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ReactOS 0.4.2 Released: Supports Linux Filesystems, .NET Applications, and Doom 3 (reactos.org)
Continuing its rapid release cycle, ReactOS has unveiled version 0.4.2 of its free "open-source binary-compatible Windows re-implementation." Slashdot reader jeditobe reports that this new version can now read and write various Linux/Unix file systems like Btrfs and ext (and can read ReiserFS and UFS), and also runs applications like Thunderbird and 7-Zip.
ReactOS 0.4.2 also features Cygwin support, .NET 2.0 and 4.0 application support, among other updated packages and revised external dependencies such as Wine and UniATA. The team also worked to improve overall user experience...
ReactOS is free. You can boot your desktop or laptop from it. It looks like Windows (a 10-year-old version, anyway), so you already know how to use it. And it'll run some Windows and DOS applications, maybe including DOS games that regular 64-bit Windows can no longer touch. These videos even show ReactOS running Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Doom 3.
ReactOS is free. You can boot your desktop or laptop from it. It looks like Windows (a 10-year-old version, anyway), so you already know how to use it. And it'll run some Windows and DOS applications, maybe including DOS games that regular 64-bit Windows can no longer touch. These videos even show ReactOS running Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Doom 3.
...can it run Crysis?
Circumcision is child abuse.
For the longest time, article after article of slow progress I did not even think the developers took this seriously beyond beyond some coding fun. Color me impressed. This might take off in a few years. Now that I think of it, I am reminded of another OS that was relegated "maybe someday".
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
since "It looks like Windows (a 10-year-old version, anyway)" then it looks just like modern windows 10? (puke)
I think you mean over 16 year old.
10 year ago we were well into Windows XP's lifecycle and unless you were one of those weirdo that purposefully changed the luna theme for that old win98 theme because it was "faster", no one saw that in a long time.
Way to be on the ball, Slashdot! From their web site: "Release Date: 16 August 2016"
I guess it is a good thing I follow Distrowatch instead, since they generally have OS release announcements within 24 hours.
Oh, look. It's the same schmuck who posted essentially the same message on the SpaceX Dragon post.
Hey, putz, if it doesn't interest you, just move along. There are billions of other sites, surely one of them must have something of interest.
Slashdot has been posting stories like that for 20 years and lots of "anyone" are happy to read and comment *constructively.
In short, GTFO and HANL
The only reason I keep a Windows 7 partition on my PC... if ReactOS can run it, I can go 100% FOSS operating systems.
Please make pro audio interfaces and midi work! If my audio stuff would work, this could save me from Windows 10.
Please!!!
I appreciate the irony of a ten year development project being in a "rapid release cycle" at version 0.42.
ReactOS 0.4.2 also features Cygwin support
That's pretty much all I need in an OS :)
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
Tired of forced upgrades to Windows 10? Tired of not being able to select the patches to install? Tired of patches breaking entire classes of hardware and application? Kick these guys some money or contribute some of your skill and time. Linux is great for apps that have a FOSS alternative. But sometimes you just need Windows. This should be a priority for PCs everywhere.
ME ME ME ME MEEEEEE...
What are you doing, warming up to sing us an opera? Oh, wait, I get it, you're one of the ENTITLED generation.
The other poster wished you a nice life...me, not so much. Me, I say GTFO and FOAD, not necessarily in that order.
Um, since Microsoft doesn't release it's code, there is no way you determine that is was copied. Also, since Microsoft doesn't release it's code, there is no way to copy it. If the APIs are the same, of course. They are trying to create software that runs Windows programs that call Windows APIs. They would have to be the same. The law suit would fall into the same category as SCO vs IBM over Unix code in Linux.
I mean, what is the point behind developing a new version of Windows to run old software if you can't run Bob?
The is shit in crowd need to have their balls stomped on after being set on fire.
