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Amiga Unix, Again

Amiga Unix, or Amix, was a relic of the early 90s, left to gather dust on Commodore's shelf. Now, an unofficial community project is resurrecting it for modern 68k accelerators, complete with updated drivers, a package manager, and an OpenLook desktop. This deep dive into retrocomputing and operating system revival will undoubtedly captivate Hacker News's appreciation for technical challenges and historical software.

5
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#5
Highest Rank
11h
on Front Page
First Seen
Sep 21, 12:00 AM
Last Seen
Sep 21, 10:00 AM
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The Lowdown

Amiga Unix (Amix) was Commodore's System V Release 4 for Amiga computers, originally shipped between 1990 and 1992 before being discontinued. The amigaux.org project is an ambitious, unofficial community initiative to revive and modernize Amix for contemporary Amiga hardware, specifically 68040 and 68060 machines and their accelerators.

Key aspects of the project include:

  • Modern Installation: The project aims to provide an install medium that boots from floppy and CD-ROM on real hardware or under emulation, offering both interactive and unattended installation options.
  • Package Management: A new remote package client, apkg, with a hosted repository (pkg.amigaux.org), is being developed to deliver modern GNU and BSD tools.
  • Hardware Support: Current efforts focus on 68040/68060 support, including an Amix 2.1 kernel port and native drivers for accelerators like the Z3660 and SCSI cards like the A4091/A4092.
  • Development Tools: A Linux-hosted cross-toolchain (m68k-cbm-sysv4) is used to build all components.
  • Desktop Environment: An OpenLook desktop comes pre-configured with a fresh install, and there are plans for X11R6.3 and Mesa packages.
  • AI Assistance: Uniquely, parts of the development leverage generative AI to read old kernel binaries (where source is unavailable) and assist in writing drivers and documentation, with rigorous human review and testing.
  • Progress: The project has working kernel support, drivers, an installer, apkg, and even Quake running (as a benchmark). In-progress items include RTG graphics, improved ethernet throughput, and broader userland packages.

The amigaux.org project is a testament to the dedication of the retrocomputing community, blending deep technical expertise, reverse engineering, and even modern AI tools to breathe new life into a forgotten piece of computing history.