ReactOS: an Open Source OS Platform for Learning
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 20th Mar 2007 18:38 UTC, submitted by Andareed
ReactOS "The ReactOS operating system has been in development for over eight years and aims to provide users with a fully functional and Windows-compatible distribution under the GPL license. ReactOS comes with its own Windows 2003-based kernel and system utilities and applications, resulting in an environment identical to Windows, both visually and internally. This talk will introduce the ReactOS project, as well as the various software engineering challenges behind it."
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Windows 2003-based kernel?
by BSDfan on Tue 20th Mar 2007 19:25 UTC
BSDfan
Member since:
2007-03-14

People saying ReactOS has a kernel based on Windows NT5.2(2k3) is a little misleading..

ReactOS actually is writing a completely 100% Open Source implementation of the NT series under the GPL..

They implement plan on supporting API's from NT4/NT5(2000)/NT5.1(XP)/NT5.2(2k3) and NT6(Vista).

Misinterpretation errors like that cause lots of problems, It's like the people who keep mistaking ReactOS as a Moddified Linux system.. It's not..

It's a complete NT re-implementation..

Reply Score: 5

RE: Windows 2003-based kernel?
by Thom_Holwerda on Tue 20th Mar 2007 19:46 UTC in reply to "Windows 2003-based kernel?"
Thom_Holwerda Member since:
2005-06-29

Misinterpretation errors like that cause lots of problems, It's like the people who keep mistaking ReactOS as a Moddified Linux system.. It's not..

You do know who wrote this blurb, right?

One of the main devs of ReactOS.

Reply Score: 1

RE: Windows 2003-based kernel?
by Almafeta on Tue 20th Mar 2007 19:53 UTC in reply to "Windows 2003-based kernel?"
Almafeta Member since:
2007-02-22

People saying ReactOS has a kernel based on Windows NT5.2(2k3) is a little misleading.

In their defense, the goal of ReactOS has changed many times over the years.

Reply Score: 0

RE: Windows 2003-based kernel?
by SReilly on Tue 20th Mar 2007 20:15 UTC in reply to "Windows 2003-based kernel?"
SReilly Member since:
2006-12-28

"People saying ReactOS has a kernel based on Windows NT5.2(2k3) is a little misleading.."

So I should take your word over this guy's...

"Speaker Bio

Alex Ionescu is currently studying in Software Engineering at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec and is a Microsoft Technical Student Ambassador. He is the lead kernel developer of the ReactOS Project and project leader of TinyKRNL."

I'm glad I RTFA!

Reply Score: 1

RE: Windows 2003-based kernel?
by BSDfan on Tue 20th Mar 2007 20:25 UTC in reply to "Windows 2003-based kernel?"
BSDfan Member since:
2007-03-14

Sorry, I was only commenting about his choice of wording.

I must of read it as if they said:
"It's based off of Windows 2003's kernel source code.."

SReilly, I'm aware who he is... Apologies.

Edited 2007-03-20 20:26

Reply Score: 2

RE[2]: Windows 2003-based kernel?
by SReilly on Tue 20th Mar 2007 20:52 UTC in reply to "RE: Windows 2003-based kernel?"
SReilly Member since:
2006-12-28

No worries, I hope I didn't offend. Reading over it again, it seem like I may have been a little heavy handed in my reply ;-), but I do understand where you are coming from.

Trying to be humorous was never my strong point...

Reply Score: 1

RE[2]: Windows 2003-based kernel?
by rayiner on Tue 20th Mar 2007 22:46 UTC in reply to "RE: Windows 2003-based kernel?"
rayiner Member since:
2005-07-06

Your comment was appropriate. Regardless of who wrote it, as written the statement implies that the OS is based on Windows 2003, not that it is a reimplementation of it. However, its probably just a poor choice of wording on his part.

Reply Score: 4

Andareed Member since:
2007-03-19

ReactOS aims to be 100% API, source, and binary compatible with Windows. It's similar to how Wine is an implementation of the Win32 API.

Reply Score: 1

RE[2]: Windows 2003-based kernel?
by UnderMine on Thu 22nd Mar 2007 13:42 UTC in reply to "Windows 2003-based kernel?"
UnderMine Member since:
2007-02-27

My understanding is ReactOS is an attempt to provide binary level compatability with Windows NT and derived systems.

This timeline shows some of the relationships :-

http://www.oshistory.net/metadot/index.pl?id=2165

The timeline has not been updated in a couple of years and the current information I have on ReactOS is here :-

http://www.oshistory.net/metadot/index.pl?id=2341

This is due to be merged in and I will be releasing a new version with a complete update in mid-April.

Paddy

Reply Score: 1

Re: based
by Myrd on Tue 20th Mar 2007 21:45 UTC
Myrd
Member since:
2006-01-05

I believe Alex meant "based on the design of", which is correct.

Reply Score: 4

What it boils down to...
by dnstest on Wed 21st Mar 2007 07:16 UTC
dnstest
Member since:
2006-06-11

ReactOS must "clone" an environment capable of running Win16, Win32, and Win64. On top of that, it must also inclusively implement all the .NET Framework releases. That is, if the goal is complete compatibility and implementation. To me that is not directly comparable to cloning one Windows release level, it is going beyond that.

Can anyone clarify the differences between Win64 5.x and Win64 6.x?

Reply Score: 1

RE: What it boils down to...
by gedmurphy on Wed 21st Mar 2007 09:26 UTC in reply to "What it boils down to..."
gedmurphy Member since:
2005-12-23

ReactOS is currently aiming for win32 only. There is no 16 bit support in ReactOS and there never will be.

64 bit is planned for the future, but there is little point in doing this until the current code base is both stable and complete enough for it to be viable.

It should be noted that much of the ReactOS code is 64 bit friendly as the devs are aware of the future path of computing.

Reply Score: 2

RE: What it boils down to...
by BrianH on Wed 21st Mar 2007 13:51 UTC in reply to "What it boils down to..."
BrianH Member since:
2005-07-06

Mono should help if you need the .NET support (which I would need too). It isn't exactly compatible but it's close, and runs on Windows already.

Reply Score: 1

a glimmer of hope for Windows developers
by load_mic on Wed 21st Mar 2007 13:01 UTC
load_mic
Member since:
2005-12-13

Hope this project does well.
It may be the only hope for legacy Win32 code as MS slowly starts forcing everyone to use .NET.

Reply Score: 2

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