not sure if it will be very nice though. it doesn't work for the icons on the main desktop.

there is an option to scale an icon to a bounding box afair, try iconsize followed by two numbers, like: iconsize 32 32

Is there any way in AROS to change an icon type from Project to Tool or vice versa? Either the SIT option of ProcessIcon, or the TYPE option of HandleInfo (not sure if this one works at all, please test with care).

processicon sys:pathoftheicon SIT=Project

SIT Set type of ICON. Allowed types are: "Disk", "Drawer", "Tool", "Project", "Garbage", "Device", "Kick" and "AppIcon".

Btw, are your icons, the #?.info files, writable, is the W flag set ?

Fonts

Install the #?.ttf files to SYS:Fonts/TrueType. Use SYS:System/FTManager to "Install Font" each #?.ttf file which will generate associated #?.otag and #?.font in SYS:Fonts. Use SYS:Prefs/Fonts to change system fonts and SYS:Prefs/Zune to change others.

To achieve our goal we will use the Setup Locale, Input, Zune and Fonts, as well as The FTManager.

Begin

The first step you should do is to get the system to know that we speak and write in another language. What you need to do is to open the setup program and choose Locale country, and list "preferred languages" to put it first and then English. If you want the tab "Time Zone" and select city of residence to set the clock correctly. Of course we save our changes and continue opening the setup program Input. This sets the keyboard language as our beginning. When the language layout was created there was no option to switch to Aros keyboard (layout switching), so to write in the language you had to hold down Alt, something you encounter in other functions, such as AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS. This time working with the team of Aros to create a new keyboard layout to replace the old so we can get rid of the button Alt. For now though let only selected this layout and do not turn the switch on the keyboard.

On the occasion of the article, write in the comments below if you'd prefer to keep both layouts, the new words that are in development and this requires the Alt button pressed.

Installing fonts

In this step you need to download some fonts that can support the Greek encoding in our system. The easiest way is to run the script "Download Fonts" you'll find in the folder AROS: Utilities / OWB. This script downloads from the Internet, and unpacks some fonts for OWB, which is placed under the folder Fonts: TrueType. But as these can only be used by OWB and not the system, which unfortunately does not see. To make them available to the rest of the system, open the program FTManager, you will find the folder AROS: System /. From there select the field "Codepage" option "ISO-8859-7" and list the font "Arial" and "Regular" form in which you must double-click with the mouse. In the window that appears, select the bottom right the checkbox "Anti-aliasing" button and then "Install". Immediately folder Fonts: created files "arialregular.font" and "arialregular.otag", which are necessary in order to see the system font. Do the same steps if you wish for other fonts.

Final stages

After completing the above, open the folder AROS: Prefs / and run the program settings Fonts. In the new window, select the fields "Icons" and "Screen" as the font "ArialRegular" to the size you want. In the field "System" to give "s_courier", which, however, because it is not True Type Font support Antialising, and may seem a little broken. You can also use the CourierNew, if you have installed the above procedure. After you save the changes and open the Zune program settings. In this set the "ArialRegular" font fields in tabs "Windows" and "Groups", and save the changes. Reboot the system. To make sure that the above worked properly run NoWinED, which you will find under the folder AROS: Tools /. If that everything is working correctly you will see the menu and the settings window with Greek letters. You can also write in the language using the button Alt. Second program that you can try, which is fully localized, is WookieChat, which you will find in the folder AROS: Extras / Networking. And in this place all the menu and settings window works.

Windows

Intuition

The window you position and resize, you right click on that windows title bar and in the dropdown menu you snapshot from there. Right click to show menu -> Window -> Snapshot Windows or All but it will NOT work if that folder has no icon (e.g. Disk.nfo) attached to it. You need a folder icon. The window information gets saved in it.

As for maximising the window using a shortcut key - Alt and up arrow key

The AROS-Shell windows can be moved, resized by editing sys:s/icaros-sequence

; run shell
if ${Icaros/autoshell} EQ true
  run QUIET c:newshell >NIL:
EndIF

slimmer right aros the screen

run QUIET c:newshell con:0/150//300/ >NIL:

top right corner scr-x scr-y win-x win-y

run QUIET c:newshell con:600/150//300/ >NIL:

Zune - AROS version of MUI

Magic Menu type functionality is implemented in IControl preferences editor: in the frame called Menus, switch type from Pull-Down to Pop-Up and/or iControl just tick the sticky menu option.

Windows outside screens causing a problem either uncheck "Offscreen move" for windows in IControl prefs editor. Or use FKey commodity and define two key shortcuts:

the first using the command "cycle windows" (for example ALT TAB);
the second using the command "rescue window" (for example ALT F5).

Now you can cycle windows until the one you want to rescue, and then "rescue" it: it will move back inside your screen.

How to save the window size on wanderer (snapshot all, snapshot windows)

Same for icon position on wanderer, can't save the position. Icon position cannot be saved yet, but you should be able to save the window position and size. sys:prefs - wanderer icon has option to save window size on exit but just for dh0. To get saving working on (DH1: Extras:) partitions try deleting the dh1 disk.info file, then reboot. The system should create a new dh1 icon.

how to set up permanently 'view all files'?

As for viewing all files, removing disk.info for that disk did the job

how to list and kill processes (xkill would be useful) ?

sys:Extras/System/Scout can kill apps

sys:Tools/Commodities/Exchange can remove available commodities

how to restore 'go up' button in wanderer window? (it doesn't show up anymore).

If you're using Icaros, go to the theme prefs and make sure that decoration is checked. Also, some themes do not use a parent button, so try another theme. You may have to restart Aros before the theme will change.

