Questions about usage of AROS
Last updated on 9 months ago
KhadasJunior MemberHi. Sorry for the wall of text, but basically:
1) How to properly unmount and/or remove external USB drives? Simply unplugging the pendrive makes me feel uneasy...
2) What is the actual difference between plain AROS and TinyAROS? I explored both on a VM and both seem the same. I suppose there is some difference under the hood.
3) How do I actually install software in AROS? I downloaded OWB from AROSArchives (Network/Browser/owb-1.26.i386-aros.zip 8-feb-2024) as a sample. I unzipped to a folder into pendrive and then I booted into Icaros. I copied that folder into My Workspace. When I try to run it, I get an error like "unable to find library m.library" or something like that. I suppose OWB is expecting suck lib to be in a certain folder around.
Then, I tried OWB in plain AROS and tinyAROS under a VM, but in both cases I had a "cannot find ver. 3 of pixman.library", that I suppose I should install (if not already present somewhere), but I am not sure where I should place libs etc. Since pixman3 library might be used by other software, I assume there is a system folder where libs should be located? So although downloading a copy of pixman3 to OWB folder makes the browser work, where should I actually place libs to be used system wide?
4) I want to try AROS and tinyAros on a VM before actually installing in real hardware. I would definitely prefer plain AROS rather than a custom distro, but in either case, I am not sure how to make networking to work. In VirtualBox I tried NAT and Bridge Adapter, as well as setting up a net0 adapter using RTL8169 driver (please see screenshot below). Unfortunately, "ping google.com" returns host not found. Similar result with OWB.
With the same settings but on real hardware, Icaros works fine after setting driver to RTL8169. I didn't try AROS or tinyAROS on real HW yet. So most likely there is some problem here with VirtualBox.
5) Where can I find an explanation of AROS filesystem? I am quite lost on what each directory is for and where to find things, how to see disks, mounted volumes and partitions etc, similar to the output of "mount" shell command in Linux or diskpart in Windows. Also, does each AROS distro has its own partially customized filesystem tree (think of linux distros) or all of them are exactly the same as AROS?
6) Printer. I have a USB printer that I totally need to use, but don't know how to make it work in Icarus or AROS. Only a PostScript printer type is available in Printer Preferences, but I don't know how to add a different one.
If I select USB Printer in PostScript settings, the printer does not respond when I want to print something.
Since the PostScript printer driver is the only available, I suppose the problem resides there, but where or how can I add additional drivers? Image below for reference.
I tried printing a simple random plain text using "Editor" (AROS:Tools/Editor).
7) How do I actually make programs or scripts run during bootup? I would like to have ClickToFront always be activated when I turn on the computer, but not sure how to do this. Although I can see the WBStartUp folder, how do I actually add ClickToFront or any other script into it?
8) How to add shortcut icons on the desktop to a folder and to files?
9) Will AROS complain if I install it in computer A, and them I transfer the hard disk to computer B that has different (but compatible) hardware? I mean, if you do that with Win98 or 95, you will get a nice BSOD. Windows 10 will automatically detect the new hardware and launch in the new PC without issues.
10) Probably not, but, is there any Palm Desktop alternative such a J-Pilot for Linux, that allows me to sync with PalmOS devices through USB?
J-Pilot: http://www.jpilot...
Palm Desktop: https://palmdb.ne...lm-desktop
Well, that is all for now. More questions in the future, probably.
Thanks!
1) How to properly unmount and/or remove external USB drives? Simply unplugging the pendrive makes me feel uneasy...
2) What is the actual difference between plain AROS and TinyAROS? I explored both on a VM and both seem the same. I suppose there is some difference under the hood.
3) How do I actually install software in AROS? I downloaded OWB from AROSArchives (Network/Browser/owb-1.26.i386-aros.zip 8-feb-2024) as a sample. I unzipped to a folder into pendrive and then I booted into Icaros. I copied that folder into My Workspace. When I try to run it, I get an error like "unable to find library m.library" or something like that. I suppose OWB is expecting suck lib to be in a certain folder around.
Then, I tried OWB in plain AROS and tinyAROS under a VM, but in both cases I had a "cannot find ver. 3 of pixman.library", that I suppose I should install (if not already present somewhere), but I am not sure where I should place libs etc. Since pixman3 library might be used by other software, I assume there is a system folder where libs should be located? So although downloading a copy of pixman3 to OWB folder makes the browser work, where should I actually place libs to be used system wide?
4) I want to try AROS and tinyAros on a VM before actually installing in real hardware. I would definitely prefer plain AROS rather than a custom distro, but in either case, I am not sure how to make networking to work. In VirtualBox I tried NAT and Bridge Adapter, as well as setting up a net0 adapter using RTL8169 driver (please see screenshot below). Unfortunately, "ping google.com" returns host not found. Similar result with OWB.
With the same settings but on real hardware, Icaros works fine after setting driver to RTL8169. I didn't try AROS or tinyAROS on real HW yet. So most likely there is some problem here with VirtualBox.
5) Where can I find an explanation of AROS filesystem? I am quite lost on what each directory is for and where to find things, how to see disks, mounted volumes and partitions etc, similar to the output of "mount" shell command in Linux or diskpart in Windows. Also, does each AROS distro has its own partially customized filesystem tree (think of linux distros) or all of them are exactly the same as AROS?
