V1.3.

Quick and dirty user/reviewer guide by Paolo Besser

1. Introduction
The AROS Research Operating System is a lightweight, efficient and flexible desktop operating system, designed to help you make the most of your computer. It's an independent, portable and free project, aiming at being compatible with AmigaOS .! at the A"I le#el $like %ine, unlike &A'(, while impro#ing on it in many areas. These lines, taken from the official Aros.org homepage, e plain in a few words one of the most interesting open source pro!ects available. Being distant from both "inu and #indows e periences, A$%& is growing as a true alternative for people bored by the comple and resources'hungry competition. A niche OS, whose strongest features are speed, compactness, responsiveness, ama(ingly fast boot time and tiny application dimensions, far different from the )** megs word processors we use today. +owever, like many other young or niche pro!ects, A$%& relies on few active developers. The team has already done a great !ob, re'implementing most of the functions of the original Amiga%& while improving them with modern features, such as an hardware abstraction layer, an original driver model, ,&B and T-P/.P stack, which allow A$%& to be used for virtually everything today. The main issue, anyway, is the lack of drivers and applications, two holes that might be easily filled with more developers. /ost of A$%& applications have been placed on a repository called 0The Archives0, located at http1//archives.aros' e ec.org and a tool called AA23T has been developed to help downloading software. These applications, however, are often difficult to install and configure for a novice user. 2ven A$%& itself, relying on the old' age Amiga lifestyle, it4s enough user'friendly for the middle/skilled user, but slightly difficult to manage for newbies. And here Icaros Desktop comes in. .caros 3esktop started in 5ovember )**6 as 7mwA$%& 8729, a pre' configured A$%& environment for the popular 7/ware virtual machines. .t came with a collection of applications and games already installed and configured, often with some hand'made scripts, that let the user run them as easily as clicking twice on a icon. &ince then, .caros 3esktop turned into a real distribution which can easily run on real hardware. .t is now available in two different flavours1

Icaros Desktop LIVE! is is a pre'configured environment on a bootable live'373 that runs on top of your real hardware, and can be installed onto the hard drive. .t can also run in a pre'configured Q2/, virtual machine, provided in the same archive. Icaros Desktop LIGHT is a reduced version of the ".72: 373, which provides the most important features of .caros 3esktop, but can be stored on a single -3 instead of a 373. %nly the -3 .&% is provided, there4s no pre'configured Q2/, virtual machine for it.

%ther efforts had been made in order to let the user share files between the A$%& virtual machine and the host operating system, being it Linux, in!o"s or #acOS. .caros 3esktop comes with ;A<&, pre'installed and launched at boot time, which allows user to transfer files with any <TP client. 2ven the network is already configured to do this, and it is possible to surf the web, chat by .$- and so on. .n order to make all these tasks even easier, newer versions of .caros 3esktop come with 3+-P support.

This reference guide is targeted to both .caros 3esktop "ight and .caros 3esktop "ive: +owever, some of the procedure may vary depending on the version you4re using. /ost of the options can be accessed only after installing on a virtual machine or on a real hard drive. $%ease remem&er AROS is sti%% in a%pha stage an! might not 'it your !ai%y nee!s. There are sti%% much more things you could do for AROS( than the ones AROS can !o 'or you: <or any further information, visit www.Icaros)esktop.org and www.aros*exec.org.

)*)

here is Icaros Desktop VE+

.caros 3esktop 72 was a pre'configured virtual machine for 7/ware products and then for 7irtualBo . But due to compatibility problems between different virtuali(ation technologies and repeated issues with newer version, we decided to stop publishing the 72 version of .caros 3esktop. .ndeed, the "ive: one already provides a whole virtual machine and installing .caros on 7mware, 7irtualBo or any other similar product is as simple as on real computers. 2ven simplier, thanks to the reduced risks of emulation.

)*, T"o "ays to use Icaros Desktop Li-e!

.caros 3esktop ".72: comes in a package which includes these files

IcarosDesktop.pc.i/01*iso1 the .caros 3esktop "ive: .&% image you can burn into a physical 373. IcarosDesktop2manua%*p!'1 the manual you4re reading Emu%ator1 a drawer that contains the free virtual machine Q2/, in/,.START*&at1 a launch script for =) bit #indows )***, >P and 7ista. in13.START*&at1 a launch script for ?@ bit #indows >P and 7ista.

;ou can either run .caros 3esktop "ive: as a normal operating system for a real P- or simply Alook atB it by running it into the included virtual machine. There are advantages and drawbacks in both cases.

)*,*) 4sing Icaros Desktop as a rea% operating system

I' your har!"are is supporte! &y AROS, you can consider installing it onto the hard drive, and use it as an alternative operating system along with any other eventually installed in the same hard drive. ;ou will need some blank 8unpartitioned9 space on the drive, and maybe you4ll have to edit a little C$,B) configuration files to access all the other systems 8#indows should be added automatically at the end of the list by A$%& installer, but if you have any other %& installed, you have to edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg file accordingly9. <or security reasons, you might prefer to use a blank 2.32 or &ATA drive for .caros 3esktop, or install it on a ,&B pendrive, so you will be sure you won4t hurt any e isting and important data. .nstalling .caros 3esktop on the hard drive is the best way to en!oy all A$%& features1 ama(ingly fast boot times 8about D) seconds on the average nowadays P-, but it can be even faster9, instant'response to user, sound support 8if you have the right audio cards9 and accelerated =3 for many 5vidia and .ntel cards 8if you have problems, though, you can switch to 72&A modes9. There is no real drawbacks in using .caros 3esktop on real hardware, !ust the time spent preparing, installing and configuring it. ;ou can even !ust use the "ive version without a real installation1 you won4t be able to save your preferences, files and boot/loading times will be dramatically slower.

)*,*, 4sing Icaros Desktop Li-e! in the 5E#4 -irtua% machine

Icaros )esktop +i#e, includes a free, open source virtual machine to let you AtestB the %& even without installing it on your real hard drive. .t can run inside #indows e actly as any other applications. 3epending on your operating system version, !ust run the in/,. or in13.START batch files to launch Q2/, and the Icaros )esktop +i#e, 373 without the need of burning it on a physical 373'$. ;ou will be a%most in the same conditions of a user who has launched the 373 on a real computer. .n fact, you will need to install .caros 3esktop on a virtual hard drive 8it4s provided with the virtual machine, so no problems here9 and configure it to get the most of it. Q2/, doesn4t use your real hardware, so you will need to configure A$%& using the Q2/, emulated hardware.

Soun!
5ewer revisions of Q2/, 8including the one provided with .caros 3esktop "ive:9 include a .ntel A-E6 audio card emulator, which is loaded when starting .caros under #indows using either the =) or the ?@ bit batch files. .n order to hear sound from A$%&, though, you4ll have to set the AA-E6B audio drivers in prefs/A+. for music, unit* and unitD.

6et"orking
5etworking in Q2/, is possible, and network should be configured automatically.

A'ter Insta%%ation
%nce you4ll have installed .caros 3esktop on your virtual machine 8follow chapter = like it was on a real computer9, you will need to edit your #in>>'&TA$T.bat with the notepad, in order to switch the boot peripheral from the virtual 373 drive to the virtual hard drive. .n a nutshell, you must change the 'd option from A'boot dB to A'boot cB and allow Q2/, access to your real 373 drive, turning A'cdrom ..F.caros 3esktop'pc'i=G?.isoB to A'cdrom HdriveIletterJB 8where HdriveIletterJ could be 3, 2, < or whatever one your #indows is using for the 373 drive9. Please do a safe copy of the original bat file.

Gaining spee! on /, &it

in!o"s

This version of Q2/, includes the KLemu driver for acceleration under =) bit versions of #indows 8)*** and later versions9. Please run the insk7emu*exe file in the FemulatorFkLemu drawer. KLemu doesn4t support ?@ bit operating systems, hence it4s not used in the ?@ bit launch script for .caros 3esktop.

)*/ 8e'ore you start using Icaros Desktop Li-e!

A$%& is still alpha software and this means it could not work correctly on your computer. .f you are totally new to A$%&, you4d want to know the following1

D. the RA# Dri-e 8$A/19 is a volume mounted directly in your system memory. .t can be used as a fast place to unpack files or a temporary buffer for your operations. $emember that its contents will be lost when you reset or power off the machineM ). har! !ri-es and other volumes can have labels. ;ou can use the $2"AB2" command to change them. .n a shell, you can use both labels and volume identifiersM =. these are an!erer windows, with icons inside. Icons in AROS are meant to i!enti'y important 'i%es on%y, and can be used to open the described file with a different tool, to set file properties and so on.

They are mostly P5C files with the .info e tensionM @. this is the AROS she%%. A$%& is not "inu so you won4t use it all the time, however you4ll find that using the shell can be far easier than clicking thousands times on the left mouse buttonM N. this nice bar is not part of A$%& itself, but is a program called AmiStart. .t will help you launching programs and previewing images. 9ust remem&er it &eha-es !i''erent%y 'rom in!o"s start menu. ;ou can delete icons by throwing them outside. ;ou can add new ones by dragging them from #anderer. To close a menu, !ust select an option in a parent menu. To close all, click on the .caros 3esktop button on the left side.

)*3

an!erer

A$%&4 #orkbench is called #anderer. ;ou can copy programs and files simply dragging their icons from their location to another. ;ou can open #indows and launch program by clicking twice on their icons. 5ow let4s talk about windows. This is a window1

.t has some tools you should understand to get handy with A$%&1 D. The close gadget 8 ). The iconify button 8 e pand it again. 9 is on the left side of the title bar, and closes the window. 9 on the right allows either to reduce the window to the minimum si(e, or

=. The depth gadget 8 9 on the top right corner places the window before or after the others. A$%& behaves Luite differently from most operating systems1 clicking on a window won4t give it the focus immediately. ;ou can hide a window under the others either if you4re using them or not. @. The scroll bars 8 contents. 9 allow you to show hidden parts of the window

N. The dimension gadget 8 9 on the right bottom corner resi(es the window as you like. This is the only active part of the boundaries which allow you to do so. ?. The parent button 8 9 goes up in the directory tree, opening the parent one. 9 shows the current path of the window. ;ou can edit it

6. The path field 8 to go wherever you want in the filesystem.

G. The title bar 8 9 shows the window name. ;ou can move windows wherever you want, handling them by their title bar, keeping the left mouse button pressed.

6OTE
.n this manual we4ll often talk about directories calling them drawers instead of folders. That4s an heritage from the Amiga age that A$%& had proudly taken.

)*: The AROS ;ey&oar!

