X1000 benchmarks

[HenryCase]

It is just that AROS not having binary compatibility and not so developed it has been dismissed by both MorphOS and OS4 users.

AROS is a research operating system interesting in its own way.

I'm glad you think AROS is interesting in its own way, but this 'binary compatibility' issue that is a common complaint should really be examined more deeply.

All three modern Amiga-like platforms rely on emulation for 68k Amiga software, when they don't run on 68k CPUs (i.e. excluding 68k AROS). The only thing is that the emulation in AROS is different from the emulation in OS4 and MorphOS. The main differences are:

1. OS4 and MorphOS have a JIT for 68k software, whereas AROS doesn't yet.
2. OS4 and MorphOS don't have to swap the byte order of 68k code, whereas AROS does (not including AROS PPC and AROS 68k).

That's it. A JIT is a feature I concede is very nice to have, but it's the second issue I mention that I think is the cause of the confusion. Not swapping byte order != binary compatibility. What OS4 and MorphOS have is faster emulation, not no emulation.

Hope we can move beyond this 'binary compatibility' fallacy, and see the platforms as they really are. Thanks for reading.

[HenryCase]

Sorry, I didn't know AROS was binary compatible with 68k software, I havent looked at aros-exec nor developer mailing list for a while. Is there a distro I could try in Virtual PC? I'd love to try some 68k software for benchmarking purposes. SysSpeed, P96Speed, AIBB...

Fair enough.

In that case, you've got a few options. If you'd like to try an x86 AROS distro, then Icaros is probably the best place to start. Of course running it in a virtual machine will always incur a speed penalty compared to running it natively, but I appreciate virtual machines are useful when you want to give a new OS a try with minimal fuss. Worth noting that you can run AROS from the CD/DVD without needing to install it (though again this offers slower performance than native). You can download Icaros from here:
http://www.icarosdesktop.org/

There are some nice features coming up for AROS that help with using it as a day to day system, for example this week we got the first public release of the AROS NTFS driver, it's buggy at the moment, but it's worth noting now as it'll enhance using AROS on the same computer as other OS, as you'll be able to share files with other OS you have installed.

Also worth mentioning that you can run AROS 68k in UAE (WinUAE probably works best, as Toni works on both). It's not perfect, but its development has been stunningly fast (all done in about 18 months) and improves pretty much daily. This is a useful thread to read to bring you up to speed with the state of play for AROS 68k:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=56211

HTH. Please feel free to ask any further questions you have.

EDIT: Oh and if you'd like to keep up to date with progress on AROS, but don't have time to visit AROS-Exec regularly, the next best thing would be to visit Planet AROS from time to time, which is a blog aggregator, mostly focused on AROS:
http://planet-aros.heimstetten.net/
Not many people seem to know about it, probably because it hasn't got an easy to remember URL, but it is handy to know about. If you forget the URL, just search for Planet AROS in Google, it should be the top result.

[HenryCase]

Janus UAE running in "coherence" mode has been around for a little while now. You may have to set it up initially (I had to, but I haven't tried more recent releases), but what do you want for free?

Actually, since late last year, Janus-UAE doesn't require any initial setup, it comes working out of the box, as it is shipped with AROS 68k. See here:
http://o1i.blogspot.com/

Also, Icaros has AmiBridge, which lets you launch 68k programs by double clicking on the program icon, and with Janus-UAE coherence mode the 68k programs can interact with x86 programs (sharing clipboard contents, for example).

[HenryCase]

You've forgot about:
3. OS4 and MorphOS emulation allows 68k applications to use native system components and vice versa.

Granted. Tell me, are there any 68k libraries in regular use on OS4 or MorphOS that don't have native equivalents? The Emumiga project should allow AROS to mix 68k and native libraries, and it'll be good to have some idea of the benefits this could bring.

[HenryCase]

AROS is a hobby project not going anywhere and is light years behind. There is no doubt about it.

For someone who a couple of posts ago admitted they'd barely paid any attention to AROS for a while, it seems odd for you to be so sure about this. Perhaps it would be better for you to take a fresh look at AROS to see where it's at now.

I don't know why it should matter because 68k MUI class can be embedded in applications.

Krashan thought it enough of a benefit to mention it, so I'd like to know how much this feature gets used.

[HenryCase]

@itix
Well, at least you gave it a go. Thank you for that.

@Krashan
Thanks for the info.