The year 2025 was meant to mark the transition to 64-bit—and it’s truly a pleasure to see that transition happening before our eyes! Last month, we saw the release of a stable base system, and this month we already have the first 64-bit distribution. Developer activity is clearly visible, along with growing interest from outside the traditional circle of AROS enthusiasts. The AROS project is not only alive but steadily moving forward :)
A new version of the AROS One system has just been released! This is the first edition of the long-awaited 64-bit version. It’s available for download as a DVD ISO image or a USB Flash image.
AROS One 1.0 64-bit
You may have read last month about what the release of the stable 64-bit base system (ABIv11) brings. AROS One v1.0 is a full 64-bit version of the AROS system (ABIv11), enriched with most of the software available on AROS Archives and the Contrib package tailored for the 64-bit edition of AROS. The new version retains the distinctive visual style, icon set, and scripts familiar from the 32-bit AROS One 2.8 version, ensuring visual and functional consistency for users.
This month also saw the release of AROS Portable. It allows you to run and try out AROS on virtually any modern PC. This solution (featuring Linux underneath and AROS One on top) offers a simple way to get started with AROS without needing to invest in dedicated hardware or manually set up virtual machines. Just write the image to a USB stick and you’re ready to go—it couldn’t be easier! Early feedback shows it’s been warmly received. Many thanks to the editorial team at The Register for their article on AROS Portable, which helped spread the word about AROS beyond the Amiga scene.
Another piece of great news is that Kalamatee has begun work on porting GCC version 15 to AROS. A newer compiler will allow more modern software to be ported, including WebKit, which powers the OWB browser.
Kalamatee also shared an interesting video on his YouTube channel, visually presenting the progress of the AROS project over time :)
The Odyssey Web Browser is set for another update. Deadwood has released a beta version of the new browser build for testing on the x86_64 platform. This latest beta is based on WebKit engine version 2.32.4 and improves support for many websites. Among the improvements are better rendering of GitHub, the ability to browse messages in Gmail, and logging in to Discord. The test version can be downloaded here.
What’s new in AROS Archives?
Protrekkr (v. 2.8.3PRE)
x86_64(Author: Franck “hitchhikr” Charlet)
ProTrekkr is a tracker program that combines a software synthesizer with a traditional sample-based tracker. It’s mainly used to create electronic music (such as psytrance, goa trance, hard acid, IDM, chip, techno, jungle, etc.) for small intros, demos, or games.
Changes and new features in version v2.8.3 PRE 2:
- Fullscreen resolution can now be selected.
- Added four customizable stereo delay filters.
- New effects:
- 2D: Set stereo delay filter type.
- 2E: Set stereo delay filter cutoff.
- 2F: Set stereo delay filter resonance.
- MIDI data range is now scaled correctly: FF row data now sends as 127.
- ProTrekkr now sends MIDI start/continue/stop and MIDI clock events.
- Added two sequencer functions to shift positions up or down.
- Global channel volumes now also apply to MIDI notes.
- Added sequencer function to remap/swap and change effect numbers and values.
- Fixed several bugs in note transposition functions.
- Improved tracking and playback speed.
- Splines were removed; channels can now be individually noise-gated (or not). New effect added for this:
- 30: Channel de-noising strength control (see manual for parameters).
- Renamed Mac OS 64-bit distribution from ia64 to x86_64 (and x86 to x86_32).
- Fixed crash on launch in some macOS versions.
- MorphOS version is now officially supported.
Protrekkr
Arrakis demo (v. 1.0)
x86_64Nano demo (v. 1.2)
x86_64(Authors: Kakiarts/TRBL)
Nano and Arrakis are ports of two demos originally released for the Apple iPod Nano G1. These ports were compiled for AROS by Farox, now targeting the 64-bit platform!
The demoscene group Kakiarts released Nano at the EVOKE demo party in 2006 as their first production for the iPod Nano. A decade later, at the Nordlicht 2016 demo party, they released a second production, Arrakis.
These AROS ports use SDL 1.2 and run at slightly under 800x600 resolution using a 4x upscaler coded by the original author. Since the iPod’s original resolution was 176x132, the demos on AROS run at 704x528.
Dema Nano i Arrakis
meteMP3 (v. 1.5)
x86_64AmiSSL (v. 4.2)
x86_64(Author: serk118)
Serk118 continues porting his earlier software to the 64-bit platform. This month includes the previously featured meteMP3 — a lightweight MP3 player designed specifically for AROS using the Zune/MUI interface. Also available is the well-known AmiSSL, now in version 4.2.
meteMP3
GICriptoFileX (v. 1.0)
i386(Author: Giovanni Iacobelli)
GICriptoFile Cross Edition is a file encryption program using a proprietary 128-bit symmetric key algorithm. The algorithm is not publicly disclosed.
GICriptoFileX
BOH (v. 2.5)
i386(Author: Simone Bevilacqua “Saimo”)
BOH is a dungeon crawler where you solve puzzles, collect items, unlock passages, avoid traps, defeat Evil Masters and their minions, and escape mazes in one piece. Keep your cool, avoid enemies whenever possible, focus on navigation, and you’ll make it through.
Version 2.5 updates:
- Fixed the mission descriptor for “Tribute to Asimov” in the AmigaOS and AROS packages.
- Corrected and updated the manual (which contained outdated information).
BOH
Polar Paint (v. 1.057)
i386Polar Paint_Small (v. 1.057)
i386(Author: Anbjørn Myren)
Polar Paint is a graphics tool created using the Hollywood environment, allowing work across up to eight independent workspaces. Each workspace can have its own undo/redo history with configurable steps (from 10 to 100).
The application supports basic graphics editing as well as transparency in two different modes. Due to its advanced features, it requires relatively high system specs—specifically, a fast machine capable of displaying at least 1440x900 in 16-bit color and with at least 40 MB of free RAM.
Each active workspace uses about 4 MB of RAM, as do the undo/redo levels. Thus, the available memory directly affects how many steps and workspaces can be used. To reduce RAM usage, the author implemented a system to offload inactive workspaces and history to disk. This allows full functionality even with limited RAM, at the cost of some performance due to increased disk access.
The Polar Paint small version has a reduced drawing area and smaller window size for lower resource usage.
Polar Paint
Video Slot Machine (v. 1.20)
i386(Author: Juan Carlos Herrán Martín)
A video slot machine simulator. You can personalize the machine with your own video clips, which play when you win virtual money.
Changes in version 1.20:
- Bug fixes.
- New background graphics generated with AI on the monitor screen.
- New AI-generated background music.
- Added Spanish language support.
- Now plays up to 9 videos.
- New game cover.
Video Slot Machine