
Linux Cousins Part 1: Reviewing AROS, the Amiga-Like OS - bane
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2995585/opensource-subnet/linux-review-aros-os-amiga.html
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orionblastar
AROS is basically so much like an Amiga that one doesn't need to buy an
Expensive Amiga One system to have the Amiga GUI.

For hackers who are into crosscompiling programs there is a bounty system for
people to port code to AROS.
[http://www.power2people.org/projects/overview/](http://www.power2people.org/projects/overview/)

I should add they already made a Kickstart ROM replacement for the Amiga
series of computers so they can run AROS and use the Kickstart replacement in
emulators for the Amiga as it should also run AmigaOS/AmigaDOS as well. Giving
new life to 68K based Amiga systems and the PowerPC upgrades as well.

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vidarh
The big caveats with AROS are basically:

\- Lack of SMP

\- Lack of memory protection

Both are very tricky to do while retaining any kind of reasonable
compatibility with AmigaOS.

This + lack of a decent pthreads implementation makes porting of a lot of
useful software hard (the amount of Linux/Unix software that depends on fork()
alone is massive)

I like AROS, but it badly needs more developers to resolve the issues above if
it's to get beyond the "fun to tinker with" stage for most people.

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keithpeter
Word-processing: A bit of googling suggests that a texlive distribution may
exist for AROS. Not wysiwyg but can produce professional results. PDF reading
looks like xpdf or one of the dvi based viewers or gv.

OA could perhaps have mentioned bit more detail about the apps supplied.
Perhaps a typical workflow for small task?

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unixhero
I liked the cheery tone of this piece! It came without the unnecessary
editorializing and fluff found in typical review articles. +1 to
Networkworld.com

