We’re excited to announce the release of a new portable AROS distribution, designed to run directly from a USB stick. This project was created for users who want to explore AROS without the need to install it on a hard drive or invest in dedicated hardware.

Watch the system in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OeMbB2rGXc

Who is this for?

This distribution is aimed at:

- curious users who want to try out AROS without prior experience,
- those who don’t own (or don’t want to buy) compatible recommended hardware,
- enthusiasts who want to carry AROS in their pocket – ready to boot on the go.

This is not meant to replace existing AROS distributions, but rather to complement them. It’s a convenient tool for discovering and using AROS in a modern and accessible way.

System requirements:

- A reasonably modern x86_64 (64-bit) computer,
- USB 3.0 support (both host and USB stick),
- A 1920×1080 display,
- Processor virtualization option (usually Intel VT-x, “Intel Virtualization Technology� or AMD-V, “SVM Mode�) available in BIOS/UEFI and enabled.

What does it offer?

- Quick and easy boot from USB – no installation required,
- A ready-to-use graphical environment upon launch,
- User experience similar to that of dedicated hardware.

Download links:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tGkKhIzgl9chCTA3hTQdpuGIq7ifJSfF/view?usp=drive_link
https://axrt.org/download/arosq/v0/20250517-arosoneq.img.7z

The image should be written to a flash drive of at least 16GB (under Windows, for example, using Rufus).

Last edited by retrofaza on 20-May-2025 at 08:50 PM.

@retrofaza

How does it handle drivers? Before there was no support for usb3. What has changed?

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Indigo 3D Lounge, my second home.
The Illusion of Choice | Am*ga

@pixie

Just download the image and try it for yourself. All you need is an USB3.0 pendrive.

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https://www.axrt.org

@deadwood

Can it run inside VirtualBox?

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@Mobileconnect

If you want to run AROS inside VirtualBox, just take the regular AROS One 2.8 or the 64-bit AROS One. There is no advantage of using this pendrive image inside virtual machine - this image is meant for modern real hardware.

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https://www.axrt.org

@retrofaza

First I must admit I didn't know x86 AROS version exists at all.
So, I'm willing to experiment a bit ...

Although it seems it does not support external monitors.
I saw messages flickering through on that monitor during boot-up, but it remained dark afterwards. Or is this because of this :
Quote:

- A 1920×1080 display,

The attached monitor had a higher resolution.

The hardware was a Latitude 7250, a small and portable thingy with a 12,5" display.
I could hardly see what I did ... ;-O

I tried another notebook which didn*t boot into AROS, perhaps because of a wrong boot order.
But looking into the filesystem, I realized AROS itself is based upon a Linux kernel. And a few folder evidently had slavic names, I would guess Polish.
But that was late in the evening, and I got too tired.

I will continue test a few older devices soon.

@codis

Quote:

But looking into the filesystem, I realized AROS itself is based upon a Linux kernel. And a few folder evidently had slavic names, I would guess Polish.

It surely is not

Last edited by pixie on 21-May-2025 at 01:41 PM.

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The Illusion of Choice | Am*ga

@codis

I would like to make a clarification:


AROS One 68k, 32Bit, and 64Bit, does not have "any" linux world files, the AROS structure is the same as that of Amiga OS3.

These distributions (see link) can be booted Natively on many old PCs before 2015, but can be booted from a Virtual Machine (100% compatible)

https://sites.google.com/view/arosone

In this Thread is discusses a Portable AROS Distribution based on AROS One "Quoted above" this Distribuzuine boots from a Linux base which via QEmu boots AROS One, but no Linux files will be present on the system anymore.

If you have a screen, your PC probably does not meet the requirements.

Last edited by AMIGASYSTEM on 21-May-2025 at 02:12 PM.
Last edited by AMIGASYSTEM on 21-May-2025 at 02:11 PM.
Last edited by AMIGASYSTEM on 21-May-2025 at 02:09 PM.

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AROS One Home Site
AfA One Amiga OS 3.9

@AMIGASYSTEM

Quote:

If you have a screen, your PC probably does not meet the requirements.

It does.
One only needs to put the boot priority of USB devices higher than the internal system disk ...

Quote:

These distributions (see link) can be booted Natively on many old PCs before 2015, but can be booted from a Virtual Machine (100% compatible)

These are the systems I'm talking about here.
And files like "vmlinuz" and "initrd.img" in a folder "/boot" reveal this fact - besides, pressing "esc" during boot and shutdown shows the usual Linux console messages.
I am fine with that, just saying

@codis

You continue to make great confusion, in my Distributions AROS One 68k, AROS One 32Bit, AROS One 64BI there is no Linux file, there are no "vmlinuz" and "initrd.img" and if you press Esc on Grub nothing happens, the Grub used by AROS One is native AROS and has nothing to do with Linux.ù

You can find my AROS One Distributions HERE:

https://sites.google.com/view/arosone



This is different for Portable Distributions by retrofaza, in which case AROS uses real mete Linux to boot and does so via QEmu (Virtual Machine), once AROS is started no Linux files will ever be used.

You can find AROS Portable (based on AROS One) HERE:

https://arosnews.github.io/aros-portable/

Last edited by AMIGASYSTEM on 21-May-2025 at 04:07 PM.

