# AROS

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/aros/

6 people recommended AROS in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and none criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 7 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source operating system compatible with AmigaOS, seen as promising and worth developing. Critics agree it lacks a usable modern web browser and is a chore to set up.

Summary written by Claude from 11 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Open-source AmigaOS-compatible operating system (4 comments in the sample): "AROS providing implementations of all the important parts of AmigaOS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46539306)) "There is an open source version, named AROS, which you can use." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46538800)) "what Aros m68k is doing with the Amiga" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47695850))
- Seen as promising and worth developing (2 comments in the sample): "had the resources been spent on AROS instead, we'd have a usable modern ecosystem by now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46383424)) "It's a remarkable little OS, and it does have potential." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49410779))

## What people warn about

- Lacks a usable modern web browser (2 comments in the sample): "the lack of a decent web browser is a pretty hard limiter in 2026" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46535123)) "It lacks a usable browser for todays websites." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49021944))
- Chore to set up (1 comment in the sample): "it's always a bit of a chore to set up a system for it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49416561))

## Other operating systems people recommend

- [Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/linux/): 597 recommend, 106 mixed, 243 criticize
- [Windows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows/): 537 recommend, 415 mixed, 3187 criticize
- [macOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macos/): 521 recommend, 333 mixed, 1695 criticize
- [FreeBSD](https://hackerapproved.com/p/freebsd/): 243 recommend, 65 mixed, 73 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "AROS", https://hackerapproved.com/p/aros/ (6 recommend, 3 mixed, 0 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.