ReactOS

[AntimatterAsh]

I was wondering about ReactOS? Is it legal, and if so what is it like? I am thinking of trying a VM of it if it is legal and just wanted to know what the system requirements of it are, what it looks like, whether it is any good or not, I am not a big fan of linux as I hate the OS, but apparantly this has .exe compatibility (and no usb support). The VM will support it, it supports Windows 7, so it should do, even if the host pc only has 1.5gb physical memory it works, it is right now Thanks for any help

 

[voyagerfan99]

All ReactOS is is another linux distro but has a grahical look of Windows. Just download it and try it.

 

[wolfeking]

It is legal. The plan of the whole thing is to have binary level compatability with microsoft .exe programs. Currently it is just a OS extension of WINE. It is okay, but I have yet to get it to work well. It is not good to run in Vbox. The mouse integration with the virtual machine is not calibrated. I myself like what they intend to do, but they need USB drivers to be there now. It needs a PS/2 mouse and keyboard if you use it outside of a virtual machine.

System requirements on the OS itself are basically anything made in the last 20 years. Pentium MMX or newer, 32 MB RAM or more, a HDD with 512 MB of free space, 2 GB recommended, and a VGA compatible monitor. It is 16/32 bit compatible, but not 64 bit.

 

[NyxCharon]

All ReactOS is is another linux distro but has a grahical look of Windows. Just download it and try it.

No, it's not. It has nothing to do with linux at all.

The plan of the whole thing is to have binary level compatability with microsoft .exe programs. Currently it is just a OS extension of WINE.

Again, no. No part of the linux system or the GNU tools are implemented in ReactOS.

From the website:
" ReactOS is a free and open-sourced operating system based on the Windows NT architecture, providing support for existing applications and drivers, and an alternative to the current dominant consumer operating system.

It would be perhaps important to start by saying what ReactOS -isn't-. It is not another wrapper built on Linux, like WINE. "


Basically, it's an attempt to make a windows clone that is free and open source. It is legal, there was a code freeze for 2 years previously to make sure no part of the windows code/system was copied and used within it. It's cool in a vm to try, but it's nothing special. I've had better luck running programs via Wine in linux. It's also good for general research on windows systems since it maintains the FOSS model. But to use on a day to day basis? Not even close.

Lastly,

I am not a big fan of linux as I hate the OS,

The? There's hundreds of Linux OS's out there. Don't try one and judge them all the same. There are significant differences and goals with each one.

 

[Gun]

No, it's not. It has nothing to do with linux at all.




Again, no. No part of the linux system or the GNU tools are implemented in ReactOS.

From the website:
" ReactOS is a free and open-sourced operating system based on the Windows NT architecture, providing support for existing applications and drivers, and an alternative to the current dominant consumer operating system.

It would be perhaps important to start by saying what ReactOS -isn't-. It is not another wrapper built on Linux, like WINE. "


Basically, it's an attempt to make a windows clone that is free and open source. It is legal, there was a code freeze for 2 years previously to make sure no part of the windows code/system was copied and used within it. It's cool in a vm to try, but it's nothing special. I've had better luck running programs via Wine in linux. It's also good for general research on windows systems since it maintains the FOSS model. But to use on a day to day basis? Not even close.

Lastly,


The? There's hundreds of Linux OS's out there. Don't try one and judge them all the same. There are significant differences and goals with each one.

Do you use Linux by any chance?

 

[wolfeking]

the question is not Linux for him. He is very good at linux. He has his own distro.

And not to call you out, but one of the largest files it loads is wine. They say that they are not linux, but it is in there. Have you ever used it? It might be a change in the last 2 months or so, but I doubt it. And if they were working on NT compatibility, you'd expect a USB driver as it has been windows standard equipment since at least ME, maybe even before.

 

[NyxCharon]

And not to call you out, but one of the largest files it loads is wine. They say that they are not linux, but it is in there. Have you ever used it? It might be a change in the last 2 months or so, but I doubt it. And if they were working on NT compatibility, you'd expect a USB driver as it has been windows standard equipment since at least ME, maybe even before.

Linux implies the linux kernel. The kernel they use is not the linux kernel. I have looked at the source code of it myself.They don't even have the same kind of kernel (mono versus micro). If you strip away the linux kernel, you don't have linux. That leaves it possibly being unix. Which it is not, it doesn't meet have of the standard requirements to be unix or unix complaint.

You mention WINE. Yes, you are right, it uses the CODE of wine. It does not actually run wine the same way it's run in Linux. In linux, wine is a standalone app. In ReactOS, it is compiled and integrated into the operating system itself.

To say i've used it is a understatement. I've done a very thorough study of it's code and the methods it uses to deploy the various programs it can run. This was because I wanted to merge it with linux to make a single OS to run a vast majority of the programs out there on all systems. I've since changed that plan and just want to maintain a easy to use linux distro. I still toy around with that idea every once in a while though.

:good:

 

[wolfeking]

I am not saying they used the Linux kernal. But they are in effect using a Linux program to have .exe compatibility. I like what they are doing. But thanks to the complete lack of USB compatibility every time I have tried it, it will not work on my system. I do plan to test it thoroughly as soon as I can get a motherboard that supports it. Then I will be able to make more than a studied guess at it.