Most OS are designed to run on actual hardware. Virtualization is great for servers where the primary focus is the NIC(s) and not the GPU(s).
ie : Stop trying to expect great performance when you are trying to fit a square cube through a small round hole.
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
The [ OS ] is shit in [ Virtualization ] crowd need to have their balls stomped on after being set on fire.
I do my best editing after I hit send.
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
I'm not expecting anything, I'm just saying the video is fake.
*its code.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Uhh Beavis, he said taint, ughh
>"It looks like Windows (a 10-year-old version, anyway), so you already know how to use it."
Really? What if you have been using Linux pretty much exclusively for a few decades? :)
Um, since Microsoft doesn't release it's code, there is no way you determine that is was copied. Also, since Microsoft doesn't release it's code, there is no way to copy it. If the APIs are the same, of course. They are trying to create software that runs Windows programs that call Windows APIs. They would have to be the same. The law suit would fall into the same category as SCO vs IBM over Unix code in Linux.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... == Have a look; they may not be as vulnerable as you believe
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
There have been leaks of Microsoft Windows code.
Your Right!
Can M$ use these API retroactively against the devs?
I'd be less worried about copyright than about patents.
The world doesn't revolve around you. I know I should've prefaced this with a trigger warning, but it's the truth.
I would be so very grateful to the ReactOS community if I could run Office (2007 is fine), Zotero and some version of SolidWorks on it. I don't even dare to install ReactOS to try, as the disappointment would be crushing. Basically, I hope to not be forced to install Windows 10.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Why don't they do a 64-bit or 128-bit extension of NTFS, and make that their native file system. Make it backward compatible to support reading NTFS files & directories, and a way to write those as well? At least that way, it's a way out for people trying to flee Microsoft, but who are not comfortable w/ Linux, BSD or Apple
My win! :)
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Um, since Microsoft doesn't release it's code, there is no way you determine that is was copied.
You may not be able to compare the source code, but ReactOS is open source, therefore Microsoft can compare the source code to their own proprietary source. Rest assured that if any copying is going on, Microsoft will promptly sue ReactOS into oblivion.
This is a cute project but it still doesn't do anything.
It can't even run applications installed through its own application manager.
When I installed Firefox using the built in application manager, the OS froze, then after a reset it wouldn't boot.
Yet it can only boot from FATshit
It is nice and all to keep me from spending $100 every 2-3 years on a new OS. But that's not where the money is. Active Directory and Client Access Licenses are the money makers. Too much money. When ReactOS performs in the server space, then my pants will get tight over the new version.
Doesn't intentionality release it's code...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2...
or educational/military/large enough client
citation needed.
And lets be honest, Microsoft can stonewall this project into shutdown anytime they like, regardless of the merits of the case.
It could do for old Win16/32 apps what DOSbox did for old DOS apps, letting users and commercial vendors run their old software on modern hardware.
Twinstiq, game news
Um, since Microsoft doesn't release it's code, there is no way you determine that is was copied.
Microsoft source code has been shared with organizations and governments over the years and portions publically leaked on multiple occasions.
Also, since Microsoft doesn't release it's code, there is no way to copy it. If the APIs are the same, of course. They are trying to create software that runs Windows programs that call Windows APIs. They would have to be the same. The law suit would fall into the same category as SCO vs IBM over Unix code in Linux.
Given cost of a litigation whether a case against you has merit is often besides the point.
to be honest i would suggest GTFO followed by FOAD; people who FOAD and then GTFO well... always remember to double tap!
What generation?
Last time I tried either the livecd or boot cd on real hardware it didn't boot on either of my modern systems. I managed to get it to install on a *REAL* Pentium, but it would freeze at some point during boot.
Additionally, having attempted to run it on *REAL* 440FX/BX hardware, it didn't boot on either, as recently as some of the 0.4 daily dev releases. Never had a problem with it in qemu however, but if I'm running qemu I can just as easily run a real copy of windows inside of it.
Anyone else have similiar experiences?
