The highly anticipated release 1.2.5 of Icaros Desktop is now available for download. It took much time, but there are many new features, many fixes and many enhancements that will drive you crazy. First of all, games and applications had been polished, in order to cut off the ones which made older version of Icaros crash (and also the current one). Some of them had been updated and others have been simply replaced by something better. Then, old Amiga lovers with a GeForce card will be happy they can now drag screens on Icaros too. Current version has some limitations when dragging screens of different resolutions, but Deadwood (who ported the Nouveau drivers ad added this feature to them) is looking if/how much it worths fixing them. Users of notebooks and netbooks with Atheros-5000 based wireless network adapters can now connect to the network without cables, and we tried to make the distribution as comfortable to new users as possibile, with a slight speedup in disc operations thanks to a trick suggested by Yannick Erb. Users that complained for the excessive boot time of yesterdays Icaros Desktop DVDs and CDs will notice a great improvement, thanks to the new compact profile of AmiStart (the older one was just what made booting so boring on older versions), and people with a single monitor and a single mouse will be able to control their workbench remotely, or to do the exact opposite running their Windows, Linux or MacOS X desktop in an AROS window (look into the network apps section of Icaros 1.2.5). All installation issues that plagued Icaros Desktop 1.2.4 had been fixed and now you can nicely install your AROS distribution onto any supported hard drive and USB pendrive. In the end, the new MyWorkspace drawer will help people to keep their projects (documents, music, video and downloads) ordered in a single place. And don't forget to listen to Josh Woodward's excellent music and watch his video! You'll find them in Icaros Desktop Live! only, though, 'cos in the Light CD there wasn't enough space. What can I add more? Oh, yes... Live! version provides also a demo version of the wonderful AMC media center program from Fabio Falcucci and Pascal Papara. Don't miss it! You can already grab your favourite version of Icaros Desktop 1.2.5 in the usual Download Center (mirrors to come...).



New from Icaros Desktop 1.2.4

- Added support for wireless networks (still work in progress)
- Added SuperTuxKart to 3D-accelerated games (live! version only)
- Updated AmiFIG, ProTrekkr and others to the latest version
- Services pref now checks for Live-CD mode to avoid running from read-only media
- Updated system files to Nov. 06th 2010
- Enabled screen dragging with Nouveau drivers (GeForce 5 to GT200 cards only)
- Added "MyWorkspace" directory and assign for user documents
- Added VNC server to remote control Icaros' workbench
- Added AmstradCPC computers and Genesis/Megadrive emulators
- added QuickCD-Rip and QuickRecord to multimedia software
- Added compact profile to AmiStart
- Added some new and traditional pointers
- Fixed and enhanced DirectoryOpus behavior (thanks, Niko)
- Added addbuffers into startup sequence to quicken disk operations

Fixed in Icaros Desktop 1.2.4

- Eliminated some programs that made AROS crash
- Default network configuration for gateway set to DHCP
- placed TTengine.library in libs:
- Changed default wallpaper in order to fullfit the screen at higher resolutions
- removed some very old, now deprecated drivers
- removed obsolete Nvidia driver options in initial GRUB menu (replaced by Nouveau)
- removed the now obsolete, first AROS USB stack (replaced by Poseidon)
- removed old Gallium-preview demos (now obsolete)
- version 1.2.5 should be noticeably more stable than 1.2.4
- fixed tons of little annoying bugs everywhere!



UPDATING FROM ICAROS 1.2.4

Users of Icaros Desktop 1.2.4 can update their current installation to version 1.2.5 using the LUPD (Live Updater) tool. Please do NOT use the Internet option unless you are really forced to do so, but unpack the ISO somewhere and burn it to a CD-R, or use the ISO option (you need at least 1 GB of free space on the system partition and 512 MB of RAM).




PS: Thanks Triops we now have a wonderful Spanish version of this site. Good luck!

It has been a long and hard work, but the new version of Icaros Desktop Live! has just been released to internal beta testing team. Last stage will be deployment of the Light edition and of the update disc for current Icaros users, which will require some more love than before, since many things have changed in the new version and many improvements have been added to the distribution, mainly thanks to your suggestions, and to the hints given by beta-testers.

Good friend Stephen Jones said this "may be the best Icaros ever": I don't know if it will really be, however this time we did all the human efforts that we could, to make it the AmigaOS-like experience you'd all want on your PC. It's a pity something still misses (we can't print yet, for instance. Nor we can drag screens on VESA, ATI and others cards different from GeForce lines), but that's really the best we could do for now. Further enhancements will be deployed for futher releases, on the (long) road that we still need to walk before Icaros 1.3.

This version will not be a "point release", however it will be the nearest thing to it: we scrapped from the distribution many games and applications that didn't work, we updated the system files keeping track of their development, we tested many times new and older features to be sure they actually work. And, considering that AROS is still "alpha quality software", we all came up to the conclusion we made a fair job. We can't honestly declare it won't ever crash anymore on your computer, nor that hardware compatibility has been extended to any PC all over the world, but compatibility and stability have noticeably got better than in Icaros 1.2.4.

We tried to add many new features to enhance reliability. Some of them have been already unveiled on this website. The new MyWorkspace drawer will be cosy to everyone, but users with a single system and work partition (such as people installing Icaros on a pendrive) will LOVE it. The new compact profile for AmiBridge will shorten boot times, in particular when loading Icaros in Live-DVD mode. Screen dragging is marvellous on GeForce cards and support for wireless network is just fine, if you have an Atheros-5000 based wi-fi receiver.

