If you still wonder what HostBridge can do, here is the answer!



I've added this introductory video-tutorial to the HostBridge page, so you can see how using Windows and Linux applications is easy, when Icaros Desktop is running in hosted mode!

By the way, starting with version 2.2.5, Icaros will include also a couple of double-state icon packs so you can associate HostBridge's scripts to proper icons with ease, even if you're running Linux (under Windows, HostBridge can extract icons from win32 executables, but new icons can help with 64bit ones).

A new tutorial video is now available on Patreon. In this lesson, we will learn how to create double-state icons under Icaros Desktop 2.2.4 using just three tools: the RNO Effects program, the AROS shell, and a few commands in the right sequence. This tutorial explains how to apply specific graphic effects to a whole iconset through RNO's batch converter, and then how to compose dual-state PNG icons combining the result with original images. Improvements can be added with LunaPaint or ZunePaint, but this is not covered by the tutorial.


The video is accessible by patrons only. A pledge of $5 (or more, if you like) is required to unlock this content. Patrons will also be able to download the video in MP4 format, if they need to do that for compatibility reasons.

> Click here to see te video. 

Early adopters of Icaros Desktop 2.2.4 might have noticed the addition of a brand new graphics program in Extras:Design. It's called RNO Effects and, in my humble opinion, it fills one of the longest missing holes in this department: batch conversion and procedural application of image effects. With this program, you can apply one or more effects to a whole set of images, no matter their size or their number. Just open RNO Effects, decide what to apply and where, and you're quickly done. Don't you believe it? I'm going to show you in the following video how quick and simple it has become, with this little great program, the formerly impossible task (at least on AROS, with cosy GUI-based applications) of converting 800 and more 128x128 PNG images into 64x64 pixel ones. And this is just an appetizer. I will try to show you something more useful in the next days. Stay tuned!

A brand new version of Icaros Desktop is now available to everyone. V2.2.4 includes new brilliant features and applications, small but important fixes and, for you Amiga lovers, a vintage GUI that can be selected after installation, which reproduces the plain old Amiga OS 3.1 interface. First of all, I wish to thank JPV for porting RNO Effects to AROS. He sent me v1.0 during last summer, and in order to make it work I had to fix a long standing mis-configuration of Icaros' OpenURL settings. RNO Effects is a image editing program which allows applying different special effects to image, one per image or in a programmed sequence. Moreover, it features a very useful batch conversion option which allows to convert many images (and to apply the same effects) to a different format, in a single passage. RNO Effects has been included in Extras/Design software, so it is availabe in Icaros Live! edition only. It's not the only addition to Icaros Desktop. We finally have a working NTP client so, if you're connected to the Internet and you wish to keep time correct without messing so much with the Date/Time preference program, you can use TimeKeeper instead (which has been placed in Prefs). The VICE emulator has been finally updated to version 3.1, and configured to keep a pleasant speed on most PC configurations, virtual machines included. But this release also brings some new datatypes and command line tools. It also brings the exceptional UHC Tools, a collection of handy scripts that should make our AROS life easier. Obviously, Icaros wouldn't be Icaros without its funny side: so we can now play some new games, like Stunt Car Remake (a remake of a little masterpiece by Geoff Crammond), Open Gladiators, Super Mario War and others. Coders will also find a new version of VIM in Extras/Development/Tools.

New from Icaros Desktop 2.2.3
- fixed OpenURL preferences to correctly forward URLs to OWB
- added GlJewels to OpenGL/Games
- added AmiTimeKeeper (Internet time NTP client) to Prefs
- updated AmicastPlayer
- updated AMath
- updated FIG datatype
- added INFO (Amiga icons) datatype
- added ModExplorer to MultiMedia
- added Open Gladiators to OpenGL/Games
- updated OpusTools
- added sox utilities to MediaEditors
- added sfxr sound generator to MediaEditors
- added Targa (TGA) datatype
- added ZuneBrot to Misc
- updated Vim to version 8.1 (now with graphical interface)
- replaced AROS installer with InstallerLG on both i386 and 68K
- added Super Mario War to Games
- added Stunt Car Remake to OpenGL/Games
- added UHCTools
- updated ZuneView
- updated ZunePaint
- added WHD_Menu to FileSystem
- added ICO (Windows icons) datatype
- added vic script: shows current Icaros Desktop release
- replaced SysMon with SysMon-XPT, which shows CPU-time too
- updated VICE to version 3.1 and optimized for speed and sound
- added icon to music and video examples in MyWorkspace
- fixed (increased) default stack size for some file types
- added RNOeffects to Design

Screenshots

Once installed, Icaros Desktop will ask inital behaviour: modern Icaros or classic Amiga

Some applications included with Icaros 2.2.4. Please notice CPU time shown in SysInfo, on the right

VICE now emulates many other 8-bit systems from Commodore

ZunePaint and ZuneView have been brought to latest versions, and can now use many more datatypes!

RNO Effects can apply several special effects to images, and convert them all in a batch!

This is just another little, but funny detail I have decided to add to your AROS distribution. You may have noticed that, since the birth of Icaros Desktop 2.2.x, I have stopped updating the image shown by the 'About' applet, which always says "Icaros Desktop v2.2" no matter if it was 2.2.0, 2.2.1 or a more recent one. A way to identify the installed version of Icaros Desktop, however, exists: you should just look into env: or envarc: for a file called CURRENT_INSTALL and it's coded this way:

version N.R.U ---> N.00R00U

so, for instance, v2.2.4 becomes 2.002004. I used this trick to allow LiveUpdater identify the installed version and decide wether the update pack you've just downloaded is applicable or not. Since it is not really readable by humans, I decided that a little script would be handful. And I created 'vic', which stands for Version of ICaros destkop. During its develoment (which lasted a few minutes...) I succeeded in changing its name two or three times (idv, icv, idv...), but it finally turned to 'vic' due to my most ancient feelings about Commodore. After all, could I name it differently?

The first video-tutorial published on Patreon explains how to create an app shortcut in AmiBridge. These shortcuts allow running Amiga apps in a sandboxed environment, which can be customized to fullfit some specific application needs. In this tutorial, we learn how to create a shortcut for EaglePlayer and avoid audio stuttering during playback.

> The video tutorial on Patreon.