Is it really safe to turn off (hardware button) computer at any time (worried about USB hard disk)

yes you can turn off the computer IF none of the drives are in progress (i.e. writing). Best to use Wanderer menu option Quit otherwise

Printing

This is still work in progress

print from my AROS box!

1. installed printfile ( http://www.lerup.com/printfile/ ) on my Windows XP computer
2. set up the print spooler option, and used ghostscript filter for ps files
3. made the spool folder accessible from ftp (setting up ftp server on Windows)
4. send the ps file from my AROS box to the ftp server using curl (curl -T filename ftp://windows.box.adress --user username:password)

It's a bit complicated but it works!

Postscript

Best to set Printer Prefs in the Prefs drawer to print-to-file or parallel/USB port

Save document in postscript or convert picture/text to postscript

Print using compatible Ghostscript printer or Postscript printer

GutenPrint

Some work has been done

There are no individual drivers yet for HP's Photosmart, EPSON's EPL, CANON's, Lexmark, CUPS PPD, etc

Files

File endings and datatypes

Check if the file has his own .info icon file with a tool set to open it. IIRC this has higher priority over the def_XYZ.info file association.
In ENVARC:SYS/def_Text.info or whatever def_ file needs changing, use Wanderer's menu Icon -> Information and change the def_XYZ.info there. If you're on ABIv0 and want it to be applied immediately, you might have to copy it to ENV:SYS/ (or to reboot).
Identifying file types by file ending is only a fallback. Far better it is to search for magic words, for flac files this would be "flaC" according to this documentation.

For instance, to open PDFs with arospdf not localised in the default drawer of Icaros (Work:Extras/Applications/arospdf) but localised in a custom drawer in AROS. The default tools are defined in the icons in sys:prefs/env-archive/sys e.g. def_PDF.

File type identification is done by datatype descriptors which you can find in Devs/Datatypes. The AROS build system has a tool which creates such datatype descriptors.

Changing of default tools of existing icons is easy as shown above. Adding of new file types is not hard, but needs knowledge of the AROS build system.

The enduser way would be to download the attached file, which contained two executables: 1) createdtdesc, to make a new datatype description 2) examinedtdesc, to read/show existing datatype descriptions

use 2 to get an idea on how it things are currently done in aros by providing this executable a file from the drawer sys:devs/datatypes/ (alternatively you can find the original .dtd files here).

use 1 to make your new datatype. Use the accompanied FORMAT file (also here) to read how to make your own datatype descriptor. use 2 to get hints from other datatype descriptors.

Note: When creating a new descriptor would advise against using the pattern property, but instead use the default pattern of #? and create a Mask that matches your filetype. This requires some research in order to discover how your filetype can be recognized properly. Of course with making something like a descriptor for an ascii textfile, you would fallback to using the pattern (e.g. #?.text as the filetype cannot be determined easily otherwise).

# name - choose wisely and informative. also used for icon's name.
# version - choose as you like as long as it complies with version rules
# basename - the 'root' datatype class. be aware that e.g. it can influence behaviour. for example when choosing binary and using tool multiview in project icon, the file will be viewed as binary file (choosing sound would tell mulitview to view the file as a soundfile). So this can influence the underlying tool being used. Could become messy if users started to modify the tool manually. 
# pattern - This is the file pattern match e.g. #?.text
# Mask - A mask to identify the file. Requires knowledge of the actual file structure. For example 'M' 'Z' for an msdos executable.
# GroupdID - not supported (AROS native) files - use syst as that would be the least intrusive in case an AROS tool/program tries to load such datatyped file.
# ID - In your case, the first four characters of the name at subchapter 1 (in lower case) (or less if name is shorter).
# flags - How the mask needs to be interpreted. In your case would be mostly DTF_BINARY in combination with (wanted or not) DTF_CASE (to tell if mask used letters are case sensitive or not)
# priority - the priority of how the type is handled so that on datatype could have precedence over another? In any case, document tells it to be mostly 0.

Now that you know each field and what it does (more or less), you write this fields in a text file for your own invented datatype, save it and create the actual dt with the tool in 1. in the end the created dt must reside in sys:devs/datatypes/ drawer.

Then you would create a default icon in sys:prefs/Env-archive/SYS drawer. Don't forget to reboot or copy .info file to ram:env/sys in order to test. also don't forget to set which tool to start f.e. c:lx or dh4:emulators/mycoolemulator

To test, open Wanderer then show all files and doubleclick on a file of type you just created. Alternatively you could use the 'open' command from shell (with file of datatype you just created as parameter).

And as a last note. it would perhaps be welcome to have a program like xicon and/or runprglist for AROS (unfortunately both without source, but something similar could be created for AROS).

Sounds complicated ?

Perhaps... but OS like windows needs a complete registry to be able to do things like this. And yes, i am aware windows has gui tools that does it (more or less) for you (by manipulating the registry). Same could be done for AROS (without integrating a registry in AROS that is ).

Would that suffice ?

red1+2: typos, reformatting.

disclaimer: please note that using these tools can screw up your currently installed support for datatypes when used incorrectly. Do not use if you do not understand what you are doing. Use at own risk.

Network Connection

AROS currently only has one real choice for TCP/IP networking - AROSTCP. This is a port of the AmiTCP package from AmigaOS (TM), with a number of enhancements/fixes from AROS developers.

Please use Prefs/Network to set up wired, wireless or USB networking 
Non USB wifi is easier, USB wifi can be an annoyance - remember to save whilst in prefs

Wired

IPv6

No support so far

128bit IPv6 address packet

Local FD::/8
Global 2000::/3
64:ff9b::/96

NAT64 tranlates IPv6 to IPv4 DNS64

OS routing works with

MacOS Ventura 
Windows 11 with cloud account 
Ubuntu Jammy Jellyfish 
Android 10 (block google dns)

IPv4

IPv4 involves routing (192,168.x.x), firewall, NAT

The top half of the IPv4 Configuration tab on the Network Prefs deals with the network card/USB and the lower half the router part.