Please assume this convention1 whenever you read about %Aros and rAros keys on this manual, we mean the left and right Aros keys respectively. &ince no keyboard manufacturer has decided yet to sell an A$%& specific one, %Aros corresponds to %e't in!o"s 8command on /ac, Amiga on Amiga9 key and rAros to the right one8s9. &ome keyboards, mainly compact, notebook and really old ones, may lack of them. &ince they are really mandatory for A$%& programs, they have been mapped also to <DD and <D) respectively. The scheme above shows the .talian layout, some character will change depending on the language you4re using. The rAros key 8r#in or <D)9 is really important for A$%&. .t allows some speedy shortcuts you4ll surely love. &tarting from .caros 3esktop D.).@, some new lAros and Alt shortcuts had been added to the system1 ;eys rAros < 5 rAros < rAros < E rAros < R rAros < I rAros < O rAros < A rAros < ; rAros < = rAros < > rAros < V rAros < ? rAros < 6 %Aros < ES> %Aros < @) %Aros < @, %Aros < @/ %Aros < TA8 or %Aros < # A%t < TA8 A%t < Home Action Quit wanderer 8you don4t want to do that9 %pen a shell 8you4ll do that Luite often9 %pen a command window $ename the selected icon 3isplay icon information %pen the selected icon &elect all icons in the active window Kill the active window 3e'select all -opy to clipboard Paste from clipboard -ut to clipboard -reate a new drawer -all the &cout task and system manager %pen the manual drawer for help %pen the preferences drawer 8A$%&4 control panel9 $un +finder to locale files on mounted volumes -ycle screens -ycle windows Toggle selected window si(e

)*1 Right menu

A$%& doesn4t use conte t menus like #indows or "inu . &o you won4t get the familiar conte t menu over an ob!ect by selecting it with the right mouse key. "ike it was in Amiga%&, you will get the active program4s option menu while you4re pressing it. Keep the $/B 8right mouse button9 pressed until you have selected the option you want, then release it. .n order to have something similar to a conte t menu, however, you can launch the Icontro% applet in $re's, and select $op.4p in the Type field.

)*A Icons an! 'i%es

.n A$%&, as like as in Amiga%&, not all the files have icons. This allows two levels of reading and keeps the windows noticeably cleaner. %n the other hand, this may lead to misinterpretations of directory contents. ;ou can view all files by selecting the Vie" B A%% 'i%es option on the in!o" menu of an!erer. ,se your right mouse button to to this.

)*A*) Detai%s an! Icon -ie"

.caros 3esktop can now list files in windows showing their details. Please notice, howerver, that this option has been recently introduced and it is still being worked on. &o you may encounter some issues using it. .f you need it to better handle files in copy/move/delete operations, we strongly suggest to use 3irectory%pus instead, which is already included in the distribution and easily accessible from Ami&tart.

)*A*, $re-ie" 'or image 'i%es

,nluckily %anderer still doesn4t support a Apreview viewB like many other operating systems, but .caros provides a workarund that can easily be used instead. Please have a look into the -ools drawer, and run the Thum&6ai%Gun script. .t will ask for a directory, and then will generate a ?@'pi el wide thumbnail for every image file already supported by datatypes, using ;annick 2rb4s dt.thumb command.

)*0 AmiStart
AmiStart is .caros 3esktop4 toolbar and docking application 8well, every serious operating system has one9.

#enu C

!ock section

C task %ist Dgray E hi!!en( orange E acti-eF

C c%ock

Ami&tart behaves somehow like #indows4 task bar. There is a starting menu placed on the left, a dock section to /uick launch your favorite applications, a task list on the right and a digital clock on the right. The dock section is really easy to customi(e. To delete a icon, !ust grab it with the left mouse button and drag it out of the bar. .f you want to add a new application, !ust open its drawer, grab it with the left mouse button and drop it in the dock section of the bar 8to get rid of the label, right click on the icon and set the Ahide stringB option active9. That4s all.

)*0*) >hanges 'rom o%!er re%eases

&tarting from .caros 3esktop D.D.), Ami&tart4s look4n4feel has changed a lot. #e have done our best to make it waste the least space possible on the workbench screen, to help small'screens and resolutions users. +owever, it should still be %K also on bigger screens, like DE)* D)** pi el )@B ones. -alendar and analog clock have been removed, since they weren4t mandatory. .f you wish them back, !ust right click on the bar, choose open shape %ayer and then "i!gets. .nside the Ami&tart drawer you4ll find a backup file for old default sm.prefs file, in the case you don4t like the new look and you wish to restore the old one.

)*0*, >ompact an! @u%% pro'i%es

&tarting from .caros 3esktop D.).N, there are two different profiles available for Ami&tart1 <,"" and -%/PA-T. <ull allows the traditional behavior of the bar, with the program menu and the task manager. .t4s more complete, but it needs a very long time to load from optical devices like 373 and from slower ,&B pendrives. <or this reason, there is now also the -ompact profile, which loads faster, doesn4t need caching of programs icon files, and behaves !ust like a dock applauncher. ;ou can choose your profile using the Ser-ices program in $re's.

)*G #y orkspace

&tarting from .caros 3esktop D.).N, a new special drawer appears on the workbench screen, /y#orkspace. 2ven if we don4t like operating systems suggesting people where they should keep all their documents O pardon, pro!ects: M'9 ' it4s now common use for any mainstream %& to provide such a place, so we did it as

well. /y#orkspace is created during installation of .caros onto the hard drive, in the same partition where the user has decided to put 4e tras4 and eventually the 43evelopment4 dirs. .f you4ve installed e tras in A$%&1, you4ll find /y#orkspace in A$%&1. .f you did it in #ork1, then you4ll spot /y#orkspace in #ork1, and so on. <or your convenience, an alias of the same drawer has been put on the desktop.

)*G*) #y orkspace in DVD.Li-e mo!e

#hen you4re running .caros 3esktop in "ive'373 mode, without installation, you4ll have /y#orkspace temporarily created in $A/1, so don4t forget that you4ll loose everything you save there at the ne t startup, if you don4t copy it on a writable media, such as a ,&B pendrive. .f you start .caros in "ive'373 mode on a system where it4s already installed, you4ll find two /y#orkspace directories. That4s normal.

)*G*, #y orkspace su&.!irectories an! assign

/y#orkspace includes five sub'directories1 3ocuments, 3ownloads, /usic, Pictures and 7ideos. #hat they should contain, is really easy to understand. .t4s important to know they are accessible from the shell, and from any application file reLuester, with these assigns1 /y#orkspace1 3ocuments1 3owloads1 /usic1 Pictures1 7ideos1 this way, saving your pro!ects into the right drawer should be matter of a few mouse/keyboard clicks.

Getting ri! o' !up%icate #y orkspacesH

.f you reinstall .caros without formatting the partitions, it may happen that /y#orkspace4s alias on the desktop might be shown twice. .n order to get rid of this, you should !ust edit the .backdrop file in the root of the partition you don4t want /y#orkspace to be linked at. <or instance, if you have the /y#orkspace line both in A$%&1.backdrop and #ork1.backdrop, you may cut away the unwanted one. /oreover, if you see the /y#orkspace line written twice in a .backdrop file, !ust cut off one. The additional icon on the desktop will immediately disappear. To edit the file, !ust cast a command like1 edit work:.backdrop

2. Creating the perfect Icaros Machine

/any people like A$%& and would love to dedicate a whole machine to it. That4s obviously a good idea, since it is the best way to en!oy the .caros e perience too. +owever, choosing the right hardware might be a little problematic, since there are millions of possible configurations out there, and relatively a few supported by A$%& drivers. &o, here is a little step'by'step guide to setup a complete .caros /achine to run the "ive: 7ersion on.

,*) The processor

A$%& doesn4t need great horsepower, and can4t take advantage from a multicore architecture. .t can run in a ?@'bit environment, but there is no need for a Luad'core processor to speed things up. <reLuency and front'side bus speeds are the only two variables to consider. Although A$%& can run on low'power and low' end processors, like old N**'D*** /+( ones, you probably would like to choose a faster one. 5ew A$%& users often think that, since their old Amiga N** or D)** could run the workbench and many apps with a 6 /+( processor, A$%& should do this as well on older, )** /+( P-s. That4s a common mistake. 5owadays applications need more horsepower and can4t definitely run in a obsolete machine. .f your old @** /+( K?' .. computer didn4t play 3iv> movies full screen and full framerate under #indows, it will absolutely not do that with A$%&. There are also many aspects of A$%& that are more advanced than bare Amiga%& =.D1 the decoration system, for instance, needs a good processor to run smoothly. Browsing the web with %#B reLuires power, so1 the more, the better. Then, don4t forget classic Amiga%& dealt with standardised hardware platfors, while A$%& needs hardware abstraction layers 8which introduce overheads9 to target different configurations. To en!oy a good .caros e perience, please choose a D.?** /+( processor or a better one1 low'end Athlons and -elerons are perfect and absolutely affordable. Atoms are fine. And so on... #orking models are1 Inte%1 Pentium, Pentium .., Pentium ..., Pentium@, Pentium3, -ore, -ore) 3uo -ore) Quad, -ore i6'iN'i=, Atom and derivates A#D1 K?, K?'.., K?'..., Athlon, Athlon>P, Athlon?@, Athlon?@ >), Phenom, Phenom .. 3uron, -eleron and derivates

,*, The mother&oar!

Please pay attention when buying or recovering a motherboard for an A$%& computer. &ince A$%& "onIt support all the nice stuff already integrated unless you4re very lucky, you have always to keep a AB'planB available, in the shape of a e pansion slot. Please buy/use a embedded product %5"; if you already K5%# that A$%& supports all the stuff in it. To avoid problems, your motherboard must include1

P&/) ports for &oth keyboard and mouse at least D 2.32 port or &ATA preferably working in A.32 modeB by B.%& setting at least ) traditional P-. e pansion slots if embedded sound and network aren4t supported D ACP or P-. 2 press D? video card slot

P&/) ports are no more mandatory, since ,&B mice and keyboards can work. The included Poseidon ,&B stack supports both %+-. and ,+-. controllers for D.D connections and 2+-. ones 8for ).*9 as well, but there is still the far and unlucky possibility that your ,&B controller isn4t supported or only partially supported 8for instance1 ,&B ).* peripherals work, D.D not. And so on9. &ATA support is progressing and many new controllers are supported over time. /ost modern B.%&es allow user to set the &ATA controller to be detected as a .32 one1 you can try this, but please try native A+-. mode before. .32 connectors are always supported, though. 8e care'u% i' youI-e a%rea!y insta%%e! another operating system on a SATA !ri-eH changing the SATA operation mo!e in 8IOS might stop that OS to &oot correct%y.

