Skip to content

Macaros 0.1 — AROS on Apple Silicon

Latest

Choose a tag to compare

@jonx jonx released this 07 Jul 23:40
· 585 commits to main since this release

Macaros runs AROS — the open-source AmigaOS reimplementation — as a native, hosted app on Apple Silicon, in a Cocoa/Metal window. macOS owns the drivers; AROS reaches them through standard exec I/O.

Install

Download Macaros.dmg, open it, drag Macaros to Applications, launch. It is Developer-ID signed and notarized, so it runs on a clean Mac with no Gatekeeper workaround.

Requirements: Apple Silicon Mac (arm64), macOS 12+.

What boots

The full AROS Wanderer desktop, self-contained in the app. Two Mac folders are mounted as AROS volumes — MacRO: (read-only) and MacRW: (read/write), both ~/AROS/Shared by default — so files move between AROS and the Mac.

Bundled in the AROS Shell (C:)

  • FFViewX — GPU-accelerated video/image viewer (ffmpeg-based)
  • FFProbe — media inspector
  • RustHello — a demo built with the real Rust standard library, running natively on AROS
  • the full standard C: command set

Under the hood

A native AArch64 CPU backend for AROS, a Cocoa/Metal display, clipboard / host-volume / CoreAudio / BSD-sockets bridges, GPU 2D via gpufx.library, a 68k→AArch64 JIT (run68k), and a full Rust std port. ≈165,000 lines across two trees.

Experimental hobby project — expect rough edges. Full source, design docs, and build instructions are in this repository.