Another little update for Icaros Desktop 1.3.3 is available for download. This patch introduces all the latest improvements from Krzysztof Smiechowicz (the ones he sent to AROS-EXEC.org on Jan. 20), but includes also latest updates to Zune NList classes and fixes AmiBridge's "ADD ADF" script, which didn't work correctly when the "AROS A1200" option was used for Amiga™ games. This update must be installed after patch 01 and 03, using the usual LiveUpdater tool in sys:Tools/LUPD. Here's a complete list of bugfixes:

- icon.library - fixed all reported regressions, OS4 icons now work
- iconification - fixed all reported crashes/freezes of de-iconification
- Zune - Zune windows will now remember their position and size on exit based on the "forget on exit"/"remember on exit"/"save on exit" Zune setting
- Zune - no more graphic garbage on borders when using NList class (ZuneARC and others were affected bt the issue)
- AmiBridge - using the AROS A1200 option for AGA games now works as expected

As usual, all patches are available in our downloads page.

If you have installed patch 03 (or 02 and then 03) on Icaros Desktop 1.3.3, you'd may be surprised to see that nothing has changed - at least in the user interface - in drawers and windows. The fact is that window can be iconified, but there's nothing to do that on title bars. So how can you iconify a window? The answer is that a button exists, but you have to enable it by yourself: just go to the Prefs drawer and run the Zune preferences program. Select the Windows option in the left menu and check for the Control section. You will notice four buttons called M, S, P and I. Click on the I button as shown in the image below. Click Save and reboot. From now on, you will be able to iconify (almost) all your windows.

1.3.3 will be probably remembered as the most patched release in Icaros Desktop life. The newest patch 03 is available for download, and it fixes some glitches introduced with the latest AROS features. More precisely, this patch include the following:

- fix for commodities like FKey: they don't appear iconified on the desktop anymore
- fix for italian translation: it will now be re-enabled in Wanderer
- added iconify button to Zune windows title bar (must be enabled by user)
- fix for ICE, Icaros Classic and Icaros Blue themes to support iconify button

Please notice Iconification feature is still on the works, so there are these known issues.

- Wookie Chat, PSI prefs and other programs crash on de-iconification
- InstallAROS (and maybe others) crash on iconification
- SimpleMail crashes if double-clicked on it's custom AppIcon
- no fixes to problems reported with icon.library
- iconify gadget has no image in other Icaros decorations, so default "3.1" rectangle will be used

Since this issues fixes a "ugly workaround" introduced with patch 02 (when Wanderer's italian locale has been temporarily disabled to let it copy files without issues), patch 03 replaces it completely, including all patch 02 fixes and adding its own. . This means that people who upgraded to Icaros 1.3.3 patch 02 must install this to bring Icaros to the latest version, while people who hasn't still patched their installation with Patch 02 should install patch 03 immediately after patch 01: don't look for patch 02 anymore!

The second patch for Icaros Desktop 1.3.3 completes the journey started with the former patch #01, adding the remaining bug fixes included in the first round of the AROS Paper-Cuts initiative. For those who don't know what we're talking about, a little reminder: in the last months of 2011 (and the first days of 2012...) some AROS developers decided to put on hold their AROS projects to do something all users were asking for months: fixing many silly/annoying/long-standing bugs which plagued Wanderer and some other components of the system, making it pointlessly difficult or just ugly to use. There were dozens: from icons that lacked transparency and shifted of many pixels while dragging them, to many CLI commands that gave unexpected results, from snapshotting options that didn't work to weirldy-sized windows that made impossible for netbook users to change advanced options. Well, most of these bad habits of Wanderer have gone forever. And Icaros Desktop is really happy to include last fixes into a new patch for Icaros 1.3.3 users.