,*/ The !ri-es

;ou don4t need a terabyte hard drive for A$%& and it would give you more pains than advantages. A$%&4 best filesystem, &<&, can handle only partitions up to D)G CB. ;ou can obviously use larger drives, but you4ll have to manually split them into partitions of D)* CB each 8or less9. Anyway, a spare, cheap, @* CB or so 2.32 drive will be enough for the average A$%& use. ;ou can use either dvd players or burners, A$%& has also the option to burn them with <ryingPan, but due to limited &ATA support there is always the risk that you brand new &ATA device will not be seen by A$%&. ;ou can also use ,&B devices as well, but keep in mind there might be still some limitations.

,*/*) #ounting the har! !ri-e an! the DVD.RO#

Please pay attention to .32 cables. They must be G*'pin ones 8@*'pin work in limited P.% mode and maybe won4t work at all9, with master and slave terminations. %n a single .32 cable you can connect up to ) devices, and you4d probably prefer to use a single cable for both the hard drive and the 373'$%/. .n such case, you must "ire an! con'igure them correct%y( or AROS might not "ork. +ere4s how a cable looks like1

To run correctly, A$%& must be installed on master *, this means that you have to mount its hard drive as master to the first 8or the only9 2.32 connector. .f you4re planning to install other operating systems on the same drive, please install A$%& as the last one.

,*3 The -i!eo car!

Almost every video card will work on A$%& with the 72&A driver. 3on4t be fooled by the way some other operating systems use the 72&A modes1 A$%& does it better, allowing a good e perience with games, videos and so. A$%& graphic performances mostly depend on the central processor of your computer. ;ou can, however, get some )3 acceleration on many AT. and 5vidia cards, while =3 %penC" acceleration is provided on most 5vidia cards 8Ce<orce <> to Ce<orce CT)** series, and maybe some beyond9 thanks to the 5uveau/Callium )3 and =3 driver. #orking models are ATI1 $adeon, $adeon 6N**, GN**, E ** ACP series. )3 acceleration only. $adeon >=**, >?** P-. 2 press series. )3 acceleration only. 6u-eau !ri-er1 5vidia Ce<orce ), = and @ 8)3 only9. Ce<orce <>, Ce<orce ?, Ce<orce 6, Ce<orce G, Ce<orce E, Ce<orce CT/CT> )**'@**'N**, .%5 8)3 and =3 O depending on models9 Inte% !ri-er1 C/AEN*, C/A=D** 8)3 and =3 O depending on models9 ,nluckily, most integrated and newer CP,s aren4t supported yet. 6ote1 starting from .caros 3esktop D.).N, the old 5vidia driver has been deprecated and removed.

A&out AG$ an! $>I Express per'ormancesH

P-. 2 press cards work better on A$%&. ACP bus need drivers to work properly on A$%&, so some motherboards are fully supported and some not, with different performance results. .f your ACP Ce<orce card gives slow framerates, problem can be that your ACP controller is not supported 8yet9. .f you can choose between an ACP or P-. 2 press motherboard/video card combination, we strongly suggest to select the P-. 2 press one.

,*: Soun!
/any A-E6 and +3Audio integrated codecs already work with A$%&, but there are much many others that won4t. The best thing you can do about this is checking in A+. prefs1 if your A-E6 or +3 Audio sound controller is not listed under the available peripherals, well, you have to use a P-. e pansion slot to add a discrete sound card. The &est option is a Soun!8%aster Li-e! :*) or Au!igy soun! car! 'rom >reati-e La&s( using the E#4)J;) soun! chip. There are some models, like the A7alueB ones, that don4t use it but a cheaper solution. They don4t work. &omeone suggest to place the &B card in the first P-. slot under the video one.

,*1 6et"ork
Any P-. network card based on $T" G*)E, 2therlink =, A/3 Pcnet =), 5vidia 5force, intel Pro'D**, $T" G*D=E, $T" GD?G/E 8also GDD* and others9, &i& E**, 7ia $hine will work. ,sing one of those is the only way to get networking run on A$%&. 5o modems supported yet. 6ote1 if you have a T$"GD?G or compatible network card, and issues with the T$T"GD?G driver, please choose the $T"GD?E instead:

,*A Virtua% #achines

&tarting from .caros D.).@, the 72 version of the distribution has been dismissed. This should not be a issue at all, since .caros 3esktop already supports most virtuali(ation technologies, like 7mware and 7irtualBo . #hen creating a new virtual machine for .caros, please keep this in mind1 $A/1 please allow 6?G /B of $A/ or more on most powerful configurations. ;ou may run test environments in ND) /B, but 6?G /B or D CB are far better for everyday4s use. &ound1 .caros D.=.) introduced sound support for 7/ware emulated 2nsoniL Audio 2&D=6D chipset. &o choose &BD)G driver under 7/ware, but please don4t use +.<. modes. %n other 7T like 7irtualBo and Qemu, choose the A-E6 adapter for your virtual sound board. 5etwork1 choose a APcnet'P-. .. 85AT9B virtual network adapter under 7irtualBo to allow networking. Both 7mware emulated Pcnet and eD*** are working. 7ideo1 even though a preliminary driver for 7mware &7CA e ists, all 7T should run in 72&A mode only. 7/ware already provides support for widescreen resolutions, but maybe it will be a good idea to limit the &7CA resolution si(e to the one of your monitor. %therwise, .caros will start in a giant )N?* D?** resolution and you4ll have to scroll the workbench window every time. 7irtualBo doesn4t provide widescreen resolutions in its B.%& by default, but it can be configured to do so using some line'command options. Please refer to 7irtualBo communities and documentation for more information. +ard drive1 please consider ) CB for the system partition only, and a minimum of other @ CB for the work one. Pendrives1 ,&B peripherals work very well under 7/ware, but some issues were reported using 7irtualBo . &etting up ,&B ports to work with Qemu is really tricky, but it works.

3. Installation
.nstallation on the hard drive is recommended in order to use A$%& programs and save their files. +owever, A$%& is still alpha code and can be dangerous for any operating system already installed on your hard drive. Keep in mind that Icaros Desktop hea-i%y !iscourages insta%%ation on pro!uction machines "ith important !ata on them1 please, use only an old drive, possibly clean and with no other partitions.

D. %pen .caros 3esktop "ive -3'$%/ by double clicking on its workbench icon, then open your Too%s drawer ). "aunch Insta%%AROS and read carefully what4s written in the first page. Keep it in mind and don4t shout at us if something goes wrong1 you were warned. -lick on procee!.

=. The first time you install .caros 3esktop, please kill anything already present on your hard drive by selecting the "ipe !isk option. .f you can4t, or you4re installing .caros 3esktop using the remaining free space of your hard drive, !ust select On%y use 'ree space. @. -heck the Speci'y SiKe option on the right. N. &elect an amount of mega&ytes for your A$%& system partition. .t will be formatted with &<& filesystem. This is mandatory in order to boot this version of A$%& and to run all applications. &ome of them have problems using other filesystems. Civing a si(e limit will activate the other options.

The correct siKeH

Bare A$%& system needs less than D** /B to install. +owever .caros 3esktop comes with a discrete amount of software, which reLuire a minimum of )@** /B. Please select a reasonably thin system partition 8@ CB O G CB9, and a reasonably large work one 8G CB O D)* CB9. Keep in mind that current%y AROS S@S 'i%esystem canIt han!%e partitions &igger than ),0 G8. &o, don4t create a larger one. .f you have a bigger hard drive, !ust create a large system partition too. %r add new partitions with HDToo%8ox.

Virtua% DVD !ri-e re7uisitesH

A$%& allows storing .&% files and mounting them everywhere in the filesystem, but .caros 3esktop prefers to use a fi ed location for them, which is now &;&13isk.mages directory. This drawer is create! or c%eane! at every startup, so you will have to repeat the mounting procedure every time you reset A$%&. &ince you need the space to store the temporary .&% file in the 3isk.mages directory, you need to reserve at least E** /B of free space for -3s and at least @.6* CB for 373s. .n a nutshell, you nee! to create at %east a : G8 system partition to a%%o" mounting o' DVD ISOs. ?. ,nless there are good motivations not to do so 8for instance, your hard drive is !ust too small or youPre installing on a ,&B pendrive O in this case please read the apposite section of this chapter9, please create a #ork Partition by checking the >reate option in the right bottom corner. 6. Qust leave the Speci'y SiKe unchecked to let A$%& use all the available space for the work partition. This will be formatted with the faster &<& filesystem. G. #hen asked, re&oot. .t will take !ust a bunch of seconds. E. $epeat points D and ), however, this time select 4se existing AROS partitions and click on proceed. D*. To install a complete .caros 3esktop system, !ust check all the options above. By unchecking Extra and De-e%opment software, you4ll get a bare and barely usable A$%& installation. ;ou can also choose to have either a graphic or a te t boot menu.

6ote a&out De-e%opmentH

3evelopment software is really important for many A$%& tasks, like compression and decompression in tar.g( format, and some applications that need e ecutables from the 3evelopment1bin directory won4t work if 3evelopment has not been installed. To prevent this, i' the user has chosen not to insta%% De-e%opment stu''( Icaros Desktop "i%% create a SYS:Development/bin !irectory "ith the nee!e! 'i%es* $%ease !onIt !e%ete it. DD. This is rea%%y important1 if you4re planning to take advantage of &<&4 ma!or speed and improvements, you4ll need to install Extras an! De-e%oper @i%es. .n order to make this happen, leave the A-hoose languageB option unchecked and !ust check a%% the other options here1

D). .f you selected to choose language options at step D*, please select your keyboard layout in the left side of this window. This can be made later, by launching the Input panel in $re's. D=. .f you selected to choose language options at step D*, please select your default language. The first one appearing in the right side will be used by an!erer and other applications. The second one will be used only if catalogs for the default language aren4t available. "anguage will fall back to 2nglish if no other language is available.This can be selected also later, by opening the Loca%e panel of the $re's drawer.

D@. <iles will be copied. Please wait until the installation program has completed its task. .t may take from few minutes to ) hours, depending on your hardware. #hen finished, !ust remove .caros 3esktop cd' rom and reset your P-, to boot A$%& from the hard drive.

I#$ORTA6T!
.caros 3esktop includes many many little files that will slowdown installation. ,nluckily, packing them would mean the inability to run 4em live straight from 373. Please, be patient, it4s a kwnown issue and we can4t do anything.

/*) Insta%%ing Icaros Desktop on a 4S8 pen!ri-e

&tarting from .caros 3esktop D.).), A$%& can be installed on a ,&B pendrive. The procedure may be tricky, but it works. <irst of all, we must be aware of the fact that A$%& canPt be installed on a <AT partition, so your target pendrive must be formatted using the &<& filesystem. This will destroy any data on the e isting partition, so please be careful here. #e can, though, create a small <AT partition on the same ,&B pendrive to preserve #indows and "inu compatibility 8they canPt read &<&9, and allow file sharing between the two worlds. .caros <AT support has slightly improved from release D.).), so we can now transfer files from and to <AT partitions at a reliable speed, and with good e pectations of success. A goo! pen!ri-e 'or Icaros is at %east 3 G8 &ig. This will allow the whole .caros environment to be installed on the pendrive, and keeping about D CB of free space on the &<& partition, and ) CB of <AT partition for the reasons e plained above. ;ou can choose to avoid the <AT partition, but this will make your pendrive only usable by A$%&. /oreover, any time youPll plug your .caros pendrive in a #indows machine, you will be prompted to format it1 please pay attention not to do so.

