AROS x86 - January-February 2025

The beginning of the year in the AROS world sees preparations for the announced transition to 64-bit. Work on the base version of the system is taking place simultaneously, software is being ported and distributions are being prepared. The authors of AROS One and Tiny AROS have announced the release of their distributions once a stable 64-bit system is available.

Deadwood is working on a new x86_64 ABIv11 build all the time. Test versions are available for download at ArosWorld forum. Feel free to download, test and report any bugs you encounter. The immediate goal is to release a build that will run on popular virtual machines and on selected dedicated hardware.

The website www.aros.org has recently been refreshed. “ThatGuyWithTheKids” has moved the scripts that build the site to Python 3, and Matthias ‘Mazze’ Rustler has made minor improvements and updated a lot of information. You can read more about it in Mazze’s blog post.

The latest news in the AROS Archives:

Protrekkr (v. 2.8.2) x86_64

Protrekkr (v. 2.8.2) i386

(author: Franck “hitchhikr” Charlet)

Franck “hitchhikr” Charlet is constantly improving his flagship program and we have had a great deal of updates recently. In addition, and this makes me especially happy, there is also a 64-bit version available. ProTrekkr is a tracker program that combines a software synthesizer along with a traditional sample tracker, which can (mostly) be used to create electronic music (e.g. psytrance, trance goa, hard acid, IDM, chip, techno, jungle, etc.) for small intros, demos or games. It is a heavily modified version of the old NoiseTrekker 2, which was created by Juan Antonio Arguelles Rius aka Arguru.

Changes in the latest versions:

v2.8.2

• Patterns sometimes did not scroll after starting playback, fixed.
• Volume of notes from channels (volume columns and 03 effects) are now handled in the speed sent to midi output.
• Changed LCTRL + F1 / F2 (decrease / increase editing step) to LCTRL + F2 / F4 due to Mac OS “interference”.
• Midi support on Linux and Mac OS has been improved.
• Improved keyboard shortcuts in Mac OS.
• Typos in the manual: The shortcuts for transposing to 1 octave higher are LCTRL + K and LCTRL + LSHIFT + K.
• Replaced pink noise with a triangle wave in the synthesizer.
• White noise is now twice as loud to match the volume of other waveforms.
• Added a function for hard synchronization of OSC 1 with OSC 2.
• Inserting or deleting a track did not modify the data of other patterns.
• Fixed an ugly visual error that occurred when changing colors during playback.
• Added foreground color modifier for track header.
• The sub-oscillator can now be scaled from oscillator 1 by half tones.
• Mathematical adder functions are also used for the sub-oscillator.
• Various bugs here and there have been fixed.
• VU meters are now displayed in one line and are much less sensitive.
• Removed support for NoiseTrekker 1/2 pre-pattern modules and instruments, they were only supported for rescue and conversion purposes.
• Saving a pattern without the currently selected block will save the entire pattern to a file.
• New logo!

v2.8.1

• Channel LFO carriers are now properly reset at playback startup.
• Channel LFO data can now be sent to channel filter cutoff, volume and panning.
• A channel LFO frequency scaler has been added.
• The following effects have been added:
  • 43: Setting the channel LFO frequency.
  • 44: Setting the scale factor of the channel’s LFO frequency.
  • 45: Set the amount of channel LFO to send to the channel filter cutoff.
  • 46: Set the amount of channel LFO to send to the channel volume.
  • 47: Set the amount of channel LFO to send to the channel pan.
• Fixed a very old NoiseTrekker bug in which LFO values sent to channels were lost because they were too large and clamped.
• Fixed an unpleasant regression that occurred in 64-bit compiled versions.

v2.8.0

• Added function to negate the current palette.
• Added two functions to rotate the current palette left or right.
• Rearranged bitchbiker.ptk and added it to the official list of modules.
• Changed the behavior of single step mode, playback stops only when the enter (or return) key is pressed and only the current pattern is played (press left Shift to switch to song mode).
• The instrument range transposition function has been added.
• Pattern modification functions are active only when edit mode is enabled.
• Transposition functions now keep track of the most recently used instruments to transpose the corresponding notes used without instruments.
• Stopping the step mode will leave the edit mode unaffected.
• The “Maximize” (Max) sample is now called “Normalize” (Norm) in the sample editor.
• More visual feedback for the currently playing sample in the sample editor.
• Added option to show/remove leading zero digits in patterns.
• Added pattern slider editing mode (check the manual for explanation). Note: This mode can be quite taxing on the CPU.
• Fixed various bugs in pattern editing.
• Channel VU meters were drawn too many times over each other, fixed.
• Fixed audio levels of channel VU meters.
• Modified the reverb (should sound better (?)) and added a damping parameter (I had to rework some modules for this reason).
• Added 2C effect: Adjusting the reverb damping factor.
• Volume ramp-up has been improved.
• Added keyboard shortcuts LCTRL + LALT + HOME / END (jump to the top/first track or bottom/last track of the pattern).
• Added Enter or Return keys for single step playback.
• Fixed polyphony channel allocations.
• Fixed full-screen mode switching in AROS.
• Added OpenGL executable file in AROS distribution (ptk_aros_ogl) for some reason I don’t explain, it may be slower than normal, mileage may vary.

Protrekkr

Cave Story (v. 1.0.0.6) x86_64

(authors: Daisuke Amaya, Caitlin Shaw)

Cave Story or Doukutsu Monogatari is a critically acclaimed work by independent developer Pixel, originally created as an homage to games such as Metroid and Castlevania. Cave Story is a 2D platformer with a classic, world-saving protagonist and an emphasis on exploration and discovery.

