Linked by Jeff Rollin on Thu 31st Aug 2006 18:44 UTC
I downloaded a few VMware images for use in VMware player.
The mouse (a PS/2 type) did not work either in ReactOS or in Syllable,
but did work in PC-BSD (all in VMware Player). Later, I downloaded the install-cd iso of ReactOS and burned it to
a CD. The image is a tiny download (19MB uncompressed), so it didn't
take long. I intended to install ReactOS on a laptop and desktop.
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by twenex on Thu 31st Aug 2006 20:48 UTC
in reply to "You know"
Member since:
2006-04-21
They have a boot loader, its called freeloader but they decided not to install it by default since they considered it rude to nuke your MBR when you are only installing an Alpha OS to test it.
That's a good point.
About GRUB, I don't think using it instead of freeloader is all that good of an idea. First you can forget about GRUB on an NTFS partition and NTFS support is a must.
ReactOS doesn't afaik currently support NTFS at all. And I have successfully installed Windows using GRUB instead of NTLDR.
Seriously would you try to use it as your main OS now?
No, which is why it would be nice if it played nicer with other OSes.
Second I don't think the ReactOS kernel is multiboot compliant (neither is NT, XP, 2003 Server or Vista as far as I know) so you would still have to chainload ReactOS. So you see GRUB is the wrong tool for this job.
Surely a bootloader that can boot OSes both multiboot-compliant and not is better than one that can boot almost nothing?
You shouldn't nitpick too much about the installer in an Alpha OS and there are some extra concerns about the installer that Windows has that Linux doesn't.
As I indicated, my concerns are not so much that ReactOS is not up to release-quality, but that as a Linux user, its approach to installation (namely sticking so closely to Windows) makes it a royal pain in the arse if for some reason (such as having over 150G of data already installed on the disk) it is not to have pride of first place on your hard drive.
Nevertheless, and I better state this point for a third if not a fourth time, I applaud the fact that ReactOS have come so far in duplicating their target.
Member since:
2006-04-21
They have a boot loader, its called freeloader but they decided not to install it by default since they considered it rude to nuke your MBR when you are only installing an Alpha OS to test it.
That's a good point.
About GRUB, I don't think using it instead of freeloader is all that good of an idea. First you can forget about GRUB on an NTFS partition and NTFS support is a must.
ReactOS doesn't afaik currently support NTFS at all. And I have successfully installed Windows using GRUB instead of NTLDR.
Seriously would you try to use it as your main OS now?
No, which is why it would be nice if it played nicer with other OSes.
Second I don't think the ReactOS kernel is multiboot compliant (neither is NT, XP, 2003 Server or Vista as far as I know) so you would still have to chainload ReactOS. So you see GRUB is the wrong tool for this job.
Surely a bootloader that can boot OSes both multiboot-compliant and not is better than one that can boot almost nothing?
You shouldn't nitpick too much about the installer in an Alpha OS and there are some extra concerns about the installer that Windows has that Linux doesn't.
As I indicated, my concerns are not so much that ReactOS is not up to release-quality, but that as a Linux user, its approach to installation (namely sticking so closely to Windows) makes it a royal pain in the arse if for some reason (such as having over 150G of data already installed on the disk) it is not to have pride of first place on your hard drive.
Nevertheless, and I better state this point for a third if not a fourth time, I applaud the fact that ReactOS have come so far in duplicating their target.