OpenSource WINDOWS Alternative to Microsoft

[Malice]

I found this off of Slashdot and I am seriously intrigued.

Its called ReactOS

Check out its screenshots as they get real windows application to run on this OS.

This may be an interesting alternative to those PC's that are small, and cant handle XP, but are still useful....

I will load it on my laptop via VMware to test it.

 

[Malice]

This is a fasinating option....What are your thoughts people?

 

[black_dust]

So let me see if i have this stright, say if u brought a game/software that runs on xp. if i had 98 this software would run it like running on xp? that right?

 

[Malice]

So let me see if i have this stright, say if u brought a game/software that runs on xp. if i had 98 this software would run it like running on xp? that right?

I am confused by the question

This is basically an ALTERNATIVE OS to Windows that SHOULD in the end support most Windows software.

So basically, someone who has an old Windows 98 computer and install this instead and be good to go. The old software "should" install on it.

 

[Leto Atrides]

Looks interesting . I don't have an extra computer around to try it out, though.

 

[Malice]

Looks interesting . I don't have an extra computer around to try it out, though.

Get a copy of VMWare from their site (its free) and install it.

I have VMware on my laptop.
I run XP...with VMware to Vista...and will have this now too.

 

[black_dust]

I am confused by the question

This is basically an ALTERNATIVE OS to Windows that SHOULD in the end support most Windows software.

So basically, someone who has an old Windows 98 computer and install this instead and be good to go. The old software "should" install on it.

Ahhhhhh get ya, i was kinda right in what i was thinking (kinda)

 

[jaguarr]

Interesting find, Malice. I like the goals of their project. I'm tempted to load this up in Virtual PC on my Mac and play with it when I get a little time.

jag

 

[Kable24]

I'm downloading it right now. I'll burn it and install it on my drive I use at school. Looking forward to messing with this.

 

[Malice]

Just remember its only version 0.3 RC1
I have seen they are still having some networking issues...but the whole project looks pretty sweet.

 

[jaguarr]

I've got it running in Virtual PC. The first few installs didn't take, but I finally got it. The networking stuff is definitely FUBAR and I'm going to have to hunt for some drivers, but for an alpha release I'm pleasantly surprised. Much better than the BeOS.

jag

 

[Malice]

Yeah
I got it to run in VMWare.
Firefox installed on command and then I kid you not...
BSOD on ReactOS...killed the ReactOS session and restarted it and it worked better....

Will be interesting to see how it fares in 6 months

 

[jaguarr]

Yeah
I got it to run in VMWare.
Firefox installed on command and then I kid you not...
BSOD on ReactOS...killed the ReactOS session and restarted it and it worked better....

Will be interesting to see how it fares in 6 months

I haven't been able to get any drivers to load on it, including for the ethernet card, so I have zero connectivity through it. It's an alpha, though, so whatchya gonna do?

jag

 

[Malice]

Well I got the networking loaded thru VMWare. I would be willing they natively bundled the VmWare bridge networking drive that way testing is easier.

 

[Malice]

But damn it was fast loading.
It loaded and was waiting for me to run in about 5 seconds.

 

[jaguarr]

Yeah, they bundled a lot of stuff in the VMWare image, I believe. It's damn tricky to load drivers in this OS at this point in time, though. They're still working through that process, it looks like.

jag

 

[Man-Thing]

Can I use it to open and/or purge a flux capicitator?

 

[Malice]

Can I use it to open and/or purge a flux capicitator?

No! Go away if we speak to Technologicall for you!

 

[jaguarr]

Can I use it to open and/or purge a flux capicitator?

In theory, yes, but the cross-platform firmware configuration rewrite is pretty much impossible without a fully working cold-fusion conversion process available to keep the system from overheating as a result, so the likelihood of actually doing it falls somewhere between slim and none.

jag

 

[Man-Thing]

No! Go away if we speak to Technologicall for you!

 

[Kable24]

A fellow student loaded it onto his Linux box with VmWare and he is messing with it. It's using a Linux base and a small mix of Windows, but according to him, it's definitely Linux based. He's a Linux guy. Hopefully when they get better versions, it will be a real contender in the market.

 

[kypade]

Im not sure I understand.
I get running openoffice or whatnot, but how would an opensource windows even work? Is it like linux where you run completely through this and windows never even boots? Cuz the way you all are talking about it makes it sound like your dl and run it right overtop of windows, like a program, like pointlessity...no? tx.

 

[jaguarr]

Im not sure I understand.
I get running openoffice or whatnot, but how would an opensource windows even work? Is it like linux where you run completely through this and windows never even boots? Cuz the way you all are talking about it makes it sound like your dl and run it right overtop of windows, like a program, like pointlessity...no? tx.

No, it's a stand-alone operating system. No Windows required. The idea is that you could run this instead of Windows and still be able to use your legacy Windows software.

jag

 

[Leto Atrides]

Im not sure I understand.
I get running openoffice or whatnot, but how would an opensource windows even work? Is it like linux where you run completely through this and windows never even boots? Cuz the way you all are talking about it makes it sound like your dl and run it right overtop of windows, like a program, like pointlessity...no? tx.

I think they were just talking about running it over windows, with that program VMWare that Malice was talking about, to try it out. You would normally use it as the main OS. They're just running it through a Windows program to test it without booting with it.

 

[kypade]

Ah, gotcha. So it's just a free alternative to windows set up for windows users (meaning running the same prgrms, look & feel, etc?) That sounds cool. I assume it's probably supposed to be like, safer or faster or something, huh? (Otherwise, yknow, why switch.) kk