AmigaOS 4?

[Trenatos]

I read that there was work done on an AmigaOS 4 port (Not AOS4 classic), any info on how far that got?

[molly]

I'm curious as of where you might of heard that.

Free Pascal 3.0 now officially (re-) supports classic Amiga/68k/020 (note the absence of the OS 4 part, which is for the most recent Amiga OS family, see also here).

Other then that MorphOS support was already available, and since release 3.0 FPC now also officially supports AROS (no official FPC wiki page yet, see here).

Amiga (Chain-Q + ALB42), AROS (ALB42) and MorphOS (Chain-Q) downloads are kindly provided by ALB42 on either the release directory or nightly directory of ALB42's build-server, or you can take a look at ALB42's blog page which contains some links to downloads and other interesting topics as well. That is, if you're interested 

AFAIK AmigaOS 4 support has been dropped by lack of a maintainer 

[Trenatos]

That's awesome, love that AROS is supported.

Do we have the full Lazarus on AROS?

I read about it here: http://wiki.freepascal.org/AmigaOS
And here: http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=development/language/fpc.lha

I don't have an AOS4 machine, but plan on getting one.

It's much more interesting if I can use Lazarus on it though, as that's the only realistic way I can develop software for AOS4

[Trenatos]

Aha, yeah, seems the port was started by Chain-Q

[molly]

That's awesome, love that AROS is supported.

I second that   

Do we have the full Lazarus on AROS?

Unfortunately, that would require some additional work.

Lazarus is a _huge_ project, and currently ALB42 is the only person working on it. It takes some time to get LCL working for MUI/Zune.

It does compile many common components very well though (using FPC with Lazarus units installed), and you could always use Lazarus on linux/Windows to build your GUI and cross-compile (or compile on the native machine). For instance the Edisyn editor runs perfectly on Windows, Linux and AROS.

fp-ide runs as well on all Amiga and derived platforms.

fpGUI from Graeme is also fully supported, although i do believe Graeme updated fpGUI quite recently, so that would mean the port for AROS lacks behind a little.

I read about it here: http://wiki.freepascal.org/AmigaOS

Ah ok. i know the information on that page all too well...

And here: http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=development/language/fpc.lha

Yes, that was Chain-Q's attempt to get some people interrested on OS4. Seems that never happened 

(After all, Pascal is some dusty programming language from the seventees, and got stuck there for about half a century. ever heard that phrase ?) 

I don't have an AOS4 machine, but plan on getting one.

Always nice to see someone trying another route  Hopefully enjoy !

It's much more interesting if I can use Lazarus on it though, as that's the only realistic way I can develop software for AOS4

Sorry, i can't help you there. As said, no maintainer is currently available for the OS4 port, and Chain-Q does not have the time to fully maintain the port anymore (at least that is what i understood).

Aha, yeah, seems the port was started by Chain-Q

Correct. See also my above answers.

In case you (or someone else reading this) are interested in helping out maintaining the OS4 port, then please don't hesitate and contact Chain-Q. He's more than willing to give a hand (if his time permits).

[Trenatos]

I would love to help out with the port, and I'd be ok with developing on Windows/Linux/Mac, and then compiling on AOS4 or cross compiling.

But I don't have an AOS4 machine yet, so it doesn't seem like a good idea to go delving too deep into that at least until I get a machine.

I've also never written anything systems related like drivers, so I'm not sure how much help I would actually be..

People need to get over the "It's old" mentality, it's utterly irrelevant how old it is, as it's actively updated.

[molly]

But I don't have an AOS4 machine yet, so it doesn't seem like a good idea to go delving too deep into that at least until I get a machine.

No problem at all.

Indeed it would be better to wait until you actually have a physical machine in front of you 

Besides that, and if you're new to Amiga OS (or returning from long ago), then you might have some better things to explore before doing anything else 

I've also never written anything systems related like drivers, so I'm not sure how much help I would actually be..

Well, that's the beauty. No drivers writing required, although you would need to have some knowledge on system library calls, but that's basically the same as for Windows/Linux/etc. Read the documentation/SDK, figure out which system calls to make and implement a function 

People need to get over the "It's old" mentality, it's utterly irrelevant how old it is, as it's actively updated.

Correct. Other against arguments are available in plenty as well, but they can usually be counter-argumented.