Upper part of IPv4 tab

Click Add on the top right of the Prefs which opens a window called Interface
Enter Name as net0 (but can be anything as long as it is consistently used in other sections)
check mark on Active
select device to be used using the right hand-side gadget of the box where the device name will go
set Unit to 0
IP Mode is default set to Get address from DHCP

IP Mode set to Manual if DHCP does not work
IP Address of network card = Take the Gateway (router IP address) below and adjust higher the last digit out of a string of four
Subnet netmask = 255.255.255.0

click OK

Lower part of IPv4 tab

IP Mode Get address from DHCP (default)

or changing to Manual if automatic DHCP set up does not work
Gateway (Router Internal LAN-IP) = 192.168.0.1 (D-Link Netgear), 192.168.1.1 (Linksys 3com), 192.168.2.1 (SMC Microsoft), 192.168.1.254 (Belkin), 192.168.123.254 (USRobotics) else check with your router manual
first DNS = use 208.67.222.222 (opendns) or Gateway number above (to test web browser access to router) or 212.50.160.100 (google) i.e. or whatever your ISP needs you to set
second DNS = use 208.67.220.220 (opendns) or Gateway number above (to test web browser access to router) or 213.249.130.100 (google) i.e. or whatever your ISP needs you to set

At the bottom of IPv4 tab, check mark the Start networking during system boot option
Save and reboot (sometimes Network restart fails, so reboot every time to be sure)

an alternative way is to take the settings from an OS already using the same internet connection. Another connection will have different settings.

e.g. From Windows, ipconfig /all and note down the IP, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS servers values and put these values in "manually" into AROS Network prefs.

e.g. From Linux via dhcp router have a look at etc/dhcpc/dhcpcd-eth0.info

for manual input look at /etc/networks (IP or Gateway) and /etc/resolv.conf (DNS)

Please note that all in one routers (wired+wireless) or separate routers may need different settings

Wireless

Shell commands to work out what is happening

We must first make certain you have a Atheros 5k chip inside acting as the wireless wifi option. Open PCITool in Tools directory. Down left hand side are a series of numbers 0.00.0 etc. Click on some at the bottom and hopefully one of them will say Atheros AR5??? or AR242?.

or a Realtek RTL8187B, we can check using Prefs/Trident as this one is USB based

There are many similarities with the above Wired set up so please read the above section as well

open Network/Prefs
In IPv4 Configuration tab - click Add - enter net0 / active tick / #?.device / Unit 0 / IP Mode = manual (important if default DHCP does not work automatically)

Make sure that any extra network names (e.g. eth1 or net1) should be deleted. If net0 already st previously, change net0 so that it shows associated with the appropriate device name like atheros5000.device or realtek8180.device. Having two entries here will cause sub-net problems.

Go to Wireless tab and click on "Add" button.
Insert network name (SSID your wireless network name use wirelessmanager to get it), select right "encyption" that is most likely "WPA".
Key Type set as "Passphrase". i.e. type in your password for your router (aka access key).
Unselect (no tick) "hidden" if it is selected, then apply. You may have to tick it if wireless does not work.
Finally, Save and reboot.

For the best chance of success, set networking to start at boot, and then reboot with the USB adapter plugged in.

USB Ethernet

Open SYS:Prefs/Network and in the IPv4 Configuration tag (top table covers your usb stick)

click Add button
set Name as net0
Tick Active box
enter the usb-ethernet.device e.g. dm9601eth.device, usbpegasus.device or usbasixeth.device use SYS:c/devlist, Scout or trident prefs to get the correct spelling
set Unit to 0 (which is usual but check the messages from the bottom of the Trident prefs whilst plugging the device in to determine the unit number otherwise)
IP Mode is set to Get address from DHCP (make sure your router is set right for that)

or manual

IP Address of network card, i.e. 192.168.0.xx or 192.168.1.xx (xx being greater than 1)
Subnet netmask = 255.255.255.0
click OK

There can be sometimes be boot failures when using USB ethernet - plug the USB device in after boot and save the network prefs to make it work again.

Lower part of IPv4 tab covers the router information

IP Mode Get address from DHCP

or if manual settings

Gateway (IP Address of router) = usually 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 but see router manual to make sure.
first DNS = use 194.168.xx.100 or 208.67.222.222 (opendns) or 212.50.160.100 or 192.168.0.1 (no internet access?)
second DNS = use 194.168.xx.100 or 208.67.220.220 (opendns) or 213.249.130.100

USB Tethering via Android smartphone

Go to AROS Network Prefs (IPv4 configuration tab) and write type in "usbrndis.device" in the "device" textfield of "Interface" sub-window, which appears when you add a new device (or modify an existing one). Select "Start Network during system boot" and saved the configuration, the Connection is immediate no reboot is needed.

usbrndis.device is a resident device (virtually always there) in fact, a driver is not present in DEVS:Networks

Plug in USB cable, go to Android settings and enable "USB Tethering"

A reboot should not be necessary.

When restarting AROS, the Smartphone deactivates the connection and to access the network again have to reactivate it before starting the browser.

Solving Issues

Aros network setup diagnostics - why does it not work?

