MorphOS

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Amiga-compatible computer operating system

title: "MorphOS" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["morphos", "2000-software", "amiga-software", "morphos-software", "operating-system-distributions-bootable-from-read-only-media", "powerpc-operating-systems", "microkernel-based-operating-systems", "microkernels"] description: "Amiga-compatible computer operating system" topic_path: "technology/operating-systems" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MorphOS" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Amiga-compatible computer operating system ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox OS"]

FieldValue
nameMorphOS
logoSpbu479.png
logo size120px
screenshotMorphOS 3.18 screenshot.jpg
captionMorphOS 3.18 showing the Ambient desktop
developerThe MorphOS Development Team
familyAmigaOS-like
source modelClosed source (with open source components)
released0.1 /
latest release version3.19
latest release date
language19 languages
kernel typeMicro/pico
programmed inC, C++, Objective-C++, Pascal, Python, Perl, Amiga E, Ruby, Lua
uiAmbient
licenseProprietary with GNU GPL Ambient user interface
working stateCurrent
supported platformsPegasos, some models of Amiga, Efika, Mac Mini G4, eMac, Power Mac G4, PowerBook G4, iBook G4, Power Mac G5, SAM 460, AmigaOne X5000
website
::

| name = MorphOS | logo = Spbu479.png | logo size = 120px | screenshot = MorphOS 3.18 screenshot.jpg | caption = MorphOS 3.18 showing the Ambient desktop | developer = The MorphOS Development Team | family = AmigaOS-like | source model = Closed source (with open source components) | released = 0.1 / | latest release version = 3.19 | latest release date = | latest preview version = | latest preview date = | marketing target = | language = 19 languages | kernel type = Micro/pico | programmed in = C, C++, Objective-C++, Pascal, Python, Perl, Amiga E, Ruby, Lua | ui = Ambient | license = Proprietary with GNU GPL Ambient user interface | working state = Current | supported platforms = Pegasos, some models of Amiga, Efika, Mac Mini G4, eMac, Power Mac G4, PowerBook G4, iBook G4, Power Mac G5, SAM 460, AmigaOne X5000 | update model = | package manager = | website = MorphOS is an AmigaOS-like operating system designed for Power and PowerPC based computers. The core, based on the Quark microkernel, is proprietary; however, several libraries and other parts are open source, such as the Ambient desktop.

The project began in 1999. It was produced for the Pegasos computer, as well as PowerUP accelerator equipped Amiga computers, and a series of Freescale development boards that use the Genesi firmware, including the Efika and mobileGT. Since then, MorphOS has been ported to Apple's Mac mini, eMac, Power Mac G4 and limited support for Power Mac G5. It is binary compatible with software written for Motorola 68k-based Amiga computers.

History

MorphOS can run any system friendly Amiga software written for 68k processors. It is also possible to use 68k libraries or datatypes on PPC applications and vice versa. It also provides compatibility layer for PowerUP and WarpUP software written for PowerUP accelerator cards. The largest repository is Aminet with over 75,000 packages online with packages from all Amiga flavors including music, sound, and artwork. MorphOS-only software repositories are hosted at MorphOS software, and MorphOS Storage. MorphOS is delivered with several desktop applications in the form of pre-installed software.

Components

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Mos.svg" caption="System architecture"] ::

ABox

ABox is an emulation sandbox featuring a PPC native AmigaOS API clone that is binary compatible with both 68k Amiga applications and both PowerUP and WarpOS formats of Amiga PPC executables. ABox is based in part on AROS Research Operating System. ABox includes Trance JIT code translator for 68k native Amiga applications.

Other

Ambient

| name = Ambient | title = Ambient | logo = | screenshot = AmbientDesktop.png | caption = A screenshot of the desktop with a panel on the bottom | collapsible = | author = David Gerber | developer = Ambient Open Source Team | released = | discontinued = | latest release version = 1.1599 | latest release date = | latest preview version = | latest preview date = | programming language = C | operating system = MorphOS | platform = | size = | language = | status = | genre = Desktop environment | license = GNU General Public License | website = Ambient is the built-in MUI-based desktop environment for MorphOS; development started in 2001 by David Gerber. Its main goals were that it should be fully asynchronous, simple and fast. Ambient remotely resembles Workbench and Directory Opus Magellan trying to mix the best of both worlds.