/*)*) "hat you nee!

To follow this procedure, you4ll need a standard ,&B pendrive of the correct si(e1 D CB or more for the .caros 3esktop "ight installation @ CB or more for the .caros 3esktop "ive: .nstallation ...And a #indows computer to clean pendrive partitions, or a tool to do that on other operating systems.

/*)*, $repare your pen!ri-e

Almost all ,&B pendrives are sold already formatted, with a single <AT partition or with a hidden partition with security programs for #indows. To ensure the ma imum degree of compatibility, you should choose a value ,&B stick without all those nice features, and with a single partition only. The second partition may be difficult to remove and might create issues with A$%&. .n this case, please delete all partitions with g$arte! or any other tool like this. Remem&erH once this has &een !one( you "onLt &e a&%e to ro%% &ack. .f youPre using a #indows >P or later P-, you should be able to use the diskpart utility under the 3%& Prompt. 3iskpart is really handy and fast, but pay attention to what you do1 you may destroy valuable data forever, if you target the wrong drive: "ocating the right pendrive is easy. Qust right click on your computerPs icon on the desktop and choose the 0anage option. ;ou will be sent to the Administrati#e -ools panel.

-hoose )isk 0anagement. ;ou will find this option in the &torage folder or somewhere in the neighborhood, depending on your #indows version. "ocate your pendrive and write down the drive number, as shown in the following picture1

This time our pendrive is listed as A3isk DB. ADB is the information we absolutely need in the ne t step. DonLt c%ose the !isk management "in!o", but open the command prompt. ;ou need a shell with administrative rights, so if you arenPt logged as administrator, please log off your #indows session and log in with an administrator account, then go further. %n 7ista and #indows 6, you also need either to turn temporarily off ,A- 8,ser Account -ontrol9 or run an elevated shell by entering cm! in the search field of your start menu, and press >tr%<Shi't<Enter instead of 2nter only. 5ow enter the !iskpart command. ;ou will get a prompt like this1 C:\Users\Administrator>diskpart Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.76 Cop!ri"#t $C% 1&&&'( ) Microsoft Corporation. *n comp+ter: ,-.'/1/01/23&U4 enter the %ist !isk command to look at drives again1 D-56PA78> 9ist disk Disk ::: '''''''' Disk Disk 1 5tat+s ''''''''''''' *n9ine *n9ine 5i;e ''''''' 4 <1 1&1= M1 0ree ''''''' 1 1 D!n ''' <pt '''

as you may notice, you wonPt get the usual drive letters here. ThatPs why we suggest to look at disk management first. 5ow that we are sure our pendrive is Adisk DB, enter the se%ect !isk ) command1 D-56PA78> se9ect disk 1 Disk 1 is now t#e se9ected disk. ..and delete any partition8s9 on it with the clean command. D-56PA78> c9ean DiskPart s+cceeded in c9eanin" t#e disk.

arning!
This "i%% !estroy any !ata on the pen!ri-e( an! you "onIt ha-e them &ack*

/*)*/ Setting up the @AT partition

.f you want to e change data with other operating system, you may want to create a <AT partition on the pendrive. This <AT partition must be created 5%#, because sometimes #indows has problems creating a second partition after a AunknownB e isting one. %nce you have created the <AT partition, you can go on with the A$%& installation. Co back to the )isk 0anagement window and right click on the now'grayed'out area on the right1

The 6e" simp%e -o%ume "iKar! will appear. %ther versions of #indows might ask to initiali(e the drive1 in this case, do that. Qust remember to create a <AT partition enough large to keep your data, but also enough small to leave at least D.D or D.) CB of free space for A$%&.

Assign any drive letter you like, it doesnPt absolutely matters, and click 52>T. 5ow we have to choose the right filesystem. #indows allow formatting partitions with three options1 5T&-, <AT and <AT=). 5T<& is only for big drives, and A$%& canPt access it yet. &o please donPt use it. <AT and <AT=) are both %K, but in or!er to get the maximum !egree o' compati&i%ity "ith AROS( an! &eing sure your @AT partition "i%% &e correct%y !etecte!( p%ease choose @AT* <ormat the partition but, to be sure, please untick the perform /uick format option.

After a few seconds, you will notice your pendrive will look like this in the 3isk /anagement window1

This means you are now ready to install A$%& on the A,nallocatedB space on the right. ;ou can now turn off #indows and boot your computer using the .caros D.).) update 373 8or any ne t point release of .caros 3esktop, obviously9.

6oteH
;ou can also use a virtual machine like Vm"are or Virtua%8ox to perform these actions. This will come in handy if your computer canPt boot from the A$%& 373 for any reason. Qust mount the .&% and the pendrive as they were both physical devices on a real computer, and youPll be %K as well 8this manual has been written using a real pendrive connected to a Vm"are Ser-er virtual machine, for instance9.

/*)*3 Insta%%ing AROS on the pen!ri-e

Boot your computer using the Icaros up!ate DVD )*,*, or later point release of .caros 3esktop "ive, and plug your pendrive. ;ouPll get a workbench screen similar to this one1

$un .nstallA$%& using the icon on the desktop. Please notice your <AT partition should be visible on the desktop too. .nstallation on the pendrive wonPt be so different from the usual one. ;ou !ust need to correctly follow these steps1

D. #hen partitioning, choose the 4S8 option instead of .32/&ATA at the type voice1

!o 6OT create the "ork partition( Must use a SI6GLE S@S $ARTITIO6 O6LN: .f you have problem, try changing * to D in the A,nitB option on the middle'right of this window. ). reboot when prompted to do so. Plug the pendrive again if needed. $un .nstallA$%& again and choose to use the e tisting A$%& partitions. .f you have also a .32 drive connected to your computer, you might like to be sure youPre targeting the right drive. To do so, click temporarily on the only use free space or wipe disk option, choose ,&B in the -ype gadget and choose &se existing A1OS partitions again. Proceed. =. when asked for what to install, add the 3evelopment stuff as well. ;es, itPs important to do it:

@. AGAI6H DO 6OT >REATE THE OR; $ARTITIO6: ,sing a second partition on the pendrive might not work and, anyway, it will prevent you from installing A$%& on a hard drive using your ,&B pendrive as boot'live'drive.

N. Proceed. -hoose either the graphic or the te t'only C$,B menu for your pendrive. #ait for all the files to be copied. ?. .f you4d like to use the ,&B drive like a installation -3, copy also the 4adstuff4 drawer from the 373 to the pendrive.

4. First boot (Icaros Desktop LI !" onl#$

&tarting from .caros 3esktop D.).?, the initial boot menu has changed a lot, with a few but self'e plained options.

+ere is a more detailed e planation of our boot options1

3*J*) Icaros Desktop Dnati-e graphicsF

&tarting with .caros 3esktop D.).?, the distribution provides the classic A$%&/Amiga%& way of handling graphic drivers. A new A/onitorsB drawer has been placed in 327&1, so you can choose what driver to start. .f drivers included can4t support your graphic card, however, .caros will fall back to a D?'color ?@* @G* resolution, making it very ugly and hard to work with. .n this case, choose a 72&A resolution instead. .caros 3esktop provides these drivers by default1

6-i!ia 6ou-eau graphics

This is a port of an open source 5vidia cards driver from the Callium =3 and 5ouveau teams, supporting both )3 and =3 graphics acceleration on different families of 5vidia Ce<orce cards. Please remember that development of this driver and of its port are still heavily work in progress, so support for different cards

will increase over time. .caros D.).= provides )3 acceleration via this driver for Ce<orce cards from the old Ce<orce ) family to the latest Ce<orce CT> )** series 8no tests have been made on the newest <ermi series, but maybe they can work as well9, while =3 acceleration for %penC" games and applications is supported on Ce<orce <> through Ce<orce E series cards 8and maybe more9. 6OTE1 this driver provides also screen'dragging feature.

Ra!eon ,D Graphics
-hoose this one if you have a supported AT. $adeon card. A$%& driver supports all ACP $adeon cards from the first one to the EG** series. P-. 2 press support is limited to >=**, >NN* and >?** models. .f you notices glitches or dirt while moving windows contents, please replace the official radeon.hidd file you4ll find in Dri-ersH with the one in the Storage drawer.

Inte% G#A graphics

This is the driver for most .ntel C/A E** series chipsets. .t will support most current motherboards with integrated .CP chipsets from .ntel, but mainly C/A E@N and EN* series. %lder and newer implementations might not be supported by this drive, so youPll have to try the 72&A modes instead. This driver also provides screen'dragging feature.

V#"are -irtua% -i!eo car! !ri-er

A old, )3'only driver for video card emulated by 7/ware is also provided by A$%& developers, but we strongly recommend 7/ware users to choose a 72&A mode instead.

3*J*, VESA mo!es

A$%& 72&A modes are ama(ingly fast. 3on4t be fooled by other operating systems4 bulk 72&A support1 under A$%& 72&A modes, you4ll get about the same e perience you4ll have with native drivers, with some minor differences, the biggest one being the inability to open secondary screens of different resolution than the one you must choose at startup. And, obviously, you can4t change this resolution once the system has loaded. 72&A modes have slightly improved in the last months. #e can now choose any resolution supported by your system B.%&. <or this reason, A$%& will check what is the best 72&A resolution supported by your monitor and your B.%&, and then will choose it to boot A$%&. This automatism, however, might not work on every card/motherboard produce weird results 8for instance, opening a )N?* D?** screen on some 7/ware versions...9, we kept a Alegacy resolutionsB like D*)@ 6?G and at =) bit 8true colour9 palette 8millions of colours9, you can edit at boot'time 8and after9 as e plained in the following chapters. 6OTE1 this driver provides also screen'dragging feature.

3*J*/ Detecting supporte! VESA reso%utions

To list supported 72&A resolutions of your system, !ust press > at the boot menu and enter the -&ein'o command. /aybe you4ll get a long list and you won4t be able to read it. Anyway, you should read at least some lines like1

!ust look at the resolution si(e parts, like AD)G* G** =)B. These are actually the screen si(es you can use, providing that your monitor supports them. To return to the main menu list, press ES>.

3*J*3 4se o' a 'ixe!( !i''erent VESA reso%ution

5ow that you have understood what 72&A resolutions are supported 8see chapter @.*.)9, you can boot A$%& in a resolution other than D*)@ 6?G and D)G* D*)@. This can be e tremely useful in 7/ware. <or instance, to boot A$%& in a D)G* G** screen, !ust highlight any 72&A boot option...