In Network Preferences, have only one item in the IPv4 Configuration tab
If using manual settings, make sure all numbers are correct, especially for IP address of the card/usb (changing the last number in chain of four)
For any USB based networking, it is often necessary to save in Prefs/Network, reboot AROS and network support can begin

For wired, make sure that the LAN-cable is plugged in before starting the computer

If wireless, try getting closer to the router.
Switch off the encryption option from your router then try wifi, if successful then your ip/dns is ok. If not then your ip/dns settings are most probably wrong or need to use one or more opendns numbers
Replace detachable wireless antenna (best wireless option to buy if you can) with a stronger antenna ie. 5 dBi or 7 dBi
Try with another computer/laptop/machine

Program Error C:WirelessManager

Test with another OS
Check that Wifi works before changeover (if possible)
Check that socket and card are working
Check if card is too new for laptop (date code on card MMYY blue askey date 2005-2007 etc)

Are you connecting with the Router ?

Check with protection off e.g. wps and wep to see if it makes a difference.

For USB wireless - stopping and starting may be needed...


; $VER: AROSTCP-startnet 1.0 (01/08/06)
; AROSTCP-startnet (c) The AROS Dev Team.
;
Run <NIL: >NIL: AROSTCP
WaitForPort AROSTCP
If NOT Warn
  ; echo "Stack online"
Else
  echo "Wait for Stack Failed"
EndIf

; stop and restart
execute "sys:system/network/AROSTCP/s/stopnet"

Run <NIL: >NIL: AROSTCP
WaitForPort AROSTCP
If NOT Warn
  ; echo "Stack online"
Else
  echo "Wait for Stack Failed"
EndIf

run <NIL: >NIL: wirelessmanager realtek8180.device

What IRQ number is assigned to the device? You can check with Tools/PCITool? It's possible the BIOS hasn't set the right IRQ number. If you have a Linux CD/DVD handy, could you check if it boots with the options "acpi=off noapic nolapic"?

If the following does nothing, this will help us figure out why networking doesn't start automatically at boot

open a shell and run the following commands:

echo ${AROSTCP/AutoRun}
echo ${AROSTCP/WirelessAutoRun}
echo ${AROSTCP/WirelessDevice}

Please report the output, typically it will look like this

True (explanation this variable is related to the "Start networking during system boot" checkbox in network prefs)
True ()
Devs:networks/atheros5000.device unit 0

If there's a problem with the AROSTCP package. What's the output of this?

ENV:sys/packages/AROSTCP

should return a string = Sys:System/Network/AROSTCP

By the way, a quicker way to check networking is working would be to run some shell commands such as:

ping www.google.com
ifconfig net0

The best way to list the available networks and diagnose / troubleshoot problems with connecting to a wireless network is to run WirelessManager manually. First uncheck the "Start networking during system boot" box in the Network prefs app, then save and reboot. Then run this in a shell:

C:wirelessmanager atheros5000.device verbose

or

C:wirelessmanager realtek8180.device verbose

and capture the output

If the above does not help, could you edit the file SYS:System/Network/AROSTCP/S/Package-Startup, and change ">NIL:" to ">T:wifi.log" on the WirelessManager line and add this as well Wait 5?

if ${AROSTCP/WirelessAutoRun} eq "True"
Run QUIET "C:WirelessManager ${AROSTCP/WirelessDevice} >T:wifi.log"
wait 5
EndIf

Then save, reboot and post the log file (T:wifi.log) here.


c:wirelessmanager atheros5000.device verbose
Initializing interface 'atheros5000.device:0' conf 'ENV:Wireless.prefs' driver 'default' ctrl_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A'
Configuration file 'ENV:Wireless.prefs' -> 'ENV:Wireless.prefs'
Reading configuration file 'ENV:Wireless.prefs'
Line: 1 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=7)
65 63 68 65 6c 6f 6e echelon
PSK (ASCII passphrase) - hexdump_ascii(len=14): [REMOVED]
key_mgmt: 0x2
PSK (from passphrase) - hexdump(len=32): [REMOVED]
Priority group 0
id=0 ssid='echelon'


Then it just sits there. Not sure what a normal dump looks like, I don't see anything that looks wrong in the configuration.

looks like the driver isn't working with that card. Has anyone else successfully used that exact model number (AR2413)?


Initializing interface 'atheros5000.device:0' conf 'ENV:Wireless.prefs' driver 'default' ctrl_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A'
Configuration file 'ENV:Wireless.prefs' -> 'ENV:Wireless.prefs'
Line: 1 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=7):
65 63 68 65 6c 6f 6e echelon
PSK (ASCII passphrase) - hexdump_ascii(len=14): [REMOVED]
key_mgmt: 0x2
PSK (from passphrase) - hexdump(len=32): [REMOVED]
Priority group 0
id=0 ssid='echelon'
*** [wpa_sm_init] sm->pmksa=02c66fd4 ***
Own MAC address: 00:01:36:15:ae:0c
RSN: flushing PMKID list in the driver
Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec
EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE
EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE
EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
Added interface atheros5000.device:0
State: DISCONNECTED -> SCANNING
Started AP scan for wildcard SSID
MLME: starting scan
MLME: scan channel 1 (2412 MHz)
sana2: sending MLME frame


Then it stops. Does this mean the router is not authorizing this NIC?

IRQ 4 (A)

apparently locking up when the first frame is sent (a scan request).