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AROS One Home Site
AfA One Amiga OS 3.9

@AMIGASYSTEM

Quote:

You continue to make great confusion, ...

Do I ?

Quote:

This is different for Portable Distributions by retrofaza, in which case AROS uses real mete Linux to boot ...

I though this thread was basically about retrofaza's distro, so I did not repeat this facts specifically.
But yes, I talk about that same distro, as linked to in post #1.
Writing the unpacked image to a thumb drive, you will find said Linux files in the "/boot" folder.

I currently have no 68k or PPC systems to try a "native" version.
My mothballed A4000 is powered by a plain old EC020, and most probably needs a re-cap treatment anyway.

@codis

PPC has nothing to do with it and is not needed for AROS One, just as an AMIGA machine is not needed for 68k

AROS One x86 32BIT = Requires and boots directly with an old DualCore PC built up to 2015

AROS One x86 64BIT = Requires and boots directly with an older DualCore PC built up to 2015

Find all natively compatible PCs and hardware here
https://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Aros/Platforms/x86_Network_support


AROS One x86 32BIT and AROS One x86 64BIT, you can boot them on any platform with VirtualBox, VMware and QEmu

AROS One 68k = Only works well on WinUAE


Returning to the Portable AROS Distribution by retrofaza, as mentioned the AROS System used by the distribution is the same AROS One 32 and 64Bit posted above

_________________
AROS One Home Site
AfA One Amiga OS 3.9

External monitors have not been tested, may not be supported

Last edited by retrofaza on 22-May-2025 at 05:41 AM.

@codis

Quote:

codis wrote: I though this thread was basically about retrofaza's distro, so I did not repeat this facts specifically. But yes, I talk about that same distro, as linked to in post #1. Writing the unpacked image to a thumb drive, you will find said Linux files in the "/boot" folder. I currently have no 68k or PPC systems to try a "native" version. My mothballed A4000 is powered by a plain old EC020, and most probably needs a re-cap treatment anyway.

I don't recall A4000 being shipped with 68EC020... it should be 68EC030 (aka EC030).

_________________
Amiga 1200 (rev 1D1, KS 3.2, PiStorm32/RPi CM4/Emu68)
Amiga 500 (rev 6A, ECS, KS 3.2, PiStorm/RPi 4B/Emu68)
Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5-6000 64 GB RAM, GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB

@Hammer

Perhaps memory fails me here, and it really was an EC030.
Anyway, there were an 'EC' version and a 68030 version available, and as a poor student I choose the cheaper one. Which came back to haunt me, because any experiments with Amiga Linux proved pointless.

@codis

AROS has nothing to do with Linux. You also have knoppix distros booting into AmigaOS, Amiga Forever used to work on such a setup. Do you think because of that one can say that suddenly AmigaOS is based on Linux? You have also piamiga, you have lots of systems who work like that, but in any case you can say that they have anything to do with linux.

Anyhow, IMO the original post never was much specific about the underlying tech, that's the reason of the confusion.

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The Illusion of Choice | Am*ga

@codis

Quote:

codis wrote: Writing the unpacked image to a thumb drive, you will find said Linux files in the "/boot" folder.

I have found this description about the Portable AROS Distribution:

Quote:

he USB key image is in fact a Linux ext4 drive containing a copy of Ubuntu 25.04 (with the i3 window manager), which is set to log in automatically as a user called aros, and then runs QEMU full-screen and boots AROS inside the VM. ... So it's a sort of cheat, but it gets the job done. You can boot AROS from a live USB medium and run it without installing anything. What you get is the AROS One x86 distribution, configured with dozens of apps, games, and demos.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/22/aros_live/

@OneTimer1

Thas is basically what I deduced from looking at the file system of the medium.
And it's fine with me - a nice way to try some Amiga applications that could have been, and enjoy some nostalgic games and demos.

But as mentioned in other threads, I have moved on since, and use Linux as my daily driver for two decades now.
I see zero chances for any Amiga successor to penetrate the mass market on any significant level, being it hardware or software. It will remain a niche.

@codis

100000 would be hardly considered a significant level, yet it would be a considerable chunk of market to code for.

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The Illusion of Choice | Am*ga

@codis

Quote:

codis wrote: Thas is basically what I deduced from looking at the file system of the medium.

I have mainly posted it because it was unclear (to others) what exactly you where using.

AROS can run without a Linux or without a VM but if you want to make a distribution running everywhere you may look for AROS hosted or AROS running on a VM in another OS.


Quote:

codis wrote: I see zero chances for any Amiga successor to penetrate the mass market on any significant level, being it hardware or software. It will remain a niche.

It is mainly a retro thing, maybe not so much for people using their Amig500 games but for people who are curious about what still could be done with AROS on new hardware.

The retro user might be OK with something starting their old Amiga500 games but for a market on a significant level you would need something Windows or Linux can't do. I have no real idea what this could be, just keep in mind that AROS is an OS that can't make usage of multiple cores and has security issues compared to modern OSes.

And thinking on an OS that can run with a small footprint, might only be interesting for embedded markets but there are plenty of FOSS OSes that are better suited for this.