This affects everyone because IF and WHEN ReactOS is released as 1.0, No one will need a windows license anymore for "random ancient program X" or "random piece of hardware that requires old version of Windows" anymore for their organization.
ReactOS has almost reached Windows XP compatibility. Replacing Windows 3.11 is big, Windows 95 is bigger, Windows XP is amazing, and if and when it replaces Windows 7,8,&10, buh-bye Windows for a lot of organizations.
ReactOS is at 0.4.2 release -- I hope no one you know is using it on a regular basis, and I certainly wouldn't expect you or any one that isn't actively developing it to be running it. It hasn't even made it out of Alpha stage, much less Beta. Slashdot is "News for Nerds," and that's what this is -- and you'd better believe it's huge. An OS that is not only binary compatible with Windows through Wine, but hardware and driver compatible as well is a holy grail for a lot of people. I've worked several places where there was a Windows 95 or earlier PC whose sole job was to run a printer, scanner, and/or other critical system and the machine was disconnected from the network for security reasons (mostly), and it couldn't be set up to work through a VM (at least at the time).
Microsoft killed their Windows platform starting with Windows 8. It has been downhill from there. Windows 10 won't be on any of my machines, if I can help it. I would gladly jump to ReactOS.
Do people care enough about this OS to throw donations their way? The download page says they could hire more people if they had funding.
Do you run Windows or know anyone that does? If so, you should consider this news, ESPECIALLY with all (negative) attention Windows 10 has been getting. There's no better time for something like this which *might* be able to, at a minimum, run in a VM on linux to support those handful of Windows programs you can't live without. Long term, this could be a viable option.
Are you using PCI passthrough with a VT-d CPU?
... they don't want to admit that nobody uses or cares about ReactOS...
There is a possibility that you represent the views and opinions of very, very few. A distinct possibility.
Another distinct possibility is that your belief that your opinions represent the majority is just a symptom of mental illness.
tl;dr? No-one cares what you think. Now please vacate "your house" so the cleaning crew can make it possible for bus travellers to safely use the shelter for it's intended purpose. Thanks.
I would like a software GPU, even if simply for playing games from 1996 to 2002 in 800x600 on a fast dual core or slow quad core PC.
Even if it ran stuff from Direct3D 3 to 7.0 with a feature level around an nvidia TNT2, and simulated a Voodoo2 for running Glide (and hence OpenGL stuff running on top of Glide if you feel like it. Default OpenGL can be some better featured default Mesa thing, but if everything works correctly you can choose between both).
This would be so that special "guest additions" stuff wouldn't be needed much (other than a couple drivers ), or having the correct level of 3D features and driver stability wouldn't be needed on the host. Use the host's GPU optionally for scaling the output. Well, so as to get something that always works on games and always works like the NIC or the keyboard do. Even if just a low end set of features and low end 3D performance are the things that always work, as long as everything just works as if you were using a really good PC from year 1999 with damn everything working as it used to.
Actually you can get a windows read-only source licence from microsoft. It is available for educational and military institutions.
Google WRK aka windows research kernel
The is shit in crowd need to have their balls stomped on after being set on fire.
Most OS are designed to run on actual hardware. Virtualization is great for servers where the primary focus is the NIC(s) and not the GPU(s).
ie : Stop trying to expect great performance when you are trying to fit a square cube through a small round hole.
Yes ... BUT ONLY for type 2 hypervisors. VirtualBox, VMWare Player/Workstation are both crappy and horrible hypervisors which do not access hardware directly and use buggy drivers on the guest OSes and then use a bugger host wrapper to communicate with the host drivers and OS.
Type 1 hypervisors such as KVM support gaming with full hardware access.Shoot Linus went crazy and got 7 freaking +90 FPS battle going with 7 AMD video cards with full native performance!