...and press E. ;ou will enter edit mode for this grub line.

/ove the cursor using the right arrow key in the position above, immediately after AvesaR=)bitB, and delete A=)bitB using the backspace button N times. 5ow enter only the screen si(e, without any reference to the palette. ;ou can4t choose colour depth, so, for now, !ust enter ),0Jx0JJ, this way1

and !onIt press Enter, !ust press >tr%<? instead, and A$%& will start booting to the desired resolution. +ere is a list of some interesting values you can give to the vesa setting1
1%bit 32bit 1,24-.%/-32 1,24-.%/-1% 0000-MMMM &se the highest !'( resolution )ith %**3% colours (high colour$ &se the highest !'( resolution )ith 1% +illions colours (true colour$ &se the legac# 1,24-.%/-32 +ode D)F &se the legac# 1,24-.%/-1% +ode D)F &se the 0000 pi-els large and MMMM pi-els high resolution D,F at the best palette a1ailable

0otes2 D)F can be also 13Jx30J, 0JJx1JJ and ),0Jx)J,3. Palette depth can be e plicitly chosen only for these ones. D,F must be supported by your B.%& 7CA e tensions. Please refer to chapter @.*.@ to get a list of supported one.

Out o' range+

;ou can also choose screen refresh rate. This will be usfeul to stop your monitor getting out of sync when booting A$%& in 72&A modes. ;ou !ust have to add S6N to your favourite resolution. <or instance, to force the driver running at 6N+(, you may edit the line this way1 72&ARD*)@ 6?G =)OA: for compatibility reasons, .caros defaults to a ?*+( refresh rate, which should be good for most nowadays "-3 panels. But users running .caros on a old -$T display will prefer a higher refresh rate, in order to keep their eyes rela ed.

3*J*: Icaros Desktop Dsa'e !e&ug mo!e "ith 4S8 kerne% supportF
&afe mode allow booting A$%& with enhanced compatibility settings. They might be slower, and they will slowdown A$%& access to files, but at least they will run. Please notice that in &afe /ode there is also a debugger enables1 A$%& developers are trying to spot all the issues and fi them, but to do so they need your help and your bug reports. 3ebugger messages are automatically sent to memory, and you will be able to read them with a tool called Bifteck. ;ou can run it from a shell and drive the debug log to a file, and then send it to the A$%& bug tracker.

I' Icaros !oesnIt &oot correct%y

Please try loading it !isa&%ing D#A. +ighlight the Crub option you prefer and press E, move the cursor over A-A2 .bit and replace it either with A-A2nodma or A-A2nopci. Press >tr%<? to continue booting. .f one among the two works for you, follow the ne t chapter to learn how to modify Crub4s menu file, and make these settings permanent. 6ote1 disabling 3/A will reduce considerably A$%& speed when accessing drives 8like from N /B/sec to about 6N* KB/sec9. &ince .caros updates don4t modify the Crub.cfg file to keep your changes, please try booting with ATAR=)bit when a new release of .caros 3esktop is installed. A$%&4 ata.device is one of the key components which is under heavier reworks by the development team.

3*J*1 Icaros Desktop D6et&oosPi#ica G#AGJJ )J,3x1JJF*

here is it+

&tarting from release D.), .caros 3esktop tried to help people with netbooks and nettops, who might have problems using graphics at the native resolution of the screen. .t was a hack that has been hidden in .caros D.).?1 to have it back, please edit the boot/grub/gurb.cfg file and remove all the T characters at the beginning of the corresponding lines.

3*J*A Setting up a !i''erent VESA reso%ution 'or Inte% GxJ graphic chips
.f you own a i/ica or another computer with .ntel graphic chips, and your resolution is not supported yet by the .ntel native driver, !ust try this1 re'enable the grub option as e plained in chpater @.*.?, move the selection line at the grub menu on the 5etbook/i/ica option at the ne t startup, and press 2. This will allow users to modify the associated booting options line. "ook at the second line1 &1>reso9+tion = 1 (4 6

EDNresolution is a module that get installed by the first line 8insmod EDNresolution9 and its duty is !ust changing in $A/ some settings of .ntel4s 7CA bios. .n this case, we are instructing the 7CA bios that mode =* 8first number9 has si(e D*)@ ?**. But if we4d like, for instance, to have D)G* G** or DE)* D)**, we should !ust change the lines to &1>reso9+tion = 1() )

&1>reso9+tion =

1&(

1(

and so on. Please notice that the hack might not work alone. #e might need to set the resolution also in the multiboot line as e plained before, changing vesaR=)bit to vesaRD)G* G** or so. .n some cases, the first value =* might not be good. That4s not a problem at all. Qust enter Crub)4s interactive mode by pressing - at the boot menu, and enter these commands > insmod 915resolution > 915resolution -l ;ou4ll get a list of supported modes. Qust find the nearest one to the desired resolution, and change that one. <ollow chapter @.D and afterwards to learn how to keep these settings fi ed every time.

3*J*0 @ixing highest reso%ution on V#"are

"eaving .caros choose the best resolution for 7/ware may lead to oversi(ed screens, that you will have to manually scroll to the opposite end. ;ou may decide to edit the C$,B option line, or to change behavior of the virtual machine, by setting a fi ed screen si(e for the monitor. This si(e should match the resolution of your screen. <or instance, if you4re running .caros on 7/ware running on top of a D=?? 6?G display notebook, you should go for a D=?? 6?G emulated screen. To do that, edit your virtual machine settings clicking twice on the )isplay voice, and then imposing a D=?? 6?G pi el wide'monitor in the field Specify monitor settings, as shown in the screenshot below1

from now on, best'fit 72&A modes will automatically choose the D=?? 6?G resolution.

3*J*G A!!ing "i!escreen reso%utions to Virtua%8ox

7irtualBo will automatically use @1= resolutions only, such as D*)@ 6?G or D?** D)**, but there is a way to add widescreen resolutions too. .t reLuires pokeing with the command line shell of your host operating system, though. The following procedure is good for #indows version of 7irtualBo , but can be easily adapted to "inu and /ac%& > versions as well D. %pen 7irtualBo and %ook at your -irtua% machine name for Icaros )esktop. .n this e ample will simply be 0.caros 3esktop0, but yours obviously depends on the name you gave to it. ). $un a comman! prompt in the insta%%ation path o' Virtua%8ox , or change directory with the 4cd4

command. The most simple way to do this is right'clicking on the 7irtualBo icon on the desktop or the Start 0enu, selecting "roperties and then 3ind -arget. %nce you have reached the installation path in 'xplorer, go up to parent, press shi't < right c%ick on the 7irtualBo drawer and choose Open command prompt here. The command to go straight to default 7irtualBo installation path, anyway, is1 cd ?C:\pro"ram fi9es\orac9e\2irt+a91o@? =. in the command prompt, run this command1 21o@Mana"e sete@tradata ?vm name? ?C+stom2ideoMode1? ?XXXX@YYYY@ZZ? where 0#m name0 is the name you got at point D, 4444 and 5555 are the hori(ontal and vertical si(es of your custom resolution, then 66 is the depth of your palette 8D? or =) for thousands and millions of colors9. 3or instance, our case*notebook has a ! 77x879 panel, so we'd like to ha#e a custom widescreen resolution of ! 77x879x . running on :irtual;ox. Icaros is running in a #irtual machine called < .caros 3esktop<. Our command would be= VBoxManage setextradata "Icaros Desktop" "CustomVideoMode1" "1366x 6!x3"" @. %nce done, launch 7irtualBo and, at C$,B menu, move the selection bar to the standard :'SA best*fit resolution 8the default selection if you haven4t changed it9 and press E Dsee chapter 3*J*3F N. modify 0:'SA2 .bit0 to the same resolution you4ve set at point T=. .n our case, for instance, we have to change it to 0:'SA2! 77x879x .0. 6OTE1 the resolution you choose there must match the one you4ve set at pointT=. ?. press >tr%<? to continue booting, and en!oy .caros in whatever resolution you4d prefer to watch it: 6. To make this change permament, edit the >boot>grub>grub.cfg file according to your needs, following instructions at the ne t chapter.

3*) #o!i'ying the initia% menu Dyou nee! to insta%% Icaros Desktop to har! !ri-eF 8e'ore starting
The grub.cfg file in ?boot?grub may be write'protected. &o you4ll have to un*protect it first, or you won4t be able to save your modifications. ,nluckily, the editor won4t advice you loudly about this. To un' protect the file, !ust open a new shell 8rAros< 9 and type in these commands1 sys:boot/grub protect grub.cfg RWED ADD

&crolling that long list of resolutions every time is boring, rightU #ell, there4s a speedy way to get rid of it. Qust open the editor

and load the grub.cfg file located in the /boot/grub directory. ;ou4ll find something like this1 : 8imeo+t for men+ set timeo+tA> : 5et defa+9t boot entr! as 2B5A <f@ C 1 (4@76)'16bpp set defa+9tA= followed by groups of lines like these1 men+entr! ?A7*5 wit# 2B5A <f@ C 1 (4@76)'=(bpp? D seria9 ''speedA&6 m+9tiboot EbootEaros'pc'i=)6."; vesaA1 (4@76)@=( A8AA=(bit F well, every one of these will manage an entry of the early startup menu. Qust delete all the lines you don4t need, and you4re almost done. Qust notice the first four lines, that you must keep1 the timeout value indicates the number of seconds to show the startup menu, while the default one select the option which will be chosen automatically. Please notice that the count begins with *, not with D, so to choose the second entry, you have to insert D here and not ). And so on. <or e ample, a script like this1 : 8imeo+t for men+ set timeo+tA)

: 5et defa+9t boot entr! as 2B5A <f@ C 1 (4@76)'16bpp set defa+9tA1 if font EbootE"r+bE+nifont.pff G t#en insmod EbootE"r+bEvbe.mod ..........etc............ back"ro+ndHima"e EbootE"r+bEsp9as#.pn" fi men+entr! ?A7*5 wit# .2-D-A <f@? D seria9 ''speedA&6 m+9tiboot EbootEaros'pc'i=)6."; "f@A#idd."f@.nv 9ibAD7-2B75:nvidia.#idd A8AA=(bit F men+entr! ?A7*5 wit# A8- <f@? D seria9 ''speedA&6 m+9tiboot EbootEaros'pc'i=)6."; "f@A7adeonDriver 9ibAD7-2B75:radeon.#idd A8AA=(bit F men+entr! ?A7*5 wit# 2M,are52<A <f@? D seria9 ''speedA&6 m+9tiboot EbootEaros'pc'i=)6."; "f@A#idd."f@.vmwaresv"a 9ibAvmwaresv"a.#idd A8AA=(bit F will keep only = choices, the hardware accelerated ones. "et4s assume we wish to boot A$%& using always the 5vidia Ce<orce driver. #e should !ust set the default value to D.

