FreeMiNT

Important! New mailing list

The old mailing list server at fishpool.fi is dead. Also the short-lived mailing list server at atariforge.org is dead. You can subscribe to the new freemint-discuss.

FreeMiNT is a free, open-source operating system for 16/32bit Atari computers and clones, based on the original MiNT by Eric Smith and officially adopted by Atari Corp. It is compatible with TOS, but adds a lot of new functionality not available in any other TOS-compatible operating system.

• The origins of FreeMiNT
• Read more about compatibility
• Features

The current release is FreeMiNT 1.19.0. See the downloads-section for details.

FreeMiNT vs SpareMiNT

FreeMiNT is the name of the actual operating system, consisting of a kernel and a GEM compatible AES (XaAES). This is all you have to install if you only want to be able to run GEM-programs concurrently (ie. multi-tasking).

SpareMiNT is the name of a software distribution which runs under FreeMiNT. It contains a lot of software ported from the unix-world, and properly set up it will give your Atari much of the functionality of a unix system while still being able to run GEM programs.

Why use FreeMiNT?

There are many good reasons for using FreeMiNT, the best reason is probably that you find it interesting! FreeMiNT offers a lot that TOS or other TOS-compatible operating systems don't.

• FreeMiNT is constantly being developed and supported by the FreeMiNT community.
• It's very flexible - it can be used as a pure multitasking GEM-replacement if you just need to run GEM-applications concurrently, or it can be used as a lightweight unix-clone.
• It's modular & extensible - support for additional features like file systems or networking can be added as modules.
• It's completely free (ie. owned by no-one). If you want, you can modify FreeMiNT to your needs and share your work with the FreeMiNT community.
• Runs on all Ataris, clones and emulators. Exotic hardware like the Afterburner or CT60 is supported.
• FreeMiNT also runs on the FireBee in either 68060 mode with FireTOS or native ColdFire mode with EmuTOS.

About the Wiki

This wiki is a project to allow the FreeMiNT community to help create and maintain up-to-date documentation. Do you want to contribute to this project? Please read these guidelines on how to contribute.