6) Printer. I have a USB printer that I totally need to use, but don't know how to make it work in Icarus or AROS. Only a PostScript printer type is available in Printer Preferences, but I don't know how to add a different one.
If I select USB Printer in PostScript settings, the printer does not respond when I want to print something.
Since the PostScript printer driver is the only available, I suppose the problem resides there, but where or how can I add additional drivers? Image below for reference.
I tried printing a simple random plain text using "Editor" (AROS:Tools/Editor).
7) How do I actually make programs or scripts run during bootup? I would like to have ClickToFront always be activated when I turn on the computer, but not sure how to do this. Although I can see the WBStartUp folder, how do I actually add ClickToFront or any other script into it?
8) How to add shortcut icons on the desktop to a folder and to files?
9) Will AROS complain if I install it in computer A, and them I transfer the hard disk to computer B that has different (but compatible) hardware? I mean, if you do that with Win98 or 95, you will get a nice BSOD. Windows 10 will automatically detect the new hardware and launch in the new PC without issues.
10) Probably not, but, is there any Palm Desktop alternative such a J-Pilot for Linux, that allows me to sync with PalmOS devices through USB?
J-Pilot: http://www.jpilot...
Palm Desktop: https://palmdb.ne...lm-desktop
Well, that is all for now. More questions in the future, probably.
Thanks!
Edited by Khadas on 04-03-2024 08:05, 9 months ago
Jeff1138Junior Member
Posted 9 months ago
AMIGASYSTEMDistro MaintainerdeadwoodAROS Dev
Posted 9 months agodeadwoodAROS Dev
Posted 9 months agodeadwoodAROS Dev
Posted 9 months agoAMIGASYSTEMDistro MaintainerAmiwell79Distro Maintainer
Posted 9 months ago1)USB management works like this you just have to be careful if you are not operating in the devices before disconnecting them
2)for a complete installation of tiny aros you must first install the reference build and then overwrite the files in the system.zip archive in sys: "Aros Volume"
3)if you complete the installation of tiny aros owb is already present in the system and also all the necessary libraries as well as most of the software the best
4)the driver under VM is pcnet32.device, then if you want to make a custom distribution you have to install the reference build you already have, plus the extra 'contrib' archives
https://www.axrt....ib.tar.bz2
5) the filesystem is the same for all distributions and also for the base build, during the installation it creates the root directory "sys: Aros Volume DH0:" and asks if you want to create an additional volume "work: DH1:", the system installer will guide you but there are options to select if you are installing aros on a partition where there is another operating system and therefore if you want to use the free space available, another option if you want to erase the entire disk.
6) your printer absolutely must support the postscript protocol to be able to print, still the aros printing system is primordial and there are no other drivers, another solution is to own a brother printer that makes use of its cloud system accessible with OWB
7) you can activate your scripts and programmes by writing a command line to the file in sys:s 'user-startup' I enclose an example
8) if you use tiny aros, simply select the programme then right-click and select the 'leave out' option
9) if you plug the hard disk into an aros-compatible computer, it starts without problems
2)for a complete installation of tiny aros you must first install the reference build and then overwrite the files in the system.zip archive in sys: "Aros Volume"
3)if you complete the installation of tiny aros owb is already present in the system and also all the necessary libraries as well as most of the software the best
4)the driver under VM is pcnet32.device, then if you want to make a custom distribution you have to install the reference build you already have, plus the extra 'contrib' archives
https://www.axrt....ib.tar.bz2
5) the filesystem is the same for all distributions and also for the base build, during the installation it creates the root directory "sys: Aros Volume DH0:" and asks if you want to create an additional volume "work: DH1:", the system installer will guide you but there are options to select if you are installing aros on a partition where there is another operating system and therefore if you want to use the free space available, another option if you want to erase the entire disk.
6) your printer absolutely must support the postscript protocol to be able to print, still the aros printing system is primordial and there are no other drivers, another solution is to own a brother printer that makes use of its cloud system accessible with OWB
7) you can activate your scripts and programmes by writing a command line to the file in sys:s 'user-startup' I enclose an example
8) if you use tiny aros, simply select the programme then right-click and select the 'leave out' option
9) if you plug the hard disk into an aros-compatible computer, it starts without problems
Edited by Amiwell79 on 04-03-2024 08:16, 9 months ago
KhadasJunior MemberKhadasJunior MemberAmiwell79Distro Maintainer
Posted 9 months agoAMIGASYSTEMDistro Maintainermiker1264Software Dev
Posted 9 months agoKhadasJunior MemberAMIGASYSTEMDistro MaintainerEdited by AMIGASYSTEM on 05-03-2024 03:15, 9 months ago
Amiwell79Distro Maintainer
Posted 9 months agoAMIGASYSTEMDistro MaintainerAmiwell79Distro Maintainer
Posted 9 months agoEdited by Amiwell79 on 05-03-2024 09:07, 9 months ago
KhadasJunior MemberAmiwell79Distro Maintainer
Posted 9 months agoEdited by Amiwell79 on 05-03-2024 13:34, 9 months ago
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