ReactOS - an open source Win XP clone

[Omaroo]

Hey all. Thanks to Joe Smith, a user on another astro forum, I've come across "ReactOS" - an open source offering that is built from new code from the ground up to run applications written for XP. This is fabbo, as you get an XP clone that is only a 30Mb download - and you don't have licensing and activation problems to think about.

It looks and smells like XP already - even in its alpha release phase.

I've fired up the installation within a Sun VirtualBox environment on my PC for a bit of a look-see. Runs pretty well for alpha release. I HAVE seen a BSOD, but given that it's alpha I'd expect this from time to time.

The last screenshot is of IIS running in FireFox2, running on ReactOS withing a Sun VirtualBox environment in turn running on my trusty Vista box. Whew! :P

I love the Linux-esque enhancements sich as multiple desktops too - very nice touches that should have been part of XP years ago. If Microsoft don't sue the pants off them for GUI copyright infringement, it'll stay familiar to current XP users. I guess that OpenOffice looks pretty similar to MSOffice, but this is even closer to XP.

Anyways - here's the website: http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html

Have fun!

[h0ughy]

i bet MS are watching this one!!!

[RB]

Nice one.

:)

[allan gould]

Thats a nice option to have. Thanks for that heads up Chris. Much appreciated

[MrB]

Nice.
Annoying though that there's no mention of download sizes and min system requirements. None that I could find anyway.

[AlexN]

might give that a look after work today.. Thanks for the heads up.

[Omaroo]

I downloaded the full Installation CD - as a zipped ISO disk image. I chose this becaue VirtualBox just mounts the ISO and goes with it.

Anyway - the whole thing was only 30Mb. :thumbsup:

I just donated US$15 to their cause too. This is brilliant stuff.

[RB]

...and it was the quickest 30Mb d/load I've seen on my connection.

:thumbsup:

[Omaroo]

Wow - this has been going for YEARS:

[nmo]

I found Min sys requirements on the Wiki

"Whether installing ReactOS (http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php/ReactOS) on real hardware or on an emulator, it is important to know the minimum requirements to install and use ReactOS:

32MB RAM (http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php?title=RAM&action=edit) (NOTE: Debug builds may require 72MB of RAM, please use a release build on low memory systems)
IDE (http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php?title=IDE&action=edit) harddisk (http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php?title=Harddisk&action=edit) (not SATA)
FAT16 (http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php?title=FAT16&action=edit)/FAT32 (http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php?title=FAT32&action=edit) primary boot partition (NOTE: boot partition must be the first partition on the disk)
VGA compatible video card (VESA BIOS version v2.0 and higher)
Standard (PS/2 (http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php?title=PS/2&action=edit)) keyboard (http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php?title=Keyboard&action=edit)
PS/2 compatible mouse (http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php?title=Mouse&action=edit) or Microsoft Mouse compatible serial mouse Furthermore, if you want to try TCP/IP (http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php?title=TCP/IP&action=edit) networking, one of the following ethernet cards (http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php?title=Ethernet_card&action=edit) may work:

NE2000 clones (Such as Realtek 8139)
AMD PCnet32 LANCE Other cards might also work, if you provide the appropriate driver."



Unfortunetly no mention of minimum processor speed

[MrB]

Excellent, thanks guys.
Have an old P133 laptop to play with, will give it a go. Bit worried about PS2 keyboard and mouse tho...

[Chippy]

1996!! XP didn't come out until when (2002?). Hmmm - I guess they started with Win95??

[joe_smith]

No its based on Windows NT what XP is based on :)