What you will still miss for now is the recent work on the 68K side of AROS. Since it is still in development, we preferred to avoid including in this Icaros release system files that could have been affected by the 68K bounties. Toni and Jason are making a wonderful, marvellous work on this, but Icaros always preferred to wait for a more mature stage of newer features, before adding them. It has already happened for many other important AROS items in the past, it's now 68K's turn. We are however hopeful, in the next months, to be able to support ADF games and demos in Janus-UAE using the AROS kickstart.

See you in a few days...

AmiStart is one of the most discussed features of Icaros Desktop: it provides a customizable, powerful application/task bar, but its "start menu" requires pre-caching of menu icons, considerably extending boot times (moreover in Live-DVD mode). Due to the high number of applications and games provided by the distribution, this problem got worse and worse with the latest updates, to the point that Icaros was barely usable, on slower systems, while loading AmiStart. This issue has finally been resolved in the new version: Icaros Desktop 1.2.5 includes two different profiles for AmiStart, the traditional "full" and the new "compact" ones. The former will include everything you're accustomed to: it will require more time to load, but it will add to AROS a complete program menu, a taskbar and a lunchbar as usual. The newer, however, will provide only the docking space, and it won't use a customized program menu anymore, letting you browse the system from standard volumes. This will not require pre-caching of icons, and overall boot times will be considerably reduced. AmiStart will always start in "compact" mode when launching Icaros from DVD, then users will always be free to switch from compact to full mode (and vice-versa) after installation, with the usual Prefs/Services script.

Users of Icaros 1.2.3 really liked the fact they could remote-control other computers on the network using rDesktop or VNC client, but some complained it wasn't possible to do the opposite. Yannick Erb listened to their cries, and provided a great new VNC server for AROS that Icaros 1.2.5 will provide as a service, allowing users to remotely control their Icaros workbench using another computer running Windows, Linux, MacOS X or any other system (even smartphones!) providing a VNC client. Windows users may prefer to use UltraVNC or TightVNC. Most Linux distributions come with a VNC client as well.

After some weeks of hard work and at least four alpha-stage releases, I've just sent our beta testing team the address to download the first internal beta of Icaros Desktop Live 1.2.5, which will add new interesting features and corrections to the current distribution. So, it's time to unveil some of them.

Today, we'll talk about the new MyWorkspace drawer, that will be automatically placed on the desktop. MyWorkspace is a comfortable place where people may decide to place documents, images, music, videos and download files. Something other operating systems already had for years, and that in our humble opinion Amiga-like systems just lacked of. The good news about our implementation, is that this directory will be available even running Icaros straight from the DVD, in live mode. In this case, MyWorkspace will be temporarily created in the RAM drive and a document inside of it will remark to the user he/she should copy the contents on a writable media, to keep them safely saved somewhere. When installing Icaros, MyWorkspace will be created in the same drive the user will choose for Extras and Development files. Some ASSIGNes will be created as well, in order to make this drawer, and all the default sub-drawer, easy to reach from any installed application.

Vintage gamers who have grown with a Commodore 64 or Amiga already know the meaning of "games that weren't": a poetic expression describing software, in particular videogames, which for a reson or another didn't make it to the shelves, and rested unreleased and forgotten in a dusty drawer for years. We can also say, more pragmatically, that what we are now calling "vapourware" some day will be "something that wasn't".

There are many reasons something already announced ends up to the dustbin: one of them is quick obsolescence. Some days ago I talked about that wonderful WiFiWiz script I had made for Icaros Desktop 1.2.5: it would allow easy configuration of wireless network under AROS, for lucky people browsing the web with an Atheros-powered device. But this time our friend Neil Cafferkey has been much faster than me, and he modified AROS network preference program to support WiFi too, making WiFiWiz absolutely useless. So I have removed it, and you won't hopefully see it any time. My scripts, in fact, are just temporary solutions to problems that should be solved with better, dedicated applications (as happened with ArosPDF and Zunearc joyfully replacing PoorPDF and PoorArc). I would also talk about some (big) news about Icaros 1.2.5, but I think I will keep my mouth (my fingers?) quiet for now. Just enjoy this w.i.p. screenshot, and try figuring out some by yourselves (click on the top left thumbnail to enlarge it)... ;-)

It's quite some time I made my last script for Icaros Desktop (and it was ADF game/demo support to AmiBridge), so I decided to handle my poor shell knowledge again to do something useful. My current target is the recent wi-fi Atheros driver from Neil Cafferkey, which is a little miracle per sé, but for now it's not so much user-friendly to set up. Well, the fear for text configuration file is over: say hello to WiFiWiz, the next addition to Icaros Desktop 1.2.5...



The script acts like a wizard and asks user a few questions: to enter netword SSID (name), what kind of encryption is used (see it in screenshot) and, if the network is password protected, for the current password. Then the user can decide whether to activate wi-fi connection at every boot or not.

I received many complaints about AmiStart "vanishing" after updating Icaros from version 1.2.3 to 1.2.4. As usual, the issue was really stupid (you fool, Paolo!) and the solution was damn easy to spot. However, easy solutions are the ones that take more time to come. In practice, people with this problem should edit their s:icaros-sequence file, in order to add the missing brackets from many IF statements. Here's what to do, in english and italian

> read the english solution
> leggi la soluzione in italiano

sorry for that, and thanks for your patience.