I really don't mind if someone dislikes Pascal or has other well educated reasons to dismiss it. Even i dislike using it for certain projects. But the 'dusty' argument is one of those arguments that simply makes my skin crawl ...

... In case you still have interest after your machine arrived, then please feel free to post a message here again, or hang around the OS4 forums. You could always play around with the 'old' FPC compiler available for OS4 from the link you posted earlier and see where that brings you.

[Trenatos]

Oh I've been bent on developing software for AOS4 for many years, just never had enough spare money at the right time to buy a machine.

Now I'm in a good job, so should be able to afford one in a not too distant future.

Pascal/Lazarus has, for me, the perfect mixture or ease-of-use, RAD, and power.

Bah, dusty, it's dusty in the same way that internal combustion engines are dusty. lol

[molly]

AmigaOS4 support added to trunk by Chain-Q and ALB42. These guys are on steroids 

Family picture

Keep in mind though: all experimental. Implementation(s) are (most probably) subject to change.

Visit ALB42's blog to read more about AmigaOS4 support.

Some hihghlights:
- most required native libraries such as exec, dos, intuition, graphics etc. available
- FP-IDE up 'n running
- initial LCL implementation

[saashapont]

If it possible please write any tutorial, how i can install it on mac?

[molly]

If it possible please write any tutorial, how i can install it on mac?

Install what exactly for what mac hardware and which OS version ?

Note that AmigaOS4 support is officially not supported, only works from FPC trunk and is considered experimental as there is no (dedicated) maintainer.

That is one of the reasons that ALB42 provides a cross-platform development (VmWare) image (Linux inside) which can be downloaded here..

[saashapont]

I download this image and this is work! But It will be better to have it on my system without virtualization

[molly]

Hi saashapont,

Thank you for your interest, having tried the image and letting the developers know that it works.

But It will be better to have it on my system without virtualization

Of course it is 

As said, things for AmigaOS4 are (highly) experimental at the moment. No guarantees can be given whatsoever.

There is currently no (full) existing documentation (nor was there need for one until now). The little documentation that does exist is written here.

One of the first hurdles is creating the AmigaOS4 (cross-)binutils for your system (hence my questions that btw didn't got answered). afaik that is only tried before on a 'normal' Linux distribution (i won't even touch the subject of crosscompiling those binutils. Although if you are familiar with doing so, then please feel free to make an attempt).

afaik the only existing patches and scripts that also supports MacOSX are available here (that includes documentation on how to create them).

A short todo list:
- In case you haven't already, also read this.
- Create and setup AmigaOS4 binutils for your system
- Install and configure Free Pascal 3.0.0 compiler on your system
- check-out FPC svn sources
- Compile the 3.1.x (cross-)compiler
- Configure your 3.1.x (cross-)compiler so that it is able to cross-compile for AmigaOS4
- Compile your project(s) targetting OS4.

Please feel free to report any issues you encountered along the way (feel free to pm in case you'd prefer that). Every bit of information will allow us to improve the current (undocumented) situation.

Sorry, but i fear it is going to turn out to be you guinea-pigging for us. As far as i am aware of, all of the active maintainers for the Amiga-OS supported platforms are either busy with IRL or currently on vacation but i'll re-route the question as soon as i see/hear a sign of life.

Please be aware that the steps as described are highly experimental and that you might break your existing development setup. (so please don't come crying if it actually does). You've been warned.

[saashapont]

Thank you for quick answer!

And are there any ready solution for morphos?

[molly]

Well... you know ... MacOS is kind of a black sheep 

At least you could try existing (cross-)binutils for MacOS, which can be found here.

MorphOS is supported with 3.0 release compiler so all you would need to do is create a cross-compiler and setup fpc to to be able to cross-compile (besides the link in this post, you could follow about any "how to create a FPC cross-compiler" instructions for that).

So, at least that is documented 

But, there isn't a ready available MacOS cross-compiling for MorphOS Free Pascal distribution that you can download and install (and no wonder as that would mean a shitload of work for Free Pascal developers/maintainers).

Also for this case, if you run into problems then please feel free to report.

Do note that the cross-compiler you used inside the virtual machine is based on 3.1.x trunk compiler (with additional Lazarus MUI/LCL from ALB42).