Devs/Networks/atheros5000.device:0
Initializing interface 'Devs/Networks/atheros5000.device:0' conf 'ENV:Wireless.prefs' driver 'default' ctrl_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A'
Configuration file 'ENV:Wireless.prefs' -> 'ENV:Wireless.prefs'
Reading configuration file 'ENV:Wireless.prefs'
Line: 1 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=12):
41 69 72 4c 69 6e 6b 35 39 33 30 30 AirLink59300
PSK (ASCII passphrase) - hexdump_ascii(len=8): [REMOVED]
key_mgmt: 0x2
PSK (from passphrase) - hexdump(len=32): [REMOVED]
Priority group 0
id=0 ssid='AirLink59300'
*** [wpa_sm_init] sm->pmksa=0224e444 ***
Own MAC address: 00:1f:e1:42:e3:7a
RSN: flushing PMKID list in the driver
Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.160000
EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE
EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE
EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.060000
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686604.060000
Added interface Devs/Networks/atheros5000.device:0
[eloop_run] Starting
State: DISCONNECTED -> SCANNING
Starting AP scan for wildcard SSID
MLME: starting scan
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.160001
MLME: scan channel 1 (2412 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.193000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.233000
MLME: scan channel 2 (2417 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.253000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.293000
MLME: scan channel 3 (2422 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.333000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.373000
MLME: scan channel 4 (2427 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.393000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.433000
MLME: scan channel 5 (2432 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.473000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.513000
MLME: scan channel 6 (2437 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.553000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.573000
MLME: scan channel 7 (2442 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.613000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.653000
MLME: scan channel 8 (2447 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.693000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.713000
MLME: scan channel 9 (2452 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.753000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.793000
MLME: scan channel 10 (2457 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.833000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.853000
MLME: scan channel 11 (2462 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.893000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.933000
MLME: scan channel 12 (2467 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686594.973000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.013000
MLME: scan channel 13 (2472 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.033000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.073000
EAPOL: disable timer tick
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
MLME: scan channel 14 (2484 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.113000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.153000
MLME: scan channel 1 (2412 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.193000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.213000
MLME: scan channel 2 (2417 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.253000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.293000
MLME: scan channel 3 (2422 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.333000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.353000
MLME: scan channel 4 (2427 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.393000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.433000
MLME: scan channel 5 (2432 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.473000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.493000
MLME: scan channel 6 (2437 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.533000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.573000
MLME: scan channel 7 (2442 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.613000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.653000
MLME: scan channel 8 (2447 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.673000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.713000
MLME: scan channel 9 (2452 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.753000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.793000
MLME: scan channel 10 (2457 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.833000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.853000
MLME: scan channel 11 (2462 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.893000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.933000
MLME: scan channel 12 (2467 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.973000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686595.993000
MLME: scan channel 13 (2472 MHz)
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686596.033000
sana2: sending MLME frame
[eloop_reg_timeout] Timeout is at 1317686596.073000
MLME: scan completed

Is your network hidden? If so, did you enable the 'Hidden' checkbox in the network prefs? What distro version are you using?

"ENV:sys/wireless.prefs" looks like this:
network={
ssid="testadhoc"
key_mgmt=NONE
wep_key0="12345"
wep_tx_keyidx=0
}

If your router doesn't broadcast its SSID (hidden), you need to add this option to the network block of the wpa_supplicant.conf on your aros machine and make changes after # Example blocks:

scan_ssid=1

Here's a full description of all the config file options.

ap_scan=1

network={
ssid="YOURESSID"
scan_ssid=1
proto=RSN
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP
group=CCMP
psk=YOURPASSWORD
}

filter_ssids=1
ap_scan=2

network={
ssid="REMOVED"
scan_ssid=1
bssid=REMOVED
priority=100
mode=0
proto=RSN
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
auth_alg=OPEN
pairwise=CCMP
group=CCMP
psk=REMOVED
}

Error 6: Couldn't resolve host name.

Check Scout -> Devices and look at the device that you are using, in the OCnt column it should state 2 which means AROSTCP and Wirelessmanager are both accessing this driver. If 0 or 1, then uncheck the checkbox in Network prefs for starting networking at boot, save and reboot. Then run this is the shell:

C:WirelessManager realtek8180.device unit 0

some quirks setting up the wireless network as well

1) it's far better setting up either the wired OR the wireless network adapter as net0:, or weird things happen

2) it's better using fixed IP on the local network instead of DHCP

3) network setting must be placed in network setting panel in /prefs, using the wirelessmanager helped me finding available SSIDs, but not actually connecting to them

once done, reboot.

If previous setup is proving problematic


SYS:Prefs/Env-Archive/Wireless.prefs
SYS:Prefs/Env-Archive/Zune/OWB.config
SYS:Prefs/Env-Archive/Zune/global.config
SYS:Prefs/Env-Archive/AROSTCP/WirelessDevice
SYS:Prefs/Env-Archive/AROSTCP/db/Interfaces

Make a copy of these files and restore in case of problems.

Please try this test to check if you can connect to your router, ie established that the WiFi layer is working

̊̊̊̊Boot with networking disabled, by make sure that "Start networking at boot" in Network Prefs is unchecked (no tick). ̊ Run this in a shell: C:WirelessManager atheros5000.device VERBOSE ̊If the output of that command is too long to summarise here, you can redirect it to a file by adding >RAM:wifi.log to the end, then attach or paste that file here.

try running "status" in the shell and check that AROSTCP is listed/running If AROStcp is not showing, then AROSTCP is not running. attempted to start it by clicking Use or Save in network prefs, or checking the "start networking at boot" box or typing into a shell.

Execute SYS:System/Network/AROSTCP/s/startnet

(run Status again afterwards).

The "cannot resolve hostname" will appear if you are blocked on the wifi network by the router as well as aros not being able to assign correct network address.

One way of testing this might be to disable the firewall in the router. you might also check the router how it sees the attempts aros do to speak to it. The easiest way to do that would be to manually give aros an IP number in the routers accepted range. and see if it shows up at all within the router.

