Exciting times ahead :-)

Cheers,
Nigel.

My sincere salute for big effort to move to x64 making AROS most progressive AmigaOS. G5 and PA Semi and QUIRQs are all PPC64 but only under Linux Gunnar claims 080 is 64 bit but its unproven and unused.

I really like AXR idea, where Linux apps could get WB / ScalOS GUI. Thats fastest way to progress and a great shortcut. Problem is just how to make people use them, maybe its time to port some Amiga/AROS apps to Linux AXR

Anyway, I am not good with github, I mean downloading files from it so I would appriciate some WWW/FTP or files on Telegram.

I am willing to test whatever you say. If there is Windows hosted AROS x64 I would love to see that.
Is it SMP enabled?

My dream is stripped down LMDE Debian based MINT with MATE and ARX only,
that starts in AROS OR some blend like AEROS was. And x64 AROS with SMP, applications, docs, full distro.

On other hand is there anything that can be leeched and backported from ApolloOS to Abi11 AROS x64?

You read my mind. Just add x64 SMP FS-UAE, RunInUAE and rest of Amiga clones and OSs are dead and dudo

With recent release of 32-bit and 64-bit versions of AROS, I think it's high time to give update on developments ahead!

Just as a reminder, this was the current short term plan:

1) Upgrade ABIv0 fully to 20241102 codebase [DONE]
2) Synchronize ABIv0 and ABIv11 codebases to minimize differences [DONE]
3) Provide synchronized releases of ABIv11 and ABIv0 [DONE]

Delivering on point 3) closed the first major milestone of long term plan. ABIv0 has now reached feature parity with 64-bit version. Now the focus shifts to second major milestone - the migration to 64-bit this year.

So how will rest of the year look like? First of all I don't expect any major 32-bit or 64-bit release for remainder of the year. There will be lots of developments happening, but they all should be delivered in form of update packages. This means we will be incrementally adding features on top of stable bases and provide stability for users. I expect three development streams to be running in parallel:

1) Odyssey - the aim here is to get the browser updated to the level where modern online services can be used in stable and fast manner. This will allow substituting missing software for their online replacements during the migrations process.
2) Software - either via re-compilation or via emulator, missing functionalities will be added. The goal is not to have all the software from 32-bit working, but to have a least one software working good in each functionality category
3) Hardware - 64-bit system as it stands right now does not yet support parts of hardware that 32-bit system supports (for example NVidia cards). The aim here is to restore that support and hopefully add newer, easily available second hand hardware to our hardware base.

The overall goal I see for this year is to arrive at situation where 64-bit version has better usability than 32-bit version today - but I can't do this alone! Please continue porting software to 64-bit - it's been great so far seeing several community members stepping up and working on ports. Thank you! If you are on the other hand interested in driver and kernel development - just let me know - and I'll get you up to speed!

The long term horizon is now updated:

"With ABIv0 reaching feature parity, work on a longer horizon will focus on 64-bit version of AROS and on AxRuntime.

ABIv11 64-bit native will be fixed to provide the same level of hardware compatibility on recommended hardware as current ABIv0 32-bit. Furthermore, on software side, functionalities will be enabled by either re-compiling application or using 32-bit emulator where such process is not possible. On AxRuntime side, the goal will be to develop a working window manager (IntuitionWM) and Linux-native desktop, most likely in form of Scalos.

All this work will enable creation and maintenance of two development lines:

For people preferring native AROS we will have ability to use subset of the existing 32-bit software base on 64-bit AROS and a native 64-bit system working on recommended hardware, which then is an enabler for creation of 64-bit distributions that exceed current 32-bit distributions in user experience.

For people interested in AxRuntime route we will have a Linux-native desktop and ability to run subset of AROS ABIv0 programs (32-bit) as well as AROS ABIv11 programs (64-bit) and AxRuntime-recompiled programs (64-bit). This way existing distributions could be re-created using Linux as a base without loosing existing functionality for users."

Beautiful news about odyssey without setting aside the rest of the plan

With 3 months since last update, I think it's good to indicate where were are right now. Just as a reminder, the short term plan is based on three tracks.

1) Odyssey - the aim here is to get the browser updated to the level where modern online services can be used in stable and fast manner. This will allow substituting missing software for their online replacements during the migrations process.
2) Software - either via re-compilation or via emulator, missing functionalities will be added. The goal is not to have all the software from 32-bit working, but to have a least one software working good in each functionality category
3) Hardware - 64-bit system as it stands right now does not yet support parts of hardware that 32-bit system supports (for example NVidia cards). The aim here is to restore that support and hopefully add newer, easily available second hand hardware to our hardware base.

Update on 1) - We now have BETA version of Odyssey 3.0 updated to the same engine as Wayfarer 3.0. It allows using YouTube, Google Docs, Discord and many other sites we could not use a year ago. With Google Docs and Discord, Odyssey reached my first functionality goal
Update on 2) - It's been great to see people stepping up and re-compiling software. In total 26 software packages have been provided. Thanks go to @AMIGASYSTEM, @retrofaza, @Farox and @serk118uk
Update on 3) - We had a very important release of AROS Portable by @retrofaza. Using virtualization technology, everyone can now run AROS on their own modern PC from a pendrive. This nicely plugged hardware compatibility gap with newer hardware while we wait for enabling AROS natively on such hardware

Summer is generally a slower period with many of us enjoying outdoors rather then computer screen. The progress however have been good. Let's keep it up!

The long term horizon remains unchanged:

"With ABIv0 reaching feature parity, work on a longer horizon will focus on 64-bit version of AROS and on AxRuntime.

ABIv11 64-bit native will be fixed to provide the same level of hardware compatibility on recommended hardware as current ABIv0 32-bit. Furthermore, on software side, functionalities will be enabled by either re-compiling application or using 32-bit emulator where such process is not possible. On AxRuntime side, the goal will be to develop a working window manager (IntuitionWM) and Linux-native desktop, most likely in form of Scalos.

All this work will enable creation and maintenance of two development lines:

For people preferring native AROS we will have ability to use subset of the existing 32-bit software base on 64-bit AROS and a native 64-bit system working on recommended hardware, which then is an enabler for creation of 64-bit distributions that exceed current 32-bit distributions in user experience.

For people interested in AxRuntime route we will have a Linux-native desktop and ability to run subset of AROS ABIv0 programs (32-bit) as well as AROS ABIv11 programs (64-bit) and AxRuntime-recompiled programs (64-bit). This way existing distributions could be re-created using Linux as a base without loosing existing functionality for users."

Many thanks Deadwood