Features

Ambient does not strictly follow the Amiga Workbench interface paradigm. However, there are still many similarities: while programs are called tools, program attributes are called tooltypes, data files are projects and directories are drawers.

  • support for ARexx scripting language
  • default icon library for hundreds of fileformats
  • fully asynchronous, multi-threaded design
  • fast asynchronous file I/O functions and file notifications
  • support for PNG and other Amiga icon formats
  • built-in icon, workbench and wbstart libraries
  • built-in applications like disk formatting and commodities manager
  • panels which are used as program launchers

Ambient is localised for various languages; while it is an intrinsic part of MorphOS, it is also available separately. There are various visual effects in Ambient that take advantage of hardware accelerated visual effects within MorphOS.

Desktop icons

The native icon format in Ambient is PNG, but there is built-in support for other Amiga icon formats. Ambient introduced a special icon format called DataType Icons where the icon is simply any image file renamed to include the .info extension. Those icons are read using the Amiga DataType system.

::data[format=table] | || Original Amiga icons || MagicWB || NewIcons || GlowIcons || GlowIcons32 || DT Icons || PNG || DualPNG || SVG | Colours | Alpha blending | Icon size | Second state image | Embedded metadata | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 4 | 8 | 256 | 256 | 16M | 16M | | | | | | | | | | | 36×40 | 46×46 | 46×46 | 128×128 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::

Development status

In 2005, David Gerber released Ambient source code under GPL and it is now developed by the Ambient development team.

Supported hardware

Amiga

Apple

Genesi/bPlan GmbH

ACube

A-Eon Technology

Version history

Release history of 0.x/1.x series

::data[format=table] | |Version | |Release date | |Notes | |---|---|---| | |0.1 | |August 1, 2000 | |Amiga | | |0.2 | |October 17, 2000 | |Amiga | | |0.4 | |February 14, 2001 | |3rd Release | | |0.5 | |May 1, 2001 | |Amiga | | |0.8 | |August 2001 | |Amiga, Pegasos I | | |0.9 | |2002 | |beta | | |1.0 | |14 October 2002 | |Pegasos I | | |1.1 | |December 13, 2002 | |Pegasos I | | |1.2 | |February 9, 2003 | |Pegasos I | | |1.3 | |March 27, 2003 | |Pegasos I | | |1.4 | |August 7, 2003 | |Pegasos I | | |1.4.4 | |March 28, 2005 | |Pegasos I/II | | |1.4.5 | |April 30, 2005 | |Pegasos I/II | | |1.4.5 | |August 25, 2005 | |Amiga | ::