Ena&%ing 4S8
&tarting from .caros 3esktop D.), ,&B support has been automatically turned on.

3*, >ustomiKing AROS

All A$%& settings can be accessed and changed from the Prefs drawer in A$%&1. /ost of options are self' e planatory, so we won4t talk about them. &ome other allow deep system customi(ation, and would need too space for a Luick guide like this. .caros 3esktop comes with QoVo $alha4s A$%& manuals1 please read them for any further information. #e will cover here only the common operations.

3*,*) >hanging screen reso%ution

&creen resolution and colour depth can be accessed only when using AT. or 5vidia accelerated drivers 8by selecting one of them during boot9. Qust launch Screen#o!e to change them.

3*,*, >hanging !esktop appearance

;ou can change desktop and windows wallpaper, icon spacing and behaviour, label length, font and effects by launching the #anderer applet.

The Ceneral tab allow switching between the 'nhanced 8default9 #anderer behaviour and the @lassic one. The former opens new drawers in the same window, the latter in a new one, e actly as Amiga%& =. . Please notice the an!erer Screen Tit%e option in the bottom of the page1 it changes the default message on the top title bar of the screen 8normally %anderer Apc graphics mem Apf other mem9.

5ow the Too%&ar ta&1

The Too%&ar Ena&%e! selector decides whether showing the path bar in every window or not. 2liminating it, you get more 0old Amiga feeling0. ;ou will prefer enabling it again.

The Appearance tab is maybe the most interesting one. -lick on the #orkbench and 3rawer buttons 8the right cyan and orange sLuares in the upper shot9 to change wallpaper. ;ou can select either any datatype' supported image or a colour effect. ;ou4ll find some nice wallpapers starting from the &;&1Prefs/Presets/Patterns directory. 5ow, let4s click on Advanced. A more comple options window will appear1 H The 3raw /ode option will select how the background image will fit in the screen

H The following options will decide how icons appear and font/dimensions of labels under them. -hange the /a "abel line length if you see truncated file names on your volumes.

3*/ Ena&%ing soun!

&ound will be normally disabled by default. %nly few audio chipsets are currently supported. 7/ware one is not one of them, unluckily. But maybe your computer4s one is. Qust look at the beginning of this guide for a handsome list of supported chipsets. Anyway, to enable sound you4ll need the AHI preference applet in $re's. A+. is the de'facto AmigaOS and deri#ed standard audio layer. /ore informations about this are available at http1//arp).berlios.de/ahi.

Please select your hardware in the left top window and associate it to your 0usic unit and &nit B, !, . and devices. .f your hardware is supported, you4ll be allowed to change options in the right side of the window. Play a test sound to check whether your card is working or not. &ome Luite old A-E6 chipsets are working, but the best option for hearing sound in A$%& is using a cheap and easy'to'spot >reati-e Soun!8%aster Li-e! card. A$%& fully supports the 2/,D*KD audio processor. -lick on &A72 to make your choice permanent.

6OTEH p%ease &e sure to ha-e ena&%e! your car! 'or ALL the units a-ai%a&%e in AHI( &y cic%ing on the top.%e't cyc%e ga!get in the #o!e settings pane%( or you may sti%% encounter mute app%ications( "hen they shou%! correct%y p%ay soun!*

Sti%% no soun! in app%ications+

&ome .caros 3esktop "ive: applications might be still set up without sound. This is an heritage of the virtual machine version, where sound is totally unavailable. Please remove all 7.-2 entries in Ami&tart with 08no sound90 in their name and replace them with the normal ones. ;ou4ll need to edit also configuration scripts for &cumm7/ 8Beneath a &teel &ky9 and maybe for other applications too.

Soun! in V#"are
&ound in 7/ware is now available. Please choose a &oundBlaster P-.D)G sound card in A+. prefs for units *'= and /usic, and save. Dri-ers inc%u!e! in Icaros Desktop )*/*, may ha-e issues p%aying soun! in HI.@I mo!es( so p%ease choose the norma% ones.

3*3 >on'iguring the net"ork

5etworking on A$%& is now easy like in any other operating system, at least if you have a supported network or wireless card. A$%& recently got 3+-P support and a new preferecne tool called 5etwork, however there4s no autoprobe yet for network cards and, as usual, there is still a limited number of 5.drivers available. "uckily, those drivers cover a wide range of network cards and it4s e tremely easy to find one.

DH>$ is s%o"!
#e have noticed some network slowdowns when using 3+-P 8automatic configuration9. #hile we are addressing the origin of the issue, you have better using a fi ed .P address and enter a fi ed domain name server 835&9 using the /anual .P /ode. Please ask your provider for a reliable 35& address. .n order to configure the network, you need to have .caros 3esktop "ive: already installed on your hard drive 8configuration files must be saved and system rebooted9. #hen ready, !ust launch 6et"ork from the $re's drawer.

3*3*) Automatic I$ a!!ress

.caros 3esktop can be set up to look for an automatic .P address. +owever, it can4t detect your network card and needs your help to find a reliable driver. Please open the 5etwork prefs panel, look at the right of the 3evice field and press the down arrow icon. -hoose a driver that fits your needs. ;ou must know what is your network card, and it must be already supported by A$%&. On i#ica systems( p%ease choose the rt%0)1G*!e-ice !ri-er.

3*3*, #anua% con'iguration

-onfiguring the network by hand might be useful for people that ofter transfer files from other machines using ;A<&. This will give A$%& a fi ed .P address that won4t change every time it starts, depending on other machines4 ones. I$1 Qust edit as you wish, using addresses according to your local network. <or instance, if your router is DE).D?G.*.D**, and your computers are DE).D?G.*.D* and DE).D?G.*.DD, you should give A$%& another .P address starting with the first three numbers 8DE).D?G.*.9 and another number, different from D**, D* and DD1 )* might be a good choice. &o correct it to DE).D?G.*.)*. 6etmask1 a good value for netmask is )NN.)NN.)NN.*, which practically means only the last group of digits will change, between computers, in your "A5. .f you need something different, please look at any networking how'to over the .nternet. Place also your router/server address 8DE).D?G.*.D**9 in the Gate line 8remove DE).D?G.).D and place DE).D?G.*.D**9. ;ou need to know this information. D6S) an! D6S,1 you have two fields available for domain server address. 3omain server allow you to use human'readable ,$"s like 4www.icarosdesktop.org4 and they will transform them in their real .P address transparently. /any routers provide 35& service as well, so you can place your gate4s address also in the 435&D4 field, while the second 35& server should be the one provided by your .&P. .f you don4t know its address, you can use the ones provided by the %pen35&.com site, which are ,J0*1A*,,,*,,, and ,J0*1A*,,J*,,J* Please look at www.opendns.com for any update about them. 3*3*, 4sing DH>$ 3+-P makes network configuration easier. .t will look the local network for a 3+-P server and will assign a .P address to A$%&. "aunch 6et"ork and select Get a!!ress &y DH>$. ;ou4re ready to surf the web, chat with .$-, read your emails and so on.

hat is my a!!ress+ .n order to show your current .P address, you need to use the i'con'ig .a command. 2ither press rAros< or rAros<E and enter i'con'ig .a. An output like this will be shown1

!ust look at the last line, after inet1 this is your current .P address. .f you don4t see any ethJH entry, it means your network is not completely up and running.

3*3*/ 4sing 'i%e sharing an! DH>$ together

.caros 3esktop D.*.) removed a former limitation which prevented using file sharing 8;A<& server9 together with automatic .P 83+-P9 networking. This doesn4t happen anyomore, since from version D.*.) ;A<& adapts itself to use the current .P address, whatever it is. .f you plan to make intensive use of file sharing, though, you4ve maybe better to setup a /anual configured network, since it might be difficult to keep track of A$%& .P address if it changes every time.

3*: >on'iguring Icaros Desktop ser-ices

.caros 3esktop comes with the network already configured, and with some services that make life easier for the user, but at the e pense of some clock cycles. .f you don4t need some of them, you can easily gain some speed 8even at boot'up9 disabling them. Qust run the Ser-ices preference tool in prefs and click O;1

&tarting from .caros 3esktop D.=, the old &ervices script has been replaced by a proper tool. ;ou can recall a bubble hint by placing the pointer over the Luestion marks, and wait for a few seconds.

3*:*) Ena&%ingP!isa&%ing Opa7ue

%paLue is the commodity which enables dragging of whole windows over the screen, with their decoration and contents. ;ou can disable it, showing only borders while moving windows, but this will AblockB temporarily their update.

3*:*, Ena&%ingP!isa&%ing @;ey DWindows-like shortcutsF

#indows, but now also most other operating systems, use AltWtab to browse between open applications. .caros 3esktop does this too with @;ey, but since some users might find it Anot enough amiganB, they can

disable it. Please notice that this option also enables some advanced shortcuts for calling &cout, the file finder and so on 8see the first chapters of this guide for a better e planation9.

3*:*/ Ena&%ingP!isa&%ing @T$ ser-er D'i%e sharingF

There are many ways to transfer files from/to A$%&. The best one is .caros 3esktop4 embedded <TP server 8NA@S9, which runs automatically when network is enabled and 3+-P is disabled. .f you don4t need it, however, you can turn it off. Turning on file sharing will enable networking too.

3*:*3 Ena&%ingP!isa&%ing AmiStart

AmiStart is the nice dock/toolbar sitting on the bottom of the screen. .t helps .caros 3esktop being a user' friendly operating system, since it is really fine for browsing files and e ecuting applications. +owever, Ami&tart seldom create glitches and little compatibility issues with other applications 8for e ample, DirectoryOpus and $oor$D@9, so maybe you4d like to disable it. ,sers of .caros 3esktop using old hardware will prefer disabling Ami&tart, since it needs memory to run, and can slowdown the A$%& e perience while opening its menus.

3*:*: >hanging AmiStart &eha-ior

.f you4ve choosen to enable AmiStart, you will be prompted also to choose its behavior. &ee chapter D.G for more information about this.

3*:*1 Ena&%ing V6> Ser-er Dremote a!minF

&tarting from .caros 3esktop D.).N, you can enable a V6> ser-er to remotely control your .caros computer. 2nabling this, your workbench can be e ported to another computer of the local network and displayed in a window, using a 75- client of your choice. #e suggest using TightV6> on #indows.

3*:*A Ena&%ing Ami8ri!ge AmigaQ Virtua% #achine

.caros 3esktop can now run the Qanus',A2 2mulator in coherency mode at startup 8see chapter 6 of this guide9. This way, people that heavily use old Amiga%& /?GK applications can now run them immediately after bootstrap.

arning!
Qanus',A2 has improved a lot in the latest months, but please notice it is not perfect yet. &ome times it may crash, and can make the whole system unstable. #e suggest to keep this option disabled unless you are practically using .caros as an AmigaX replacement system.

