The journey that started 18 months ago to create a next generation Amiga on commodity hardware has now reached its first major milestone by becoming a completely driver native Aros system powered by the energy efficient Intel Atom processor. This has been achieved with the supply of hardware and in some cases financial rewards to key developers in the Aros world. The plan with the following steps has been to create a base reference platform for Aros and the Amiga community to build on and support.

Step 1: Network driver development by Nick â€œKalamateeâ€ Andrews, free to all.

Step 2: HDAudio by Davy Wentzler owned by Cluster UK ltd, free to end users.

Step 3: Catweasel driver development for Aros by Ian Gledhill, free to all.

Step 4: Intel GMA device developed by Michal Schulz and again free to all.

This work would not have been possible without the amazing team of developers working on Aros whose names are long and well respected but room does not allow all their names to appear. Please visit Aros.org for more details. Also a notable mention must go to Paolo Besser and the IcAros distribution that is supplied with all iMica systems.

In between this work other developments have been supported, more news on these later. However, we have also been experimenting with hardware configurations for the best type of iMica system, but it has become clear that one thing was important to all; it must be SILENT.

So now we announce the final iMica Atom system that we believe will achieve all the needs of the Amiga and Aros fan using low cost commodity hardware in a small and SILENT package.

Silent iMica Video

Introduction to Intel GMA driver and why iMica exists

Demonstration of Atom based iMica systems running Aros and new native drivers

This unit is not only power efficient and low cost, but can also be mounted behind the monitor to create a space efficient working area and no wires in front of the monitor when using a wireless keyboard and mouse. However, with its great looks and slim design it is doubtful you will want to hide it away.

This is not the end, this is just Stage 1.

Stage 2, optional case upgrade to hold, PCI Catweasel MK4, Slim DVD and Amiga/Mac/PC compatible floppy disk drive unit. This will be available to all iMica Atom customers.

Stage 3, Well we will tell you about that when we have something to show, but it will make the investment in the iMica Atom system a good investment, and might just inspire old Amiga users to get really excited about next generation Amiga’s including those with other Amiga OS flavours.

My thanks to all of the Aros and Amiga developers who have supported me over the last 18 months.

Stephen Jones

MD Cluster UK Software Ltd

Cluster UK Software Ltd:

Cluster UK was setup as a software development company with an interest in parallel processing machines. At the moment development that has funded iMica has been from Document management system and local government web based technologies. Please visit web-labs for more details on our software developments.

clusteruk.com

Aros (Aros Research Operating System):

The AROS Research Operating System is a lightweight, efficient and flexible desktop operating system, designed to help you make the most of your computer. It’s an independent, portable and free project, aiming at being compatible with AmigaOS 3.1 at the API level (like Wine, unlike UAE), while improving on it in many areas. The source code is available under an open source license, which allows anyone to freely improve upon it.

aros.org / aros-exec.org

IcAros Desktop:

IcAros Desktop is a pre-configured operating environment aimed to be a complete distribution of the open source AROS operating system: a independent, free and multi-platform re-implementation of AmigaOS 3.1 API. IcAros Desktop brings back all the fun of computing with a lightweight, fast and efficient operating system, providing all necessary utilities and many free games. IcAros Desktop is the evolution of VmwAROS, formerly the leading distribution of the AROS operating system.

icarosdesktop.org