Release history of 2.x/3.x series

::data[format=table] | |Version | |Release date | |Notes | |---|---|---| | |2.0 | |June 30, 2008 | |Added support for Efika 5200B platform; native TCP/IP stack, an updated Sputnik release, AltiVec support, alpha compositing 3D layers for the graphical user interface, new USB components (including USB 2.0 support), new screenblankers, and Reggae, a new, modular, streaming multimedia framework | | |2.1 | |September 6, 2008 | |Support for the Efika's audio | | |2.2 | |December 20, 2008 | |TrueCrypt-compatible disk encryption suite | | |2.3 | |August 6, 2009 | |Origyn Web Browser as the default browser, read only HFS+ file system support | | |2.4 | |October 12, 2009 | |Added support for Mac mini G4; write support for Mac HFS disks, new charsets.library to provide better multilingual application support | | |2.5 | |June 4, 2010 | |Added support for eMac G4; drivers for SiI3x1x based 2-port Serial ATA PCI cards | | |2.6 | |October 10, 2010 | |Added support for Power Mac G4; 2D drivers for Rage 128 Pro graphics cards; Released at precisely 10.10.10 10:10 | | |2.7 | |December 2, 2010 | |Improving support for Power Mac G4 platforms | | |3.0 | |June 8, 2012 | |Added support for PowerBook G4; performance improvements | | |3.1 | |July 8, 2012 | |Bug-fix release | | |3.2 | |May 27, 2013 | |Added support for further PowerBook G4 models, iBook G4 and Power Mac G5 model A1047; 3D drivers for Radeon R300 based cards, wireless networking via Atheros chipset, major overhaul of TCP/IP stack ("NetStack") – improving networking performance | | |3.3 | |September 18, 2013 | |Fixes support for some iBook G4 models | | |3.4 | |December 14, 2013 | |Improved R300 3D and G5 video playback performance, support for non-native display resolutions on various PowerBook models | | |3.5 | |February 15, 2014 | |Support for PowerMac7,2 Power Mac G5 models | | |3.6 | |June 27, 2014 | |Broadcom Wi-Fi support, AMD R400 support, SMBFS file system, VNC server and a Synergy client | | |3.7 | |August 3, 2014 | |Bug-fix release | | |3.8 | |May 15, 2015 | |Support for Sam 460 series of mainboards; basic drivers for Radeon HD series graphics cards, 4K displays in native resolution | | |3.9 | |June 19, 2015 | |Bug-fix release | | |3.10 | |March 25, 2018 | |Extended hardware support (AmigaOne X5000 mainboard; new SATA controllers, network controllers, scanners and graphics cards), Flow Studio IDE with built-in debugger, support for time zones, new fonts, new themes, vector graphics, including SVG icons, overall bug fixes and performance improvements | | |3.11 | |July 6, 2018 | |Bug-fix release | | |3.12 | |October 2, 2019 | |Dual monitor support for select hardware, improved thermal management for select hardware, new FireWire stack, support for more printers and scanners, upgraded Odyssey browser with HTTP/2 and TLS 1.3 and spell checking support, substantial upgrades and new features to Flow Studio IDE, UTF-8 support in MUI, ObjFW runtime with Automatic Reference Counting | | |3.13 | |February 7, 2020 | |Bug-fix release | | |3.14 | |October 4, 2020 | |Kernel improvements for threading, improved TCP/IP network stack threading support, improved unix emulation layer, Magic User Interface improvements, improved ObjectiveC framework, improved translations for various languages, updated open source components for various libraries and classes, numerous bug fixes. Introduces ScoutNG system monitoring application | | |3.15 | |December 31, 2020 | |Bug-fix release | | |3.16 | |March 9, 2022 | |Added notification system and email client Iris, replaced Odyssey web browser with Wayfarer web browser, added new application switcher. Improvements for Synergy client, added shared openSSL 3 library. Includes hundreds of bug fixes | | |3.17 | |May 1, 2022 | |Bug-fix release | | |3.18 | |May 13, 2023 | |New features: Scriptable Hex/RAM/Disk editor, ArchiveIt archiver/unarchiver application, better cooling information display via Thermals application, Samba2/3 support, including integration with Ambient desktop. Extensive improvements to Radeon drivers and improvements to Realtek 8168 driver support. Issues in USB support for CyrusPlus 5040 systems has been corrected. Many system components and libraries have been bugfixed and improved, including MUI, Netstack and Filesysbox. | | |3.19 | |Jan 18, 2025 | |Bug-fix release | ::

MorphOS 2 includes a native TCP/IP stack ("Netstack") and a Web browser, Sputnik or Origyn Web Browser. Sputnik was begun under a user community bounty system that also resulted in MOSNet, a free, separate TCP/IP stack for MorphOS 1 users. Sputnik is a port of the KHTML rendering engine, on which WebKit is also based. Sputnik is no longer being developed and was removed from later MorphOS 2 releases. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Tcps.svg" caption="All TCP/IP stacks"] ::