Tests that can be undertaken to determine correct settings and functions

 ping <router-address> e.g. 192.168.0.1 (aka inet) or 80.237.146.33 (www.amiganews.de) 
 ifconfig net0
 ifconfig net0 up
 extras:networking/utils/sanautil/sanautil -d atheros5000.device status
 WirelessManager atheros5000.device verbose >RAM:wifi.log
 ;to send the log to RAM disk to be read easier or if detected, 
 Run WirelessManager atheros5000.device >NIL:
 Run WirelessManager atheros5000.device ssid="mynet1" >NIL: 
 C:WirelessManager realtek8180.device unit 0

Please look at the task list in Scout, and check if WirelessManager and AROSTCP are running. Also look at the device list in Scout to check if realtek8180.device is open.

start tools/debug/sashimi, maybe it shows some debug messages when disconnection happens.

Firstly, let's take a look at what your setup most likely looks like, assuming you use a router. See diagram below:

Internet <---------> home router <---------> computer 
-----------external IP------------------internal IP-------------

Okay, so what am I trying to show you with that diagram. A few things. Firstly, the IP address that connects you to the Internet is not the same one that connects you to your router. What happens is that your computer doesn't have a direct connection to the Internet, instead your router connects to the Internet, and your computer connects to the router.

You can see the external and internal IP addresses in these example settings...

Default Gateway : 76.91.64.1 (external IP for ISP/Internet host)
IP Address : 76.91.71.184 (external IP for home router)

IP Address : 192.168.0.1 (internal IP for home router)
Address = 192.168.0.161 (internal IP for computer)

As you can see, there are two internal IP addresses and two external IP addresses. This is because there is a client/server relationship, effectively one address is for the service (server) and one address is for the device trying to access that service (client).

The server addresses in your case are 76.91.64.1 (your ISP's address, serving the Internet), and 192.168.0.1 (your home router's address, serving your home network). The term gateway applies here, they are your gateway to those services.

Subnet masks are used along with IP addresses to determine which IP addresses are allowed access to a network. I did learn the more in-depth rules about subnet masks once (watched a CCNA vid), but I've forgotten about it. The basic level of understanding you'll need is easy to remember though. A subnet mask value of 255 means that portion of the IP address must stay constant, whereas a subnet value of 0 means any unassigned value up to 255 is allowed in the IP address.

By far the most common subnet value is 255.255.255.0. What this means is that the first three parts of the IP address you use to connect to a service must stay the same as the server/gateway address, and only the last section can change.

So if your router's internal IP address is 192.168.0.1, and the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0, the only addresses that will be allowed to be used on that network are between 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.255 (I think 192.168.0.0 is reserved for other uses).

Final point to make is about DHCP (a.k.a. dynamic IP) vs static IP. A server/router using DHCP gives a device that connects to it an address within the acceptable range. It usually starts with the lowest numbered free address, so with your router it'll give the first device that connects to it 192.168.0.2, the next device 192.168.0.3, and so on. Static IP addresses are where you set the IP address you want to connect with in advance.

When using static IP addresses on a router where DHCP is active, it's good to use a high number to avoid conflicts with other devices that are connected to your network, to reduce the risk that both devices will try using the same IP. That's why your current choice of 192.168.0.161 is good, unless you have over 159 devices connected on your current network!

Okay, so what's the next step. Well, if you can use ping, I'd suggest pinging 192.168.0.1. If you get a positive response it means you're connected to your router, if you don't get a response it means the connection between your router and your computer is at fault.

Documentation on configuring the AROSTCP environment further can be found here

File Sharing

As AROS knows only a few filesystems (FFS, OFS, SFS, PFS (amiga only), FAT12, 16, 32, Microsoft NTFS (windows), UDF (Blu-ray)). The remaining ones in regular use like MacOSX hfs+, Linux ext2/ext3 and ext4, Haiku BeFS provide a problem in transferring files between each other.

Linux can access SFS partitions but it needs to be compiled. The latest full source are here. It compiled fine with a 2.6.30 kernel in Puppy Linux 4.31.

An alternative, is to use a FAT32 partition. AROS could be installed on to a 4GB USB-key, with 512MB FAT32 partition for sharing, and the rest SFS. It works very well.

An hosted Linux or Windows install relieves some of the problems.

Files could be transferred Sending via TCP network.

SMB2/3

With Windows you can share one folder or all folders of the "Public" user.

On Windows what is important is to enable sharing (Network and Sharing Center).

AROS Mountlist should look lke this

Handler = L:smb2-handler
StackSize = 65536
Priority = 5
GlobVec = -1
ACTIVATE=1
Startup = "smb://UserAcc:password@PCShare/Sharefolder"

which could also be "smb://UserPC:password@192.168.x.x/Public" or "smb://UserPC:password@Name-PC/Public"

so "smb://UserPC:password@192.168.1.158/Folder" or "smb://UserPC:password@Name-PC/Folder"

After you have configured a share generates a DOSDrivers it is named "SMB0" which includes the setting, and at each reboot it is Mounted. You can still delete the DOSDriver by hand, is located in Storage/DOSDrivers, the file "ServerAutoMounts", in ENV:AROSTCP which indicates the DOSDriver to be mounted, should also be deleted. The per-mount files are written to ENV:SMB or SYS:Storage/DOSDrivers. There is also additional file ENV:AROSTCP/ServerAutoMounts which states what will be presented to the end user.

Old SMBFS

e.g. to connect to a NAS share such as \\NASBOX\Shared use -:

SMBFS WORKGROUP=<YOUR WORKGROUP NAME> VOLUME=<AROS volume name to use>: SERVICE=<UNC Path to connect to>

SMBFS WORKGROUP=MYNET VOLUME=Shared: SERVICE=//NASBOX/Shared

And you will then have an icon appear on your desktop for the volume name you have chosen.

