Justin
Active member
Yo been a while since I have seen any reviews, so here you go....
R0jaws sent me an old 2.4ghz P4 system to donate to a local charity, I had previously set this up as an AROS machine, so I thought before I return it to windows form and give the system away I would do a quick AROS/Icarus review
Now then AROS is a free to all multi developer OS for standard PCs based on the Amiga OS but brought up to date a little:nod:
you can download Icarus here http://www.icarosdesktop.org/ and you can run as a Live DVD or via USB pen, it comes in both 32 and 64 bit flavours.
I would say a P4 over 2ghz with at least a gig of ram will be plenty to run this on, however the faster the better as with all things I guess
I went for a complete install on a nekkid hard drive(this also means no MS windows to hide), pop in the DVD, following the on screen prompts and soon you will see a lovely Icarus desktop with a lovely shiny new "install Icarus" button, hit that bad boy and again follow the on screen prompts.
very soon a quick reboot and you are up and running
Icarus is very simple to use, there is a nice "start bar" at the bottom with all the handy stuff nicely available.
Internet and email are a breeze with OWB and Simple Mail all pre-installed (no flash support yet) but it does view Amibay very nicely and as you would expect it to look.
All the usual OS things you would expect to find are here, it supports USB, printers, DVD, internet etc...., but the bit we are interested in is Amibridge, this is the bit that lets you emulate an Amiga for all your classic software and it does do it well, you can emulate an 060 with jit if you like, but I decided to stick to an 020 @ 1.5ghz!!
As with OS4 you have the ability to launch ADFs just by double clicking them.
Another feature that I do love is that you have full access to both your System and Work folders on the Icarus desktop, this makes copying or deleting files a breeze and you can change what you want without having to load any emulation 1st!!
There are some games included within AROS such as Quake and Doom both look and play great, but as with OS4 I don't see the point, this is a PC being an Amiga being a PC playing Amiga versions of PC games (WTF?)
anyhoo the integration of the classic system is very nicely done (I believe OS4 can only emulate an 020?)
So what is the verdict? If you want OS4 but better and for free (notice free! that is very important!) and you have an old PC just laying about why not give this a go? it is NG amiga for nothing so what have you lost?
10/10 for effort and many many thanks to all the people that have contributed to AROS and Icarus:nod:
R0jaws sent me an old 2.4ghz P4 system to donate to a local charity, I had previously set this up as an AROS machine, so I thought before I return it to windows form and give the system away I would do a quick AROS/Icarus review
Now then AROS is a free to all multi developer OS for standard PCs based on the Amiga OS but brought up to date a little:nod:
you can download Icarus here http://www.icarosdesktop.org/ and you can run as a Live DVD or via USB pen, it comes in both 32 and 64 bit flavours.
I would say a P4 over 2ghz with at least a gig of ram will be plenty to run this on, however the faster the better as with all things I guess
I went for a complete install on a nekkid hard drive(this also means no MS windows to hide), pop in the DVD, following the on screen prompts and soon you will see a lovely Icarus desktop with a lovely shiny new "install Icarus" button, hit that bad boy and again follow the on screen prompts.
very soon a quick reboot and you are up and running
Icarus is very simple to use, there is a nice "start bar" at the bottom with all the handy stuff nicely available.
Internet and email are a breeze with OWB and Simple Mail all pre-installed (no flash support yet) but it does view Amibay very nicely and as you would expect it to look.
All the usual OS things you would expect to find are here, it supports USB, printers, DVD, internet etc...., but the bit we are interested in is Amibridge, this is the bit that lets you emulate an Amiga for all your classic software and it does do it well, you can emulate an 060 with jit if you like, but I decided to stick to an 020 @ 1.5ghz!!
As with OS4 you have the ability to launch ADFs just by double clicking them.
Another feature that I do love is that you have full access to both your System and Work folders on the Icarus desktop, this makes copying or deleting files a breeze and you can change what you want without having to load any emulation 1st!!
There are some games included within AROS such as Quake and Doom both look and play great, but as with OS4 I don't see the point, this is a PC being an Amiga being a PC playing Amiga versions of PC games (WTF?)
anyhoo the integration of the classic system is very nicely done (I believe OS4 can only emulate an 020?)
So what is the verdict? If you want OS4 but better and for free (notice free! that is very important!) and you have an old PC just laying about why not give this a go? it is NG amiga for nothing so what have you lost?
10/10 for effort and many many thanks to all the people that have contributed to AROS and Icarus:nod:
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aros install.jpg124.7 KB · Views: 7
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interent OWB.jpg171.8 KB · Views: 5
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OWB launch.jpg187.2 KB · Views: 4
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desktop windows.jpg134 KB · Views: 5
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blurry quake.jpg154.4 KB · Views: 4
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aros doom.jpg157.4 KB · Views: 5
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file copying aros to Aos.jpg156.7 KB · Views: 4
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aros menus.jpg185.4 KB · Views: 7
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AOS launch.jpg127.3 KB · Views: 5
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