What's new since patch 01

- all Paper-Cuts initiative bug fixes now included
- added transparency to icons while dragging them
- added support for AmigaOS 4 format icons
- added the iconify function
- comments now work as expected
- view mode for drawers can now be snapshotted
- fixed dragging of icons in detail view mode
- icons don't overlap anymore in plain mode
- icons don't "jump on the left" anymore when dragged
- dragging icons on left-out icons don't crash the system anymore
- fixed background of icons moved elsewhere on the desktop
- some little fixes for LiveUpdater
- added AROS M68K Kickstart replacement to AmiBridge
- AmiBridge has been modified to support AROS Kickstart

BONUS FEATURE

In order to make everyone happy, we decided to anticipate a new feature that will be available in the next releases of Icaros Desktop: direct support for Amiga 68K games and demos on ADF files. From now on, you won't need the original Amiga KickStart ROMs anymore to play old games and demos. AmiBridge's "ADD ADF-DISK" script has been modified to use also AROS M68K KickStart replacement. Compatibility with all the games released so far is not complete, but most of them will run without major issues (drive activity like loading may be slower, though). Usual "Amiga 500", "500+" and "1200" options with original KickStart will be available only after integrating Amiga Forever with the AmiBridge-Setup script.

HOW TO INSTALL PATCHES

Installing patches is easy. Just download them anywhere and run SYS:Tools/LUPD/LiveUpdater, choose the File option and locate your patch file. Follow instructions on the screen and you're done.

Hello to everyone. It's the beginning of a whole new year and, even if politicians and economists always remind us (in particular here, in Europe and moreover in Italy) that hard times are coming, we would like to give our users and followers some good news, at least about our favourite hobby. First of all, I'd like to say "Thank you!" to Lloyd Blommaert, who not only made a kind donation, but he also told us that our donation buttons weren't working anymore. Well, I guess that the recent, complete lack of donations had at least another cause than the crisis. It required some tweaking, but PayPal donations are now working again, so if you wish to make a late Christmas gift to Icaros Desktop, you have a nice opportunity.

The first big news of the year, however, is the release of a whole new game for classic Amigas, the tiny and pretty platformer Mr Beanbag, a game inspired by great classics of the genre like Mario and Sonic. Development of this game began many years ago, when the Amiga was still a good player among the gaming platforms of the time. Authors, however, had to place their project on hold and someone managed to finish the job only in the latest weeks of the past year. Mr Beanbag works flawlessly under AROS' Janus-UAE and you don't even need the original Amiga KickStart to run it: just grab the AROS M68K bootdisk on www.aros.org and use AROS ROMs in the emulator, they will be absolutely enough.

The second news, somehow tied to the first, is that Icaros Desktop will include these free M68k AROS ROMs within the next update, allowing users to play games and demos on ADF files straight from AROS and without the need of original Amiga ROMs anymore. AmiBridge scripts have already been updated on our development systems, and time for public release is approaching.

Last, but absolutley not least news, is that our great friend Krzysztof Smiechowicz is still working really hard on Wanderer, trying to fix all the little and bigger bugs that make it barely usable in everydays system management. After allowing free icon placing on drawer windows and desktop, he fixed drag'n'drop and added a beauty transparency to icons while moving them. Icaros users will be able to enable all these changes with the next patch or update.

PS: a great thank you to the 500+ people who like Icaros Desktop on Facebook. Their number is growing, and we're really proud of it!

Merry Christmas to everyone from Icaros Desktop! It has been a great year for AROS and we believe the next one will be even better. But, for now, let us give you a little gift: a patch which includes all the fixes to AROS system files and Wanderer which have been developed since the release of Icaros Desktop 1.3.3. Once again, users of supported netbooks will love this update: it enhances the driver for GMA chipsets with better stability and speed, improving compatibility with applications. But it also changes the shape for advanced options window in Wanderer, which was just too tall to fit the screen and didn't allow proper handling of user preferences. Wanderer's advanced preferences have been also fixed, and backgrounds are now handled correctly. Other fixes enhance fonts and icons handling, while ASL requesters now show also .info files.

Download patch 01 for Icaros Desktop 1.3.3 (6 MB, http)