3*1 >on'iguring 4S8 periphera%s

Icaros )esktop D.D.= and afterwards come with the $osei!on 4S8 stack already included and enabled at startup. &tarting from .caros 3esktop D.D.N, Poseidon is now loaded as $%/ module and can be used to boot .caros straight from a ,&B 373 drive. .n order to configure ,&B peripherals, you need to open the Trident application from the Prefs drawer in your &ystem partition.

3*1*) some theory &ehin! 4S8 contro%%ers

Tri!ent is a powerful tool, which allows direct control of your ,&B hardware. But in order to use it, you4ve better understand that while the use of ,&B devices is generally easy and plug4n4play, the technology behind them is a little more complicated. <or instance, the ,&B ports on your motherboard might not be bound to a single controller, a piece of hardware which enable your computer to access the ports. .n modern P-s, there are generally two or more ,&B controllers1 ' A full speed ,&B D.D controller, being it a ,+-. or a %+-. one ' A hi speed ,&B ).* controller, being a 2+-. one in future, something will change with the introduction of the new ,&B =.* standard, but for now we will concentrate only on e isting and most popular solutions. #hat you should understand, is that Poseidon need to load all your controllers before it can use the devices bound to them. .f you can use your mouse but you can4t see any ,&B disk connected to your system, you have likely loaded only the %+-./,+-. controller in Tri!ent, but not the 2+-. one. 7ice'versa, if your ,&B drives are mounted but you can4t still use your ,&B mice or keyboards, only the 2+-. one has been loaded. +ere is how to fi this.

3*1*, A!!ing ne" contro%%ers to Tri!ent

.caros 3esktop should detect and load all ,&B controllers available at startup. .f a port shouldnPt work, however, the most probable thig is that its controller has not been loaded by Trident. To add a new controller, look for the >ontro%%ers option in the left side menu of Tri!ent1

5ow please follow these steps1

1. click on the 6E button 2. select pcius&*!e-ice 3. ensure the new controller is highlighted and enter A)B 8without commas9 in the 4nit field 1

4. press the On%ine button.

At this point, a new ,&B controller should be added to the list1

and you will start mounting the connected peripherals. 5ow click the SAVE button in the right bottom of

Trident, and repeat a%% these operations unti% you 'in! contro%%ers that can be activated. %ther controllers must be added like A)B, A=B and so on, in the 4nit field.

3*1*/ A!!ing an! remo-ing !e-ices

%nce your controllers are set up, you can mount and dismount ,&B peripherals like on any other operating system. The first time you plug a unknown device, you4ll get a $osei!on pop up like this1

As you can see, a multifunction printer from C" has been correctly detected and bound to the proper class. #hen you4re done adding peripherals, your 3evice list in Tri!ent might look like this1

-licking on the Settings button you can access any deeper option. Please notice that $osei!on allow a very advanced management of ,&B devices, maybe much more detailed than the one you are accustomed to in your Aevery dayB operating system. Touching these options, though, might be dangerous and only e pert people should do that.

#hen you remove a peripheral for the first time, you4ll get a Poseidon pop up too.

I#$ORTA6TH De-ices are DETE>TED( not 4SED!

Please remember that Poseidon is only a ,&B stack, not a collection of drivers for your devices. .ts !ob is !ust scanning your ,&B hardware, detecting it, and report to the system what is connected to the P-. $eading that a A-anon&can ".32 scanner has been detectedB unluckily doesn4t mean that A$%& can use it to capture pictures. .n order to do that, specific drivers and software must be developed first. <or now, A$%& can use only pendrives, keyboards, mice and some other similar human controllers. %ther Areal lifeB ,&B applications like networking, audio and video capturing are still missing or only partly implemented. #e4re still working on them, please be patient or helpful...

hereIs my 4S8 !ri-e icon+

A$%&4 ,&B mass storage support has still some flaws. Altough every ,&B pendrive should be correctly detected and recogni(ed, not every partition on them can be mounted. #e are still ironing out the issue, but in the meanwhile at least a good part of them should already work. Qust try some other pendrive, and you4ll surely find one with a <AT partition you can use. &peed issues with <AT partitions have been fi ed since version D.).), however please prefer <AT partitions over <AT=) ones, for the best compatibility.

*. Icaros and other co+puter on the local net)ork

:*) Sharing 'i%es o-er the %oca% net"ork using NA@S
.n order to activate file sharing with the host operating system 8.caros 3esktop9 and/or the other computers among the network 8.caros 3esktop "ive:9 you need A$%& networking manually configured, with a 'ixe! or automatic I$ a!!ress and a supporte! net"ork car!. Please read chapter @.@ for details. %nce the network has been setup with -onfig.P, a thin file server called ;A<& will be launched at startup, when booting A$%&, and will allow access to a particular directory called P,B1 8and located in e tras1pub/9. ;ou only need to configure a <TP client on any other computer connected to the network 8or the host operating system for 7/ware users9 and you4re done. Please use these parameters1 @T$ site1 your A1OS machine I" address Login1 anonymous $ass"or!1 write anything here @T$ typeH acti-e Please notice the last parameter. .t4s important you set the <TP site as active, or you won4t be able to access your A$%& machine. /ost sites and ftp client use default passive mode. +ere4s an e ample configuration of <ileYilla1

hat is my a!!ress+ .n order to show your current .P address, you need to use the i'con'ig .a command. 2ither press rAros< or rAros<E and enter i'con'ig .a. .f you don4t see any ethJH entry, it means your network is not completely up and running.

:*, A!ministrate remote computers using rDesktop an! ArosV6>

.caros 3esktop provides two ways to administrate other computers over a network. #indows P-s can be remotely controlled using A$%&4 rDesktop client, while hosts using other operating system can be controlled using the ArosV6> client. Pre'reLuisites are that #indows machines must have $emote -ontrol enabled, and other operating systems a 75- server running, and adeLuately configured, on the host. Please refer to #indows, "inu and /ac%& > documentation to learn how to meet those pre'reLuisites. ;ou also need to know the current .P address of the machine you4d like to control.

:*/ >ontro% your Icaros $> using another computer o-er the net"ork
.caros 3esktop now provides a 75- server that can run on the background, enabling remote administration of your workbench over the local area network. 75- server can start automatically, and can be enabled using the Ser-ices script in the $re's drawer. ;ou need a 75- client running to reach .caros4 desktop. Please notice that not everything can be remotely displayed. ;ou can4t run /2&A applications over the network, for instance, and in order to gain decent speeds over the internet might be necessary to reduce video Luality to the minimum available.

%. 3eeping Icaros Desktop updated

(Icaros Desktop +ust be alread# installed on 4D$
;ou can update your .caros 3esktop installation with update packs and patches. #hen you4re ready, launch Li-e4p!ater from the Icaros Desktop B #y So't"are B System menu of Ami&tart 8or in the -ools?+&") drawer of .caros 3esktop system partition9.

Li-e4p!ater window will appear. -hoose your source for new files or press -ancel to abort. Be aware that your e isting A$%& files will be overwritten. &o, if you aren4t sure, before updating make a backup of your important data or, if you4re using a virtual machine, create a snapshot of your current state1 it will help you reverting to the old situation if something goes wrong.

1*J*) @i%e
3ownload a .caros ,pdate file and place it wherever you like on your system, then choose this option and locate it with the following file reLuester. .t will be installed and your .caros version will change accordingly.

1*J*, Internet
"ive,pdater can download the latest .caros update pack, check for its compatibility and then update your files. ;ou need ArosT-P running and a reliable .nternet connection. 6o more >D.RO#s+ %lder updating system based on .&%s and burned -3'$%/s is now officially deprecated. <rom now on, only update packs and patches will be compatible with "ive,pdater. This decision has been taken to prevent wrong installations by users. 5ightly Builds are not compatible anymore, because many applications and files have been moved from their original locations to O in our opinion O better places. .nstalling file for a nightly over a .caros installation would duplicate files and make the system behave unpredictably.

Issues "ith Li-e4p!ater an! 4S8 pen!ri-esPcar!s

#e spotted a little but nasty bug in "ive,pdater provided with .caros 3esktop D.=.D, which will prevent updating to D.=.) on ,&B cards and pendrives. #e encourage users of .caros 3esktop D.=.D to install .caros D.=.) from the ground up. An easy way to fi the issue, however, has been published on the .caros 3esktop website, at this web address1 http=??#mwaros.blogspot.com?.B!!?BD?its*/uestion*of*commas.html

.. 5unning (+iga6'7 soft)are inside Icaros Desktop

.caros 3esktop allows Amiga users to keep their habits. %r, at least, it gives a fair support to old Amiga ?GK applications using the 9anus.4ae emu%ator. This technology is called Ami8ri!ge, which consists in a series of scripts that allow integrating workbench applications in the A$%& system, and also running games and demos straight from their A3< files.

A*) Setting up the AmigaOSQ en-ironment

AmiBridge needs original Amiga $%/ images and a working installation of Amiga%& ).*W. The best option to get them is buying Amiga <orever from -loanto, www.amigaforever.com, which provides all the needed files. 3ue to A< popularity among Amiga users and former'users, AmiBridge offers direct support for it. Anyway, you4ll find this drawer in 2 tras1AmiBridge1

AmigaOS system 'i%es must &e copie! in the System !ra"er 8which has a disk icon with a boing ball over it9 App%ication 'i%es must &e copie! in the ork !ra"er 8with a similar icon9 Amiga RO# images must &e p%ace! in the RromS !ra"er.

.f you4re using Amiga <orever )**?, )**G or )**E, everything is far easier, since all needed files will be automatically copied from the A< -3'$%/ in the right position. .t is possible that older/newer releases of Amiga <orever behave differently. .n this case, you only need to copy the right files in the right drawers manually. 3on4t forget to keep the A7iewB option in #anderer set to AAll filesB. "ook in the AmigaApp drawer and launch the Setup.Ami&ri!ge icon. .f you have Amiga <orever, mount its -3 and press Amiga@ore-er.

This will copy all needed rom, system and application files automatically. .t will also add to Amiga%&4 user startup files the necessary lines to run seamless integration of Amiga applications.

-lick on %K, the Amiga ork&ench and the Screen#o!e preference panel will load automatically. Nou must choose the exact same reso%ution you are using 'or your AROS !esktop .

;ou may notice a double pointer here. 3on4t worry, it4s not a problem1 !ust remember the right one is the biggest, and scroll down the )isplay 0ode option list to match your current A$%& resolution. ,se a uaeg'x voice. Then click on &A72. 9anus.4AE window si(e will change accordingly. /ove 9anus.4AE window until it full fits the screen, right click on the %orkbench screen and choose ;ackdrop to disable it1

5ow click on the right reduction gadget for Amiga %orkbench window...

