New Portable AROS Distribution – Now Available!: AROS FORUMS

New Portable AROS Distribution – Now Available!

Last updated on 30 days ago

retrofazaDistro Maintainer

Posted 30 days ago

Unfortunately, I don't have any device with a touchscreen. But what you can do is install QEMU on Linux, run AROS in it, and see if any QEMU option supports your touchscreen.

ntromansVeteran Member

Posted 30 days ago

#19

I've hit a bit of a prolbem trying to use Portable AROS - any help would be much appreciated!

I've just had an ASUS laptop passed on to me which I'd like to use for work instead of my 32 bit Samsung. What would be particularly useful would be it's touchscreen for use with my whiteboard program. Native AROS will not boot on the machine due it not supporting legacy boot but Portable AROS will.

The trackpad works fine - tracks finger presses with the pointer moving as expected. However, the touchscreen does not; the pointer does move to the position touched, but on swiping the finger (sttill pressing the screen) the pointer does not follow. It looks like both touchpad and touchscreen are handled using QEMU's usb-tablet device which is passing though data as though from a mouse. This would be absolutely fine except looking in Trident prefs I can see the x and y coordinates are not being updated as a finger is swiped acorss the screen, only when it's lifted off and then touched to the screen again.

I don't think this is an issue on the AROS side but rather with the Linux base or QEMU. Any suggestions on how the touchscreen could be made to give updated coordinates with fnger swipes would be really helpful.

Cheers,
Nigel.

P.S. I've tried adjusting the Trudent mouse settings for this device (absolute vs relative etc.) but with no luck.

Edited by ntromans on 26-07-2026 12:27, 30 days ago

retrofazaDistro Maintainer

Posted 6 months ago

#18

An updated portable version is now available for download on the website, featuring the latest version of AROS One 1.3 (64-bit).

https://arosnews.github.io/aros-portable/

4 users reacted to this post

ntromans, deadwood, x-vision, pixie

retrofazaDistro Maintainer

Posted 7 months ago

#17

AMIGASYSTEM wrote:

Regarding video resolutions, have you tried setting up VMware drivers? They work well on QEMU Windows!

Yes, after the latest Deadwood fixes, the VMware driver now works very well and will be the default in the next AROS Portable

AMIGASYSTEMDistro Maintainer

Posted 7 months ago

#16

pcnet32.device did not work even before the update. On the same PC running Windows with QEmu, pcnet32.device works fine, so the problem is on the Linux side.

Regarding the new AROS One v1.3, it will be distributed as soon as a Core update is available and EmuV0 is a full version.

In the new AROS One, there will be a folder named 32Bit in Extras where you can simply click on the programme icon, while in the Emulator folder there will be Amiberry, which can also be run from the BoingIconBar as shown in the attached video.

https://www.youtu...U2-rTPTrsE

Regarding video resolutions, have you tried setting up VMware drivers? They work well on QEMU Windows!

AROS One All Thread
AROS One Home Site
AROS One Facebook

retrofazaDistro Maintainer

Posted 7 months ago

#15

AMIGASYSTEM wrote:

@AMIGASYSTEM - @retrofaza

I installed Aros Portable on my HP ENVY i7, where it loaded in no time. I also updated AROS One to version 1.2 + all the new updates, including Amiberry. The only problem is that the network doesn't work. It doesn't work with pcnet32.device. Which device should it work with?

The ‘Settings Wifi’ app is nice. If you give me your consent, I will include it in the next AROS One!

It should only work with pcnet32.device (as set by default). Did the internet not work from the beginning, or only after you installed the updates?

The ‘Settings Wifi’ app has no use outside of the AROS Portable environment. It is integrated with the Linux settings.

BTW. When you release a new version of AROS One, I will prepare an AROS Portable image with the current version.

AMIGASYSTEMDistro Maintainer

Posted 7 months ago

#14

@retrofaza

I installed Aros Portable on my HP ENVY i7, where it loaded in no time. I also updated AROS One to version 1.2 + all the new updates, including Amiberry. The only problem is that the network doesn't work. It doesn't work with pcnet32.device. Which device should it work with?

The ‘Settings Wifi’ app is nice. If you give me your consent, I will include it in the next AROS One!

AROS One All Thread
AROS One Home Site
AROS One Facebook

retrofazaDistro Maintainer

Posted 8 months ago

#13

This appears to be a known issue with Ubuntu and some HP laptops:
https://askubuntu...hp-probook

Unfortunately, I don't have HP hardware to test it myself. If you find a way to make Ubuntu work, AROS Portable should work too.

poohdoggieNewbie

Posted 8 months ago

#12

Not sure if my other post made it...

I tried both versions of the distribution and both error out with a flashing screen that reads "Reset System". I am using an HP laptop that currently runs Windows 11. Any ideas on how to fix this?

ntromansVeteran Member

Posted 11 months ago

#11

OK, that would make sense, I have tried to boot Unbuntu on this machine and it failed.

Cheers,
Nigel.

retrofazaDistro Maintainer

Posted 11 months ago

#10

ntromans wrote:

The image was created as you outline - the hard drive was hooked up via a USB to SATA adapter. The image was written correctly as I can boot with issue using this hard drive (in the SATA interface) on my i5 machine. As mentioned, I was just hoping I could get the ACER running AROS as I'm hoping at some point to make it into a tablet format (the keyboard is damaged but it has a good size screen which I can source a 4-wire resistive overlay for).

Cheers,
Nigel.

