OK,

So, I want to start a bounty to get the Linux thing off the ground. As a non-dev, I don't feel that I am the best person to describe the requirements of the bounty. Also, does Aros support Direct Frame Buffer? Can we drop the X? I know that DFB does not have as many drivers as X but it certainly does have more than Aros currently.

so in general.

It should be as seemless as possiable.
Be installable to HD, using the avaliable tools in Aros.
Setting sould be changeable by using the existing Aros preffs apps.
Basicly as a user I would not really want to know that I am using Linux, it should be completly hidden.

Is this doable? Can someone flesh out the necessary specs for a bouty?

Now, thanks for the replies. Yes I know that there is that info on the Aros.org site. But if you follow aros for a while it really does give the impression of being a moving target. I understand that all versions are acceptable but really, is it practical? At this time, conectrating on one solution and getting it done might be the best course of action. Resourses are spread very, very thin. Aros is so close to being usable, a concentrated effort in one direction would be amazing. I know that very few people actually believe me but.. I know of at least 20-30 old Amiga users, that are quietly waiting for Aros. They don't post but would use it in a heartbeat. I don't really thing that the devs really realize that they have something here. Something that a number of people want. Will it have the user base of Windows or Linux. No. But it could get a large enough usebase to sustatin a niche OS. Amiga has alwas been a niche OS anyway so that is nothing new.

I realize that my post was somewhat heavy. But honestly from my view point. I read long threads where some great things are talked about. Doing the linux thing. Making aros compatible with Linux drivers.... then nothing, it just gets dropped... dissappears into thin air never to see the light of day. When you ask about these things, more times than not, you are greeted by silence.. And then the guess work begins.... Causing confusion and frustration...

I would pay for Aros as a desktop OS and want to do everything I can to see that happen. In my opinon using Linux as a base is a huge jumpstart. Is there anyone out there that knows linux and Aros enough to even take on this type of thing??

I am sorry if my post angered, offened, or upset anyone at all... Sometimes, some clean, straight clairfication goes a long, long way....

So, Ok... Lets do it... now. How are we going to go about it?? Lets not just let this one just drop into a black hole...

P.S. Things are bit tight for me right now but I will promise this. If someone can write up the requirements for a bouny. I will pledge $100.00 US dollars this month. With an additional $50.00 next month. I am serious guys. Be like Nike "just do it"

From the AROS Introduction page:

The goals of the AROS project is it to create an OS which:

1. Is as compatible as possible with AmigaOS 3.1.
2. Can be ported to different kinds of hardware architectures and processors, such as x86, PowerPC, Alpha, Sparc, HPPA and other.
3. Should be binary compatible on Amiga and source compatible on any other hardware.
4. Can run as a standalone version which boots directly from hard disk and as an emulation which opens a window on an existing OS to develop software and run Amiga and native applications at the same time.
5. Improves upon the functionality of AmigaOS.


That isn't enough for people? Seems to state the "direction" for AROS pretty well as far as I can tell.

I'm not sure, really, why do some of you guys even feel the need to decide or know which will be the final AROS route, as if all the others were to be temporary options... but the truth is, guys, none of them is temporary, all routes are welcome, so AROS will always be, unless something strange happens, for linux and for native and for BSD and for whatever other architecture/OS people feel like porting AROS to.

Asking which final platform AROS will support is like asking whether linux will eventually be just PPC or X86. Linux, or hosted in general, is simply another platform AROS runs on. What's the big deal, I really don't understand.

OK, so I read that mess on OSnews.com. While I don't think that OSnews was the case to put that post, it does raise some intereresting questions. Questions that I have had. So, what is the directions of Aros. Are the plans to try and go the OSX route and use Linux with an Aros layer on top? Or, going completly native? Do the devs even really care or want it to become a complete desktop os? These are valid questions. Ones that are usually never answered. Aros could gain a lot by doing the linux thing and lighten the workload of the few devs we have. Or, a completely natvie version would be cool also. While I don't write code, I am just a supporter. I feel that this isn't an outragous question. Really guys. Keeping silent on what direction Aros is going to take just causes tension and confusion. If native is the decission that has been made. OK, fine. Then we all know it will be many, may years before Aros can hit the desktop, if it ever makes it. As someone who has been an avid fan and even a suporter I will go out on a limb and say that we, the fans, have earned some ansewers. I know that this post is likely to make me not so popular overhere, but so be it. The silent treatment to questions that people don't seem to to want to answer is getting to be a bit too much. I will support either direction, even if it means Aros will never be my desktop os. But for crying out loud, would it hurt to have these questions answered?

Now for the real test. My money is that this post will go complelty ignored till it drops off.