...and resi(e it in order to keep all the system volumes visible1

Snapshot current window position and setting1

5ow please Luit Qanus and wait for a couple of seconds. .f you look into the 'xtras=Ami;ridge?AmigaApps directory 8or in the relative AmiStart menu9, you4ll notice two new icons, ork&ench and Screen#o!e1

ork&ench will launch che Amiga virtual machine, while Screen#o!e will allow you running the Amiga%& screen mode preference panel whenever you change the A$%& screen resolution. .n fact, if you4ll try running 9anus.4AE in coherency mode with a different resolution, Qanus will refuse to run in coherency mode. To fi this, !ust launch the Screen#o!e program from this .caros link. 5ow launch the ork&ench icon. Qust forget the %orkbench window and start launching applications straight from an!erer. They will run in their own windows1

#hen Qanus is running, your Amiga%& applications will be barely distinguishable from the native ones, you can even add your Amiga applications to Ami&tart4s dock section. Ami8ri!ge at startup 5ormally, you are supposed to run the AmigaX environment only when needed. +owever, if you heavily use /?GK applications, you can run the whole AmiBridge thing at startup. Please see chapter @.N of this guide to learn about the 4&ervices4 preference program. .f the AAmiBridge Amiga 7/B option is ticked, .caros will run Amiga #orkbench at startup 8and it will hide the #orkbench window a few seconds after9, making /?GK applications immediately available after boot has completed.

A*, >on'iguring the AmigaOS en-ironment

The Amiga 2nvironment within AmiBridge is common to all your applications. &o maybe you4d like to configure it as you like. #e4d suggest, however, to choose these settings1

A*,*) The AmigaOS si!e

.nside AmiBridge, you4ll see four volumes mounted1

AmigaOS1 is the Amiga%& operating system volume ork1 is the Amiga%& applications volume ArosSNS1 is the A$%& operating system volume, read'only Aros@S1 is the A$%& extras= path #y orkspace1 a shared place for your documents, videos, music and downloads

2 cept for the A$%& one, you4ll get read and write access to all other drives. &o you can load your A$%&

documents inside Amiga%& applications, and save your pro!ects in any A$%& drawer, allowing easy e change of data. <or security reasons, A$%& system volume has been set read only 8this can be changed by the user, however9. -lipboard is now shared, so you can cut/copy/paste te t between A$%& and Amiga%& applications.

A*/ Running Amiga games an! !emos un!er Icaros Desktop

%ld Amiga games and coding demos are often available in A3< floppy'image files. &tarting from .caros 3esktop D.), Ami8ri!ge adds direct support for them. ;ou can add A3< files to AmigaApps menu as well, either running the new A33IA3<'CA/2 script from Ami&tart4s #y So't"are B AmigaApps menu, or by double clicking on the icon of an A3< file. 5otice1 differently from Amiga%& programs, A3< files may reside anywhere on the hard drive. To keep thing clean, however, we warmly suggest you to place A3< files in extras=Ami;ridge?adf, which has been created for this purpose from day one. Cames and demos don4t run in Qanus',A2, but on a older version of 2',A2 which supports also sound. 2very time you add a new A3< disk to AmiBridge, two files will be created in the AmigaApps directory1 a launch script, with a custom name you4ll be prompted for, and a setting 8.urc9 one with the same name of the A3< file, but with the .urc e tension added automatically. <or instance, if you decide to add to AmiBridge the file Amyamigadisk.adfB, and you enter Amy gameB as game/demo name, at the end of the procedure you4ll spot two new files in AmigaApps1 ' Amy gameB the launch script for 2',A2 ' Amyamiga!isk*a!'*urcB the 2',A2 configuration file for that A3< disk A different .urc file is used for every A3< added, so people can easily tweak emulator settings for that A3< file only.

A*/*) A!!ing a sing%e !isk gameP!emo

;ou can add A3< files to AmigaApps menu as well, either running the new ADD2AD@.GA#E script from Ami&tart4s #y So't"are B AmigaApps menu, or by double clicking on the icon of an A3< file. .n the former case, a file reLuester will ask you to locate the A3< file. "et4s add, for instance, Buggy Boy...

-hoose the A;uggy ;oy $!D99($elite(.adfB file. 2nter the clean name of the game this way1

And now choose the right Amiga model to run it. .t seems Buggy Boy ran best on an Amiga :JJ<.

The ne t reLuester will warn you that many Amiga games and demos were distributed on more than a single floppy disk. Buggy Boy, however, came only on a single disk. <or this reason, click on STO$.

%nce you have done this, a final reLuester will ask you what to do, either running game or manually editing configuration file for 2',A2.

&ince we haven4t any particular need now, !ust click on R46 and 2n!oy:

A*/*, A!!ing a mu%tip%e !isks gameP!emo

;ou can use multiple A3< files if necessary, !ust start adding a game using the 'irst !isk 8as e plained before9, either running the new ADD2AD@.GA#E script from Ami&tart4s #y So't"are B AmigaApps menu, or by double clicking on the icon of the 'irst !isk4s A3< file. <or instance, if A3efender of the -rownB came on these two A3< files1 ' A)efender*of*the*crownEdisk!of..adfB ' A)efender*of*the*crownEdisk.of..adfB Please add the first one following the same steps you learned in chapter 6.N.D. +owever, this time, when looking at this reLuester1

-lick on >ontinue instead. ;ou will be prompted for the second 8third and fourth9 drive until you click on -ancel. But for now, enter the second disk4s A3<. Then press >ance% ne t time. Ami8ri!ge supports up to 3 !isks. Cames coming on more than @ disks should be installed somehow on a hard drive file to load. ;ou may also use Qanus',A2 C,. to switch disks.

A*/*/ E!iting con'iguration 'i%es D!e'au%t ones too!F

;ou can Afine tuneB emulation settings for Qanus',A2 editing every .urc file in the AmigaApps directory as you wish. To access them, however, you should enable all file view using the #indow menu of #anderer. ;ou may get a similar output1

Qust double click on any .urc file 8they all have the te t icon9 and they will be opened with Qano 2ditor. ;ou can also use Qanus',A2 C,. to do so. Qust load the configuration file you need to edit, change the options as you wish, and save it again. Please refer to the Qanus',A2 documentation in the Ami;ridge?emulator directory to learn how to use ,A2 settings. .f you don4t want to change every .urc file, and you4d like to add the same default personal setting to any new .urc file created, !ust open the Ami;ridge?emulator directory and edit the A:JJ*urc( A:JJp%us*urc and A),JJ*urc files. But please create a backup copy of them before.

0* App%ications you shou%! kno" a&out

%k, we have learnt how to use .caros 3esktop tools and functions. 5ow it4s time to discover what you can actually 3% with .caros 3esktop4 collection of software. There are many many things you can do.

0*) 8ro"sing the "e& "ith Origin

e& 8ro"ser

%rigin #eb Browser 8%#B9 is a powerful and modern web browser based on webkit, already available on many other platforms. Although this is the really first release, this browser is already reliable and provides support for many .nternet sites such as Coogle 3ocs, Coogle 2arth, Cmail, <acebook and every Amiga community portal, like amigaworld.net, amiga.org and many others. A$%& %#B supports also tab' browsing1 to open a new tab, !ust right click on the tab title and select tabs J open new tab. This release of %#B uses a conte t menu driven C,., slightly different from other Amiga/A$%& applications. %n .caros 3esktop, you can open offline +T/" files by double clicking on their icons. But with a limitation1 you can open only one per time. To open another, please close %#B first. &orry for this issue, we4re working on this...

0*, >hat "ith AiRcOs an!

ookie>hat

.caros 3esktop provides two .$- client. #ookie-hat is the most powerful one, with many customi(ation options, colorful output window and support for most of m.$- and Am.$- features. There is a channel dedicated to A$%& use and development on the freedone network. #ookie-hat is already configured to !oin this channel, all you have to do is choose a username.

0*/ Stay in touch "ith NA#

;A/ is .caros 3esktop4 default mail client 8and it is the most advanced one for A$%&, too9. .t allows multiple accounts and offers most of the more up'to'date features of any mail client on other operating systems.

6oteH
&imple/ail is still beta software, so please don4t use it for your most important correspondence. <or your safety, please use the option to keep a copy of messages on the server for some days.

0*3 Rea! your $D@ 'i%es "ith Aros$D@

ArosP3< is .caros 3esktop4 embedded P3< reader. P3< files can be opened both by double clicking on their icons, and by formerly runnung ArosP3< from Ami&tart or #anderer.

0*: $%ay many SDL games an! some great c%assics

The -ommodore AmigaZ had been a great gaming platform. .caros 3esktop offers a wide choice of games you can rela with1 the shareware episodes of Doom and 5uake, a big selection of &3" library'based games like 8%o& ars, ?.$enguin and others, the great 1e#olution Software classic adventure 8eneath a Stee% Sky and many, many others. And, if it is not enough, .caros 3esktop also provides emulators for all G' bit -ommodore computers, for the &ony Play&tationX and other e citing gaming platforms of the gold age.

.f you have problems running games and emulators with the AT. or 5vidia driver, please boot .caros 3esktop in 72&A mode, with a =) bit palette.

0*1 $aint your pictures "ith Luna$aint

"unaPaint has probably been the first real A$%&'based application. .t4s a paint and photo'editing software using layers and nowadays features, with a simple menu and tool'based graphic interface. "oad and edit your images or create a new one from scratch1 "unaPaint will help your creativity in a funny way.

0*A De-e%op your app%ications "ith G>> an! #urks! IDE

.caros 3esktop provides a full development chain based on gcc version @.@.) which includes all needed tools to build A$%& itself and its applications. /urks:.32 is a graphic integrated development environment which should speed up your work. Along with gcc, you can find also languages 8python, perl, lua, Portabl2, false, bwbasic9, libraries 8&3", mesa, libidl, etc9 and many, many e amples.

0*G $%ay your 'a-ourite music( DVD an! -i!eos "ith #p%ayer
#p%ayer is a full'feature multimedia player allowing an ama(ing media e perience even in un'accelerated 72&A modes. .t plays the most popular audio and video file formats, including /P=, 3iv>, >vi3 and many, many, many others. .t can play 373s as well.

0*)J Locate your 'rien!s o' #essenger "ith Sa&re#S6

.caros 3esktop provides a /&5 client called Sa&re#S6. There are currently some minor issues regarding file transfers and using of international characters. They will be fi ed soon.

0*)) #ake your o"n music "ith Hi-e%yTracker( #i%kyTracker an! $roTrekkr
Trackers were Amiga4s best known music tools, allowing people to use sampled instruments in a easy and reliable way. Hi-e%yTracker( $rotrekkr an! #i%kyTracker are available on many platforms, and on A$%& as well.