You can put the above script into wbstartup or

give it an icon, change it to a 'project' and give it the default tool c:iconx

Open a shell and type copy sys:script.info "sys:wbstartup/YOURSCRIPTNAME.info"

This should create an icon for your script file.

Now right-click on your script and select 'information'.

Change 'tool' to 'project', put 'c:iconx' into the 'default tool' box, click save

The reason being that scripts need to be opened with 'execute SCRIPTNAME' (or 'iconx') whereas the programs started from wbstartup are opened using 'run PROGRAMNAME'. It's the same as trying to start a command-line tool from the workbench by double-clicking it.

Setup ISO images within AROS

Use DiskImage which supports many cd image formats ISO, CCD, MDF/MDS, CUE/BIN, NRG and UIF. To mount CD or DVD images use below....

# Rename your iso 'Unit0' (note no extension).
# Do 'View/All files' on you Aros partition. You should now see a folder called 'Diskimages'. Copy your renamed iso to there. 
(Alternatively, you could type at the shell 'assign FDSK: xxx', where xxx is the location of your iso.) 
# From the shell, type 'mount CD0:' and the iso should appear on the Wanderer desktop. You can now access it like a real disk.

assign devname: dismount 
Assign DOSVOLUME: remove
unmount most filesystems work but SFS lacks support for ACTION_DIE packet

If you are using an IcAros install, the startup scripts are set up to wipe the Diskimages directory on boot, so its worth keeping a second copy of the iso somewhere else. Alternatively, you could set up extra mountlists for additional iso images. I've made a file called iso1 in the Aros:devs directory that contains the following text:

/* Entry for ISO image */

ISO1:
FileSystem = cdrom.handler
Device = fdsk.device
Unit = 1
LowCyl = 0
HighCyl = 0
Surfaces = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 1
DOSType = 0x41434400
Activate = 1
#

Then I just need an iso called 'Unit1' (corresponding to the 'Unit = 1' entry in the mountlist) in Diskimages (or wherever I assign FDSK: to) and to mount I type in at the shell:

Mount iso1: from devs:iso1

Of course, if you create mountlists for ISO2, ISO3:, etc. (with the corresponding change to the 'Unit = ' line) you can have as many isos mounted as you wish. I just call mine ISO1: etc. to distinguish them from the real CD drives

Video Guides

Video demonstrations and tutorials covering:

00. Introduction

Why an Amiga OS in 2011, Gource view of AROS,

01. Installation

Broadway AROS Install, iMica Silent Pt3, Wipe whole drive and Install - warning loss of data on drive, Modify Grub boot,

VirtualBox install, [ VMware install],

HDAudio install, [ driver install],

02. Amiga Basics

Screens tutorial,

[ Dos Scripts tutorial], OS 1.2, OS 1.3, General

03. Customisation demos

[ Prefs tutorial], [ Decoration tutorial], Scalos,

04. Setting up internet access and surfing the web, FTP, IRC and Mail apps

[ Network Prefs], [ AirCOS tutorial], [ jabberwocky tutorial],

05. Native bundled Games and Applications

Oct 2010, 3D Games, Latest Games, PrBoom GL, Assault Cubes, Cube 2, DosBox on Aros,

Apps Pt 1, Apps Pt 2, Apps Pt 3,

pt 1, jan. 2008, pt 2, feb. 2009, pt 3, feb. 2010,

Milkytracker Laying Down Base Tracks,

Audio Evolution 4 in action, Quick Videos,

ScreenRecorder, TV out Tests,

AmiFIG, ZuneFIG,

POVray Tutorial 1,

DOpus 4,

06. Commercial software available

AntiryadGX 3D Game Editor,

BOH indie Game,

07. Running classic amiga apps and games

Intro Amibridge, Old Amiga Apps, Why Janus UAE is good,

DPaint tutorial

Play Amiga Games, [1],

Pagestream Introduction, Pagestream Tutorial 1, Pagestream Tutorial 2,

Catweasel Mk4 PCI Part 1 and Part 2,

08. Misc and History

Mum uses old AmigaOS Workbench 1.1 (1986), Why an Amiga 500 (1987), an Amiga 2000 (1987),

09. Misc Shows and Events

VCF 2010,

[2], [3], [], [4],

History

The project was originally started by a small group of Amiga enthusiasts in 1995. These individuals were mainly computer-based college university students at the start, though that student trend has diminished since. An interview with Aaron Digulla here

1992 Commodore folds
1996-1998 much of the early years was concerned with exec, dos and intuition libraries.
Early 1999, Haage & Partner used parts of the AROS code in AmigaOS 3.9.
March 2001, floppy disk images of AROS became available.
Early 2002, AROS changed its name from Amiga Replacement Operating System to Amiga Research Operating System
June 2002, AROS devs decided to use Zune (MUI 3.8 rewrite) as the GUI system.
November 2002, Eric Schwartz drew Kitty for AROS usage.
Early 2003, AROS.org underwent a graphics facelift.
Late 2003, GCC C compiler arrived.
Early 2004, Aros-Exec opened.
Early 2005, Aros Max bootable CD arrived.
Late 2005, SFS filesystem ported and allowed fast access to apps and network support arrived
Early 2007, AROS.org underwent another graphics facelift.
Mid 2007, AROS changed to AROS Research Operating System after A.Inc. sued Hyperion with a trademark violation.
Late 2007, the hard disk installer added and VmwAROS (later called Icaros Desktop) distro launched.
Early 2009, Our first usable web browser (OWB)
September 2010, first wireless support appears and AspireOS started as a distro

Early 2012, the first paper-cut bugfix and Fab's Odyssey Web Browser ported
Early 2014, backport of most features of ABIv1 into mainstream everyday use (Icaros 2.0 and above)
2015 work started on using the extra cores of the PI 2
Early 2017, work started on utilising the addition cores on modern CPUs starting with the 64bit x86 version
Mid 2017, m68k port optimized for the Vampire 2 / Apollo accelerators (68080 AMMX FPGA)
2018 The old AROS Exec website closed and a new one opened
2019 AROS One distribution started and now with USB install version
Early 2021, backport of more features of ABIv1 into mainstream everyday ABIv0 (Aros One 1.5 and above)

Bounties

To help inspire developers with both ideas and monetary incentives, rewards are offered for the successful completion of "bounties" (requests for missing/new functionality) chosen by the community and handled by power2people (formerly done by TeamAROS). A monthly option is here.

