Thanks to Michal Schulz i can show the first Version of Broadway X on efika MX. Michal did the ARM port of AROS and helped me now with the "lx" command.

The background /idea of this project is to use AROS (www.aros.org) on top of Linux.

AROS is an fast and efficient and really lightweight OS. A minimal Version of this OS including an optional desktop fits on 2 HD-floppies.

If you compare the speed of navigating through folders in AROS (running on top of Linux) to the navigation in Ubuntu you can't deny that there is a big advantage of using AROS as kind of Linux-desktop.

The more we can do inside AROS the better the performance... : )
Linux helps with the huge amount of applications.

Since i don't need a big WM even Linux apps will have better performance as a result of more free RAM.. less swapping and less background tasks.

With tint2 as taskbar and launcher (do a right click on it to launch debian-menu) you will have more than enough ways to run Linux and AROS apps fluidly.

Next steps are:
1. Port AROS hosted to ARMhf (brings between 35-200% more performance)
2. Use debian-armhf with 3D support as base
This will speed up a lot. Also the boot-time can be reduced by factor 2 easely.

I need a bit help with the Boot.script than I can provide an Image : )
I have internally shared a backup from my HD.

I have uploaded an video of this version booting and running some apps...
I had the cam in the right hand (less shaky) but i also struggled with a mouse in my left hand : )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYbhvnpM5JY

King of chaos on the desk! (Actually it is an organizing system called "Haufen" / Pile-system : ) )

That is great stuff Pascal. All Deine harte Arbeit und Zielstrebigkeit haben sich ausgezahlt ! And, a big word of thanks to Michal as well. We would like very much for this effort to continue.

Sincerely,
R&B :)

Michal is the guru : )
I love the Efika MX and can't wait for the successors!

If we make the transition to ARMhf I would say "Bingo!".
ARM rocks.

I watched the video, it looks pretty interesting, even if I don't have an Amiga background (I started with an 2.5Mhz IBM XT :-) ). Do you have a download location, so I could test in on my EFIKA MX?

@phoenixkonsole

Very very intresting project :)

You can try the old version of Broadway hosted.
The one shown in the video (with lx command) will end up in an sd-image soon.

http://www.aros-broadway.de/downloads/index.html

Any news on the SD image? I checked back to this URL every few days, but no luck...

Hi,

i am reading this after a short abstinence...
Had to learn for my study and wrote an examination today, also i had alot to do because of my main job. Give me 1-2 days to calm down and than i will finish it.

AEROS MX beta2(for EFIKA MX) PLEASE READ INSTRUCTIONS!!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9349609/aerosmxb2.tar.gz

Put the "AEROS" folder to /usr/share (the folder! Not just what it is inside the folder ; ) )
The "openbox" and "tint2" folder must be copied to /etc/xdg -> PLEASE do this "AFTER" getting openbox and tint2 via apt-get! So you overwrite the standard configuration.

Step 1
use your favorite package-manager to install openbox and than tint2
Step2
Copy the stuff like written above
Step3
From now on you can switch in GDM (the Ubuntu Loginmanager) to an openbox session. If you choose "openbox-session" you will straight boot into AROS Broadway X beta 2.

From now on you can run any linux app from AROS shell via "lx" -> Example typing "lx xterm" will launch xterm.
Tint2 is the minimalistic dock which will be launched via wbstartup.
If you click "right" on it you get access to the debian menu. At least you should. If not, you need to run "sudo aptitude install menu", this will install it.

Broadway X consumes a very minimum of RAM... i reduced it because there is basicall no "real" AROS app for ARM available.

This is not AEROS... i will provide an bootable SD-image asap.

Suggestions:
Firefox is slow on Efika, use chromium-browser instead.
Nautilus is slower than thunar (AEROS will use thunar as filemanager)

Thanks for your progressive efforts. This is neat stuff. 8)

R&B :)

Could OOo4Kids be tested on this platform ?

I provide an armhf port on our unofficial Debian port. See my blog : http://eric.bachard.org/news

If it works, I could provide a recent version of OOoLight ( see http://wiki.ooolight.org), based on OpenOffice.org 3.2, but 40% lighter (no Java inside, and a lot of simplifications)

Thanks !

This would be really good but right now we have no armhf build of AROS ready.
I hope that Michal Schulz will try it.

we have it!

http://aros-exec.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=79840#forumpost79840