References

References

  1. "MorphOS - Source Code Releases".
  2. "Basic Kernel Information". MorphOS Home Page.
  3. By. (2023-02-28). "MorphOS: A Modern Operating System For PowerPC".
  4. (January 2000). "Nový projekt OS: MorphOS". Atlantida Publishing.
  5. (July 2000). "MorphOS? What's that, then?". Pinprint Publishing.
  6. Schröder, Carsten. (July 2002). "Pegasos-Verfügbarkeit steht möglicherweise kurz bevor". APC&TCP.
  7. Dvorak, John C.. (2004-04-06). "Inside Track". Ziff Davis.
  8. (Spring 2003). "MorphOS Update & Pegasos". South Essex Amiga Link.
  9. (November 22, 2002). "bplan and Thendic merge to GENESI (update)". Amiga-News.de.
  10. (February 4, 2003). "Weitere Bilder von der CES 2003". Amiga-News.de.
  11. (November 15, 2004). "Unklarheiten bezüglich der Veröffentlichung von MorphOS 1.5 für den Pegasos". Amiga-News.de.
  12. (January 22, 2005). "Ambient source code under GPL released". Amiga-News.de.
  13. Gerber, David. (2005-01-22). "Ambient, the MorphOS desktop, becomes free".
  14. Haynes, Chris. (March 21, 2007). "Scalos: The Amiga Desktop Replacement".
  15. Piru. (February 23, 2006). "Announcements: Updated MorphOS for PowerUP Users". Amiga.org.
  16. Holwerda, Thom. (August 24, 2005). "MorphOS 1.4.5 Released for Classic Amiga". OSNews.
  17. Holwerda, Thom. (October 17, 2006). "MorphOS 1.5 Running on Efika to Be Shown". OSNews.
  18. "Ambient".
  19. "Ambient Open Source Team - shorted ambient.notes".
  20. http://morphos.de/files/src/3.11//ambient.tar.bz2 Source code of MorphOS 3.11
  21. (2023-09-08). "Linux: o guia definitivo". jideon francisco marques.
  22. (2006-11-22). "MorphOS: The Lightning OS".
  23. Frank Mariak. (December 25, 2013). "MorphOS on Apple G4 Cube?".
  24. (February 15, 2001). "New MorphOS 0.4 Release".
  25. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atZRdevOTn0 MorphOS 0.9 video]
  26. (June 6, 2006). "MorphOS Change Log".
  27. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/2.0 MorphOS 2.0 release notes]
  28. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/2.1 MorphOS 2.1 release notes]
  29. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/2.2 MorphOS 2.2 release notes]
  30. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/2.3 MorphOS 2.3 release notes]
  31. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/2.4 MorphOS 2.4 release notes]
  32. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/2.5 MorphOS 2.5 release notes]
  33. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/2.6 MorphOS 2.6 release notes]
  34. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/2.7 MorphOS 2.7 release notes]
  35. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.0 MorphOS 3.0 release notes]
  36. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.1 MorphOS 3.1 release notes]
  37. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.2 MorphOS 3.2 release notes]
  38. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.3 MorphOS 3.3 release notes]
  39. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.4 MorphOS 3.4 release notes]
  40. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.5 MorphOS 3.5 release notes]
  41. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.6 MorphOS 3.6 release notes]
  42. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.7 MorphOS 3.7 release notes]
  43. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.8 MorphOS 3.8 release notes]
  44. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.9 MorphOS 3.9 release notes]
  45. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.10 MorphOS 3.10 release notes]
  46. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.11 MorphOS 3.11 release notes]
  47. [https://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.12 MorphOS 3.12 release notes]
  48. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.13 MorphOS 3.13 release notes]
  49. [https://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.14 MorphOS 3.14 release notes]
  50. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.15 MorphOS 3.15 release notes]
  51. [https://iris-morphos.com Iris IMAP client]
  52. [https://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.16 MorphOS 3.16 release notes]
  53. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.17 MorphOS 3.17 release notes]
  54. [https://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.18 MorphOS 3.18 release notes]
  55. [http://morphos-team.net/releasenotes/3.19 MorphOS 3.19 release notes]
  56. "MorphOS 2.0".
  57. "Morph Bounties". MorphZone.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

morphos2000-softwareamiga-softwaremorphos-softwareoperating-system-distributions-bootable-from-read-only-mediapowerpc-operating-systemsmicrokernel-based-operating-systemsmicrokernels