The AROS version is a port of NXEngine, a complete clone/rewrite of Cave Story under the GPL open-source license. Included is an English-translated version of the game data, which was done by Aeon Genesis Translations. If you want to play in another language, download another localized version and overwrite “Doukutsu.exe” and the contents of the “data” directory before running the game for the first time.

In the new compilation for AROS x86_64 NXEngine has been updated to version 1.0.0.6.

Cave Story

SQLite Manager (v. 0.6) i386

(author: Lazar Zoltan)

SQLite Manager is an application based on the SQLite database engine. It allows you to create, view and modify databases. Database maintenance can be done via GUI or SQL command shell to meet any need. Initial support is available for open xml spreadsheet files, which can be converted to databases and even to native Amiga spreadsheets.

Changes in version 0.6:

• change: the OS4Depot import module requires the HURL.hwp plugin for SSL HTTP communication.
• fix: some OS3.x fixes have made it work with MUI3.8, but there are still problems
• addition: the list of modules is displayed in the information window
• change: updated SQLite plugin to version 1.2 in the archive
• addition: added a balance class between GUI elements
• addition: setting the screen title to the program name and version
• change: SQL errors do not close the database
• fix: mui identifiers cannot handle some non-Latin characters, so field names are converted to unique Latin strings in gui xml
• fix: xlsx importer - removed Hungarian UTF8 converter function previously required before pbservice UTF8 in Hollywood
• fix: ArrowRight button of the query panel has been correctly implemented with the imagebutton class
• fix: OS4Depot import module - corrected raw string functions against UTF8
• fix: OS4Depot import module did not work if subcategories were missing
• addition: dropfile support for opening the database from the first icon
• addition: information window displays sqlite3 engine version
• fix: dbf importer converts strings to UTF8 when needed

SQLite Manager

Image2PDF (v. 2.8) i386

(author: Bernd Assenmacher)

A small tool for converting images to PDF. It is primarily used to convert scans made with, for example, Scandal or Scanquix to PDF documents in specific output formats such as A3, A4, A5, Legal, Letter or ImageSize, but can also be used to convert other image files.

Changes in version 2.8:

• Made localization
• Added the German language
• Added English and German directory files for translation purposes, so if someone wants another language, just translate and create the specified directory file.
• Fixed a bug where the guide file was not found when pressing “F1” or selecting “Help(F1)” in the menu.
• Fixed a similar bug in which pdftops was not found when printing
• fixed an installer bug where the path was not set correctly in s:user-startup on AmigaOS3/4, MorphOS and Aros
• other minor fixes have been made

Image2PDF

Piramide (v. 1.0) i386

(author: Domenico Lattanzi)

Piramide is a solitaire game played with French cards. The name of the game is the Italian translation of the word “pyramid” and comes from the fact that during the game the cards are arranged in the shape of a triangle. The player’s goal is to remove all the cards that form a pyramid.

Note that you need to download a set of cards (there are many different ones to choose from) from an external site. Details in the Guide file attached to the archive.

Piramide

PuzzleTiles (v. 1.0) i386

(author: Domenico Lattanzi)

In PuzzleTiles, a picture selected by the user is disassembled into pieces, and then the player’s task is to put it back together again. “Puzzles” are put together with the help of the mouse, swapping the two indicated fragments in place.

Features:

• Any image in a format recognized by the system can be used
• Customizable window size
• 5 levels of difficulty
• A progress bar is available to inform about the reached point of image reconstruction
• Ability to preview the completed image for 5 seconds for hints
• Sound effects that also help the user to rebuild the image

PuzzleTiles

V.A.M.P. (v. 3.20) i386

(author: Juan Carlos Herrán Martín)

V.A.M.P - Virtual Amiga Multimedia Player - currently displays the following multimedia formats:

• Amiga Anim formats: anim, anim5, ham6, ham8, yafa.
• MovieSetter movie formats.
• Internet animation formats: gif, apng.
• Image display: jpg, png, gif, lbm, bmp, svg, jp2(jpeg 2000), tiff, pcx, webp (with Datatypes).
• Video formats: cdxl, ogg, avi, mpeg, mpg, wmv, flv, mp4, mov, 3gp, m4v.
• Music and sound files: mp3, mod, med, 8svx, 16sv, iff, aiff, wav, ac3, wave, riff, ogg, flac, m4a, wma, dbm, hvl, aiff, s3m, xm, sid.

Available in the following languages: Spanish, English, Italian, French, Finnish, Swedish, Polish, Greek.

Changes in this version:

• Minor improvements and new logo.
• Fixed some issues with special video sizes for playing videos downloaded from: Facebook Reels, Tik Tok, CapCut, Instagram Reels, Kwai and Whatsapp.

NOTE: Recommended video size is 360xNN pixels, sizes larger than 360 width will play slowly depending on CPU speed.

V.A.M.P.

iConecta (v. 5.50) i386

(author: Juan Carlos Herrán Martín)

A small and simple program to test your internet connection. This version adds:

• New intro graphics
• New themes: Hacker, Pirate and Cosmos
• HD graphics

iConecta

More and more legacy applications are being recompiled for x86_64. Recent additions to the AROS Archives include:

If you are the author of a program for AROS and its sources are not available in the AROS Archives, we encourage you to compile it under ABIv11 as soon as possible. The sooner this work is done, the sooner we will all enjoy the first 64-bit AROS distribution! :)