First Aros 68k Kickstart boot screen!

[Heiroglyph]

It's FrankenROM (part Aros, part OS3.0) but it's a huge step forward!

http://www.evillabs.net/wiki/index.php/AROS_m68k-amiga

If you haven't donated to the bounty yet, give this guy a boost!
http://www.power2people.org/projects/profile/5

[Heiroglyph]

Because once we have an open source kickstart replacement we're no longer tied to several companies that have abandoned the 68k platform.

We can fix bugs in the ROM and add new features as needed.  060 libraries, CDRom boot, etc.

Most of the 3.x OS problems are already solved on Aros, a video driver SDK for example.

Mini-Mig, NatAmi, WinUAE and others can create and sell compatible systems without legal problems.

This is nothing but a huge benefit to the community.

[Heiroglyph]

GCC can't compile efficient anything binaries; what it can do is compile consistently usable binaries on all platforms

Very true, gcc's claim to fame is just availability.

There's nothing to stop someone from hand optimizing the code where needed though.

It's still far easier than writing the whole Kickstart in assembly, especially when you have the source code available as a reference.

[Heiroglyph]

I have a very bad feeling that it will be a sexy animal.

I can appreciate the artwork, but it's not what I want for a boot logo.

[Heiroglyph]

Cool. Though I question the need to have the disk animation and Amiga checkmark exactly as they were, as it seems those images could suffer from copyright issues. Are there plans to have some new imagery to replace them once things progress and there is less and less and then none of Amiga Inc's code in there?

FrankenROM is the term Jason coined to explain that it's part Aros code and part KS3.0.

I'm sure those are parts of the original kickstart.

All original parts will be replaced as individual replacements are stable enough.

It's just easier to test when you can test one section at a time for compatibility rather than trying to do it all at once, not knowing which part broke the whole.

[Heiroglyph]

It's way too early to say, but if at all possible, I'd assume using built in routines.

We don't need another unmanageable asm only, hard coded to the hardware mess.

For all you know, the machine it runs on may not even have the custom chipset.

Once it does work though, I'm sure it will fork all over the place.

There will surely be 1.3-type ROMS for old games, 3.1-type, 060 specific, ROMs for super-expanded Amigas that boot directly to RTG cards with USB input, etc.

Aros will really open up a lot of options without needing OS3.1, Picasso96 or CybergraphX once it's finally complete.

[Heiroglyph]

So basically once this is completed, AROS boots as the native OS on Amiga HW, correct?  Or am I missing something.

The long term goal is to have a ROM that can replace the 3.1 ROM and still run AmigsOS and games or use AROS as the OS.

If using AROS as the OS, you could access more advanced features like the AROS CybergraphX replacement, hardware independent device layer, USB, etc.

[Heiroglyph]

Well, if it's going to be compatible with normal 68k Amiga software, it's got to at least contain the reimplemented Kickstart libraries. Like the old Macs with the Toolbox ROM, that's a significant portion of the OS (kernel and a number of driver, graphics, and windowing libraries.) I don't know enough about AROS or about the plans for this to say what portion of AROS that is, though.

AROS has not only rebuilt the OS, but also most of the things we have to add on for day to day use, such as RTG software and MUI plus all new things unique to AROS.

Not all of it will fit into ROM, it's just far too much.

I can't see how they will fit all the things from just a 3.1 level kickstart without using tricks that the 4000T used, like moving Workbench.library to disk.  That compiled C code will be bigger in almost every case.

For my uses I don't care if it just bootstraps to a disk based kickstart personally, I only use floppies as a last resort anyway.

[Heiroglyph]

Plus if you have fast ram, most people want the ROM there anyway for faster access.