Underneath AROS Portable is Ubuntu, which runs Qemu. If it does not boot, it means that the hardware is not compatible with this Ubuntu.

ntromansVeteran Member

Posted 11 months ago

retrofaza wrote:

@retrofaza -
ntromans wrote:
So far so good, but after I'd written the image to hard-drive it refused to boot either in UEFI (no bootable media) or legacy (the installation was not seen at all; this was also the case with the USB stick). The hard-drive boots fine on my i5 machine though.

Cheers,
Nigel.

Question: are you sure you saved the image to the HDD correctly? Remember that AROS Portable is not a partition image, but an image of the entire disk.

The easiest way is to connect the SATA drive via a SATA-USB adapter, then you can save the image using Rufus as you would on a regular USB flash drive (later you can connect the drive directly to your computer via SATA).

Under Linux, you can save this image to disk using the “dd” command.

The image was created as you outline - the hard drive was hooked up via a USB to SATA adapter. The image was written correctly as I can boot with issue using this hard drive (in the SATA interface) on my i5 machine. As mentioned, I was just hoping I could get the ACER running AROS as I'm hoping at some point to make it into a tablet format (the keyboard is damaged but it has a good size screen which I can source a 4-wire resistive overlay for).

Cheers,
Nigel.

retrofazaDistro Maintainer

Posted 11 months ago

ntromans wrote:

So far so good, but after I'd written the image to hard-drive it refused to boot either in UEFI (no bootable media) or legacy (the installation was not seen at all; this was also the case with the USB stick). The hard-drive boots fine on my i5 machine though.

Cheers,
Nigel.

Question: are you sure you saved the image to the HDD correctly? Remember that AROS Portable is not a partition image, but an image of the entire disk.

The easiest way is to connect the SATA drive via a SATA-USB adapter, then you can save the image using Rufus as you would on a regular USB flash drive (later you can connect the drive directly to your computer via SATA).

Under Linux, you can save this image to disk using the “dd” command.

retrofazaDistro Maintainer

Posted 11 months ago

The current version is available for download at https://arosnews....portable/.

There is no easy upgrade path at this time. If you have any custom settings that you need to keep, copy them to another USB flash drive and then to the new version.

x-visionJunior Member

Posted 11 months ago

When is a new version planned? sorry if this is a dumb question but I don't know if it possible to easily update the v1.0

ntromansVeteran Member

Posted 11 months ago

Some further tests with mixed results.

I have an ACER Aspire ES1-512 I've been trying to get working with AROS for some time. It will boot native from SSD (both 32 and 64 bit) and has supported audio and wired network but USB does not work at all. So i tried the protable distribution on USB stick on it and it worked if booting in UEFI mode. So far so good, but after I'd written the image to hard-drive it refused to boot either in UEFI (no bootable media) or legacy (the installation was not seen at all; this was also the case with the USB stick). The hard-drive boots fine on my i5 machine though.

Cheers,
Nigel.

retrofazaDistro Maintainer

Posted 11 months ago

ntromans wrote:

@ntromans -
retrofaza wrote:
@retrofaza -
ntromans wrote:
Once into AROS I had a series of errors relating to ahci.device 0, but once they are cancelled Wanderer starts.

It looks like there is a problem with your flash drive. Try another flash drive (preferably a USB 3.0 flash drive and a USB 3.0 port on your computer).

Looks like I'll need to get a USB 3 drive... How do you go about installing this to hard drive?

Cheers,
Nigel.

It is possible. You can write the image on a disk.
At home, I recorded the image on an NVMe disk. It starts up and works incredibly fast.

Edited by retrofaza on 25-09-2025 08:24, 11 months ago

1 user reacted to this post

ntromans

ntromansVeteran Member

Posted 11 months ago

deadwood wrote:

@deadwood - With regards to speed: are you using USB3 pen drive and does your laptop have USB3 ports? This distribution is works great on "current hardware" (2020+). I use it on fairly recent Dell laptops. It would be great it you could show AROS on "current" hardware on that local meet

My most modern hardware is the i7 desktop and i5 laptop; the fomer will be running 32 bit to show 3D capabilities (Cube 2 etc) and the latter will be running 64 bit native showing OWB 3.0. I will take along the protable drive to try on other attendees laptops (I know at least one person is bringing some along to try AROS).

Cheers,
Nigel.

P.S. 64 bit native has now finally found a permanent home on my i5's SSD and I've been busy configuring ready for the meet

ntromansVeteran Member

Posted 11 months ago

retrofaza wrote:

@retrofaza -
ntromans wrote:
Once into AROS I had a series of errors relating to ahci.device 0, but once they are cancelled Wanderer starts.

It looks like there is a problem with your flash drive. Try another flash drive (preferably a USB 3.0 flash drive and a USB 3.0 port on your computer).

Looks like I'll need to get a USB 3 drive... How do you go about installing this to hard drive?

Cheers,
Nigel.

retrofazaDistro Maintainer

Posted 11 months ago

ntromans wrote:

Once into AROS I had a series of errors relating to ahci.device 0, but once they are cancelled Wanderer starts.

It looks like there is a problem with your flash drive. Try another flash drive (preferably a USB 3.0 flash drive and a USB 3.0 port on your computer).

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Users who participated in discussion: amigamia, deadwood, AMIGASYSTEM, pixie, ntromans, retrofaza, Amiwell79, Farox, GDroid, sonountaleban, aros-sg, x-vision, poohdoggie

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New Portable AROS Distribution – Now Available!