AfA OS (AROS For AmigaOS)

[motorollin]

Anyone used AfA OS? I'm a bit confused about what it actually does. From what I understand, it replaces some of the OS3.x libraries with AROS ones (compiled for 68k) . But what does this actually achieve? Is the performance any better/worse? Is it worth it?

I did look through some of the documentation for AfA OS but it seemed to be documentation of the additional functions available to developers with the new libraries, rather than the advantage for the end user.

--
moto

[Amigaz]

Used it on both of my A4000 but I can't use it together with other hacks like ATE so I'm not using it anymore, I guess it works perfect on a system with a minimal ammount of gui hacks.
I've PM'ed Bernd here on A.org for help but no reply and also tried to register at his forum but no email to complete my registration...seems like he's on a long vacation or something or gone underground  :-?

[motorollin]

I don't have many hacks. Just VisualPrefs.

What does AfAOS actually do?

--
moto

[Amigaz]

Don't know exactly...think it's some parts of AROS which let's you use true type fonts and stuff
I'm not an expert on these kind of stuff...I'm just an outboard engine mechanic  :lol:

[bloodline]

motorollin wrote:
I don't have many hacks. Just VisualPrefs.

What does AfAOS actually do?

--
moto

Well, as you say, it replaces AmigaOS libraries with AROS ones. This allows 68k AmigaOS users to take advantage of AROS enhancements to the system... right now this is a "proof of concept", but as more libraries get ported it should help bring 68k users more up to date (since no one else is supporting the 68k anymore).

[motorollin]

And I guess because the original libraries are not overwritten, backwards compatibility is maintained?

Sounds cool, but not enough for me to get excited over yet.

--
moto

[bloodline]

motorollin wrote:
And I guess because the original libraries are not overwritten, backwards compatibility is maintained?

No, backward compatibility is maintained because AROS is fully compatible with AmigaOS. The original libraries are overwritten.

Sounds cool, but not enough for me to get excited over yet.

Maybe not... :-)

[motorollin]

bloodline wrote:
No, backward compatibility is maintained because AROS is fully compatible with AmigaOS. The original libraries are overwritten.

Are you sure? Look here. Specifically this part:

It is easy to boot with or without the new libraries.
No original libraries in your LIBS: directory need to be overwritten

Maybe this has changed since that document has written. If AROS is fully compatible with AmigaOS, then why use OS3.x+AfAOS at all? Why not just use AROS natively and use this to run AmigaOS binaries?

--
moto

--EDIT
Ahhh, I've just looked on the AROS Exec home page and there is no Amiga version of AROS. I guess that's why some of the AROS libraries are being backported. I hope the ultimate goal is to have a fully ported and bootable AROS environment for 68k Amigas.

[bloodline]

motorollin wrote:

bloodline wrote:
No, backward compatibility is maintained because AROS is fully compatible with AmigaOS. The original libraries are overwritten.

Are you sure? Look here. Specifically this part:

It is easy to boot with or without the new libraries.
No original libraries in your LIBS: directory need to be overwritten

On disk, your old libraries are not touched, so you can use them if you want. But in memory the old libraries are gone... no program can use them until the AROS ones are removed (by a reset/reboot/etc)

Maybe this has changed since that document has written. If AROS is fully compatible with AmigaOS, then why use OS3.x+AfAOS at all? Why not just use AROS natively and use this to run AmigaOS binaries?

--
moto

--EDIT
Ahhh, I've just looked on the AROS Exec home page and there is no Amiga version of AROS. I guess that's why some of the AROS libraries are being backported. I hope the ultimate goal is to have a fully ported and bootable AROS environment for 68k Amigas.

Yes :-)

[motorollin]

bloodline wrote:

motorollin wrote:
I hope the ultimate goal is to have a fully ported and bootable AROS environment for 68k Amigas.

Yes :-)

This would definitely be something to get excited about. An actively developed OS for 68k Amigas which is fully backwards compatible with classic software! Stuff like visualprefs, birdie, powericons etc could all be part of the OS instead of hacks which can make the OS unstable.

Exciting stuff!

--
moto

[Heinz]

@AmigaZ

>I've PM'ed Bernd here on A.org for help but no reply and also >tried to register at his forum but no email to complete my >registration...seems like he's on a long vacation or >something or gone underground  

You will not receive a email when you register to the forum, thats OK. You can post directly after registering (no email verification).
And you don't need to register at all, you can post as a guest.

You should post your question in the forum, bernd will answer it, when he got the time.

http://amidevcpp.kilu.de/forum/index.php

regards

Heinz

[Amigaz]

Heinz wrote:
@AmigaZ

>I've PM'ed Bernd here on A.org for help but no reply and also >tried to register at his forum but no email to complete my >registration...seems like he's on a long vacation or >something or gone underground  

You will not receive a email when you register to the forum, thats OK. You can post directly after registering (no email verification).
And you don't need to register at all, you can post as a guest.

You should post your question in the forum, bernd will answer it, when he got the time.

http://amidevcpp.kilu.de/forum/index.php

regards

Heinz

I've registered two different accounts and none of them work so they must be inactive somehow  :-?

Seems like I can post as a guest though  :-)

[Matt_H]

@ bloodline and other AROS folks

I'm confused as to why the new libraries (freetype2.library, for example) still need the AFA memory patch. I thought AROS was supposed to be source compatible with AmigaOS3.1. Shouldn't the 68K-compiled libs just work out of the box? Or do they depend upon AFA patched functions?

[bloodline]

Matt_H wrote:
@ bloodline and other AROS folks

I'm confused as to why the new libraries (freetype2.library, for example) still need the AFA memory patch. I thought AROS was supposed to be source compatible with AmigaOS3.1. Shouldn't the 68K-compiled libs just work out of the box? Or do they depend upon AFA patched functions?

I'm not sure exactly how AFA works as it patches away AmigaOS, it all a bit messy really... but I think the AFA memory patch is something that sorts out the private function probems (AROS and AmigaOS may have different private funtions, invisible to software on the system).

[Heinz]

AMIGAZ wrote:

I've registered two different accounts and none of them work so they must be inactive somehow  :-?

Seems like I can post as a guest though  :-)

Im sorry.
It seems there has been some problems with the forum.
Your accounts has'nt been activated.
They are active now.