ReactOS - an open source Win XP clone

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

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!

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 (David)]

i bet MS are watching this one!!!

[RB (Andrew)]

Nice one.

[allan gould]

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

[MrB (Simon)]

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 (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by MrB

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

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.

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

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Anyway - the whole thing was only 30Mb.

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

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Wow - this has been going for YEARS:

ReactOS Roadmap

The ReactOS project roadmap highlights the roadmap on the road to version 1.0.
Interested in helping with something on this list? Please check out our developer mailing list or visit the IRC Channels.
This is preliminary information and is subject to change.
ReactOS Releases Roadmap

• Pre-Alpha
  • 0.0.1 - 1996
  • 0.0.2 - 2002
  • 0.1 - 2003
  • 0.2 - 2004
• Alpha
  • 0.3 - 2006
  • 0.4 - planned for 2008
• Beta
  • 0.5 - planned for 2008
  • 0.6
  • 0.7
  • 0.8
  • 0.9
• Production
  • 1.0

ReactOS 0.4 - alpha

ReactOS 0.4 will be the last alpha version of ReactOS. It will have several improvements in comparision to 0.3.0.

• ReactOS "ntoskrnl" kernel: 50% compatible with WinNT 5.x & 6
• Server Message Block (SMB) is an application-level network protocol mainly applied to shared access to files, printers, serial ports, etc.
• Some initial support for audio
• Winlogon fully implemented
• USB keyboard and mouse support
• Support for the 5 most common network cards
• Implement/improve usermode networking
• Applications: FileZilla Server, ICQ, WinAmp

ReactOS 0.5 - beta

ReactOS 0.5 release series will be marked as beta, meaning a system which is suitable for every day use.

• Kernel: 70% compatible
• Finish improvement/rewrite of non-shareable usermode libraries
• New explorer shell or masive improvement of existing ReactOS explorer
• Win32k is the most important part in this release – development should focus on it
• LSA Server
• Printing subsystem implementation
• Replace storage stack with a Windows 2003 based implementation
• Applications: Microsoft Office 1995-2003, MSN Messenger 6-8, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger

ReactOS 0.6 - beta

• Kernel: only bugfixes
• Shareable and non-shareable usermode DLLs improvement
• Full audio support (own drivers and complete wdm audio interface)
• Full USB devices support
• DirectX enhancements and implementation, allowing to run popular games
• Applications: Microsoft Visual Studio 2003/2005

ReactOS 0.7 - beta

• Kernel: only bugfixes
• NTFS file system support
• Heavy networking system bugfixing
• Applications: Photoshop, IE 6/7

ReactOS 0.8 - beta

• Kernel: only bugfixes

ReactOS 0.9 - beta

• Kernel: only bugfixes

ReactOS 1.0 - gold/production

• Kernel: only bugfixes

[nmo]

I found Min sys requirements on the Wiki

"Whether installing ReactOS on real hardware or on an emulator, it is important to know the minimum requirements to install and use ReactOS:

• 32MB RAM (NOTE: Debug builds may require 72MB of RAM, please use a release build on low memory systems)
• IDE harddisk (not SATA)
• FAT16/FAT32 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) keyboard
• PS/2 compatible mouse or Microsoft Mouse compatible serial mouse

Furthermore, if you want to try TCP/IP networking, one of the following ethernet cards 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 (Simon)]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

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

Originally Posted by nmo

I found Min sys requirements on the Wiki
....
Unfortunetly no mention of minimum processor speed

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 (Nick)]

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

[joe_smith]

Originally Posted by Chippy

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

No its based on Windows NT what XP is based on