Future goals for AROS include expanding its underlying retargetability to support even more diverse architectures, provide memory protection features and user level file security, SMP and many other wonderful features missing from AmigaOS — while still providing as much source level compatibility as is possible (however it is accepted that to achieve some goals code certain things may require a little recoding).

sata ahci
later ati amd radeon 2d 3d
usb3

Developers come and go as with any open source effort and we would like to thank them for their efforts...

1996-2000: In DigullaA (coordinator), GripJ, TempletonI (BSD), SchulzM, RittauS, voordenDagL, HolmM, JohanssonT, VanIngelgomH, SteigerwaldM, BortasP, deJongK, AlfredssonJ, InnocentiB,

2001-2005: In ChodorowskiA, StegerG, BergerS, HeutlingS, AlemagnaF (gcc), VerhaegenS (rexx), KielH, MatheussenKS (CAMD), SzczygielskiP, ErikssonP, LeCorfecD (Zune), BauerS (Zune), FurlongW, GustafssonJ, AndrewsN, CafferkeyN, GierichM (jpeg), PattonJ, ParsonsM, DietrichJ, SeilerT, BischoffL, LorentzenNH, AdamO, BerglundH, SmithP, HolmenD, BlomM,

2006-2010: In FedinP, RusslerM, SzymczykS (owb), SmiechowiczK (openGL), WeissM, NorrisR, BrunnerO, WiszkowskiT, GreppinA, Bearsoft Björn Screwelius, ErbY, CharletF, HodgesC, HokstadV, McMullanJ (m68k), WilenT (m68k),

2011-: In MuijzenbergPHvanden, ALB42, JonesEM, weiju, DizzyofCRN, wawa, miker,

1996 - The linux hosted version for i386 was the first to arrive
1998 - i386, The native version for i386-based PC AT computers and compatibles.
2004 - x86/64, The native version for 64-bit (x86_64, amd64) PC computers.
2008 - sam440/ppc, The native version for Sam440EP, Sam440EP Flex and Sam460ex computers.
2009 - efika, The native version for PowerPC Efika computers.
2010 - m68k, The native version for m68k Amigas or WinUAE
2013 - raspi/armfh, early native version for ARMv6 based Raspberry Pi computers.

switch to one of these modes, or in fact something as simple as 1024x768@60Hz using the Intel Driver then the screen corrupts on the next system boot (As a reboot is needed after saving the settings) AROS -> prefs -> Env-Archive and look for screenmode.prefs file. Just delete it.

SysExplorer should hopefully show the correct information for devices, SysMon should hopefully show the correct task info and cpu load. Some virtual machines will result in some info not working (e.g. the CPU frequency in SysMon).

Also make sure the machine restarts correctly using the menu options, and if you have it running Native please check if the power button shuts down the machine when you briefly press it (as opposed to having to hold it for 10secs).

You may also want to see if USB is working if it didn't before, have experienced issues so far on the SMP build when writing to USB or copying files (so don't use something with files you don't want to lose ... better safe than sorry)

Debugging capture serial debug at all (especially with sysdebug=all or --sysdebug=all) to see it displayed on screen

yes, usb -> rs232 adapters can work most of the time, some of the cheapest ones are not fully compatible with all rs232 devices to capture to another device
you will need a null modem cable (or a null modem adapter usually female to female) in addition to the usb -> rs232 adapter (usb adapter is a normal modem ie. the pins are not crossed over)

Normal modem cable - straight connection DCE

Pin 2 -> Pin 2  RXD
Pin 3 -> Pin 3  TXD 
Pin 5 -> Pin 5  GND

Null modem cable connections DTE

Pin 2 -> Pin 3
Pin 3 -> Pin 2
Pin 5 -> Pin 5

(9pole SUB-D)

serial  ser: (amiga/aros)  tty2 tty1USB0 (linux)  COM1 (windows)  (depends on the os being used) 
speed baud transfer rate 9600 38400     lower baud might be more successful 
data bits 8
stop bits 1
parity none
handshaking flow control - none xon/xoff (most likely)  rts/cts  dsr/dtr (pins not connected so should not work)

You cannot use compiled aros X86-64 bit software (when ready) on aros X86 32bit. PPC compiled software on X86 and so on.
68k is tested with the UAE emulator (WinUAE) but some tests are done on native 68000 based Amigas and others.
PPC support is very limited to certain devices.

If you use the WBStartup, you have to delete the other icons in the folder (readme etc..) and you have to add in the Icon Tooltype the parameter DONOTWAIT

If you use user-startup instead, you need to add the attached command "after assignment to LUA" C:WBRun DH1:Extras/Utility/WeatherBar/WeatherBar >NIL: Change the command to match your WeatherBar path.

PATH sys:Utilities/WeatherBar ADD
run >nil: lua:amilua weatherforecast.lua

To enter data your Country or City, ist with city_id numbers can be found here or you need to go to BBC Weather, once you type the name of your city or town in the appropriate tab, and give a enter, the 7 numbers to be added in the "WeatherBar" will appear on the Browser address bar next to the link