So yes with a right hypervisor such as Hyper-V Win10 pro anniversary edition, VMWare ESX, and KVM you can use the OS very close to the bare metal as a type 1 hypervisor goes underneath the os at ring -1 inside the CPU.
KVM is free and so are some tools and Hyper-V is there for cheap if you use Windows Home or free if you have Windows 10 pro to run ReactOS.
http://saveie6.com/
It makes sense that there is no sound in that video of Skyrim on ReactOS. After all sound drivers are how the Asians spy on our computers. If it was the NIC I would blame the Brits.
Does not lay within it's technical capabilities and prowess, but with it's management skills and ability to create a community.
For years I've been a fan of ReactOS, actively participating and contributing to the community, albeit not in the form of a coder. Which, in the (still) current ReactOS mentality, is the only thing that counts for the brass, apparently. Testing ReactOS on a dedicated real-life machine (thus, not in VM), debugging, translating, making info-pages on their wikipedia: nothing really matters to the 'elite' of ReactOS. They just consider you some sort of fodder, and the moment you ask for a bit more transparency (on their financial side, for instance), or try to address the complete lack of community involvement, they bork (and bark) at you - and worse. Time and again I've tried to explain this in the past, that a successful project is NOT merely depended on the technical/coder side of things, but also how you establish a community, and try to involve people in your project. There were some half-baked trials at it, but those were mere lipservice, where it was always a consideration of a top-down approach, not a bottom-up way of seeing things.
Ergo; in the 20 years of their project, they have not succeeded in gathering 1/100th of the community that other projects like Linux have. Again and again I've pointed this out to them, but to no avail. They just refuse to see it, and only want things done strictly to their wishes, with their attitude of finding no other (real) importance to the project than 'code'. Which, granted, is an important part, but which will NOT get you a lively, engaging, and growing community - which is an absolute necessity for any open source project to know success. Eventually, since I kept hitting that nail, they got annoyed (not: they realised the error of their ways) and kicked me out too, the so many-th person who was a tester/sponsor/translator/helper of ReactOS they managed to drive away.
Whatever; so I went away, which is what they wanted. But what did it help them, then? Nothing at all. They view constructive criticism as a threat, not as an opportunity to better themselves and the project. They don't value anything someone does outside of their little constraints, and outside their preconceived notions as to what they see as important, yet have the mouth full of 'community-involvement'. Whatever you do, how many years you may have sponsored or helped out as a non-coder, you just are not counted as having done anything worthwhile. They have no inkling of an idea how to get a thriving community where you allow the bottom-up approach as well.
It's a sad thing to say, but the whole thing is run by people with overblown ego's, trying to protect their little turf and egotistical whims, ignoring anyone else, and being autistically elitist in wanting to decide virtually everything to the minute detail. Its only a community-project in name, but not in essence. And that's why, even after 20 years of operation, their project is just a small-scale project who - in comparison with other projects - has almost nothing to show for. They make some small technical progress year after year, that's true, but they fail to realise how much their ego-driven top-down approach has muffled the project to achieve the grandeur and support it could have had, had the top been more prone to some input from the people actually supporting it.
I've poured hundreds of dollars in it, and spend years on it helping them in my own way, only to kicked out when I pointed out their mistakes and lack of transparency. I still lie, the project, but I can not, in good conscience, support (most of) the people running that program/project. they've done it with me, as they've done it with dozens of people: it's no surprise, thus, that they're still at the small scale they are, without any community to speak off. They can't get any traction, because they kill off everything that would get them traction. There are some good coders under them, to be sure, but almost all of them lack the ma
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
Feel free to join ReactOS telegram chat https://telegram.me/reactos
That is what Windows XP should've kept since the very beginning. Fuck Luna and the trend of rounded corners and gradients at that era.
Not trolling, genuinely asking - I'm not a programmer, but in the Free Software Movement I've always heard that Windows code was a mess and Windows is an example of awful architectural design. So, what is the point in making a free version of it rather than bettering Wine or PlayOnLinux?