So impressed by ReactOS 0.4.14
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 5:59 pm
I've avoided testing ReactOS for a long time (since 0.3.nn) as the 0.3 versions showed some basic promise as to what ReactOS would become - but in general end-user terms the 0.3 series was a let-down, so much being promised but so little delivered with regard to usability and stability. This was completely understood as ReactOS was and still is so heavily in Alpha.
For those that just want a Windows replacement (and want it now) it was a disappointment, mainly for the end-users' over-expectations of what ReactOS could be.
I thought I'd give it another go with the idea of testing an application or two and I have to say, from the very start - I was really impressed.
Using Virtualbox 5.2.22 and a 10gb VDI file for ReactOS, mounting the nightly build ReactOS download as an ISO for the virtual CD drive and another Windows-created, NTFS-formatted VHD of 3gb to store apps I want to test, I FAT formatted, installed and booted ReactOS flawlessly. Bloody quick, the whole process - what I have always longed for from a Windows install to be but which never was. No corporate bollox, straightforward and easy. No Win 10 "We are getting things ready for you"...
General first impressions using the default theme. I've not used ReactOS for a long time so my general impressions are roughly the same as a naive user faced with a ReactOS installation for the first time. The familiar layout and easy access to all the usual tools and utilities, expected and functioning keypresses all working as I want them to. The slightly jarring non-Microsoft icons do make me instinctively 'feel' that I am running Slax or Linux Mint. A moment or two of getting used to them and I can accept them but I feel unsure I could live with them long term, I'd have to hack them to make them more familiar but I'd probably make them steampunk... That's just me.
Usability, everything on a cursory examination seems to be there, sometimes only in basic form and some things are missing, such as the disc administration tool - but what there is, is usable or obviously under development.
Stability. The ReactOS explorer occasionally crashes and a slow-down occurs during a copy/paste operation but each time it has slowly resurrected itself but ReactOS itself seems significantly more stable. Running multiple applications does not seem that sensible but for simple, single tasks, it really 'feels' more than stable, even usable.
Testing programs. I have a tool, I wrote it myself. It runs in conjunction with Rocketdock. It is an an enhancement of Rocketdock's icon settings utility written in VB6. I did not perform an installation, instead simply copying the application's folder across to the apps VHD and hen transferring manually it to ReactOS programs folder. The first try it complained about a missing VB6, MSVBM60.DLL and I copied a found version into the system32 folder.
[ external image ]
Here is where I start to be really impressed. My VB6 utility worked flawlessly in all its methods without an error. This simple test proved to me where my o/s allegiance will lie in the future. ReactOS runs MY programs, those that I wrote. Rocketdock itself does not run and that has to do with the absence of a fully functioning GDI+ sub system I am guessing. That does not matter for the moment, I know it WILL come. The important thing here for me is that my fairly complex VB6 application runs straight out of the box.
I have some more testing to do with various other utilities and so far he results have been impressive. More on that later.
Forgive me for stating what you probably already know, that ReactOS will be usable, perhaps not in the near future for most but for some, perhaps. For me, as a test bed for installing VB6 apps onto a ReactOS virtual sandbox, programs that I have previously created for XP, it will already prove to be an invaluable testing asset.
For those that just want a Windows replacement (and want it now) it was a disappointment, mainly for the end-users' over-expectations of what ReactOS could be.
I thought I'd give it another go with the idea of testing an application or two and I have to say, from the very start - I was really impressed.
Using Virtualbox 5.2.22 and a 10gb VDI file for ReactOS, mounting the nightly build ReactOS download as an ISO for the virtual CD drive and another Windows-created, NTFS-formatted VHD of 3gb to store apps I want to test, I FAT formatted, installed and booted ReactOS flawlessly. Bloody quick, the whole process - what I have always longed for from a Windows install to be but which never was. No corporate bollox, straightforward and easy. No Win 10 "We are getting things ready for you"...
General first impressions using the default theme. I've not used ReactOS for a long time so my general impressions are roughly the same as a naive user faced with a ReactOS installation for the first time. The familiar layout and easy access to all the usual tools and utilities, expected and functioning keypresses all working as I want them to. The slightly jarring non-Microsoft icons do make me instinctively 'feel' that I am running Slax or Linux Mint. A moment or two of getting used to them and I can accept them but I feel unsure I could live with them long term, I'd have to hack them to make them more familiar but I'd probably make them steampunk... That's just me.
Usability, everything on a cursory examination seems to be there, sometimes only in basic form and some things are missing, such as the disc administration tool - but what there is, is usable or obviously under development.
Stability. The ReactOS explorer occasionally crashes and a slow-down occurs during a copy/paste operation but each time it has slowly resurrected itself but ReactOS itself seems significantly more stable. Running multiple applications does not seem that sensible but for simple, single tasks, it really 'feels' more than stable, even usable.
Testing programs. I have a tool, I wrote it myself. It runs in conjunction with Rocketdock. It is an an enhancement of Rocketdock's icon settings utility written in VB6. I did not perform an installation, instead simply copying the application's folder across to the apps VHD and hen transferring manually it to ReactOS programs folder. The first try it complained about a missing VB6, MSVBM60.DLL and I copied a found version into the system32 folder.
[ external image ]
![[ external image ]](https://i.imgur.com/kZvJC2E.png){kind=link}
Here is where I start to be really impressed. My VB6 utility worked flawlessly in all its methods without an error. This simple test proved to me where my o/s allegiance will lie in the future. ReactOS runs MY programs, those that I wrote. Rocketdock itself does not run and that has to do with the absence of a fully functioning GDI+ sub system I am guessing. That does not matter for the moment, I know it WILL come. The important thing here for me is that my fairly complex VB6 application runs straight out of the box.
I have some more testing to do with various other utilities and so far he results have been impressive. More on that later.
Forgive me for stating what you probably already know, that ReactOS will be usable, perhaps not in the near future for most but for some, perhaps. For me, as a test bed for installing VB6 apps onto a ReactOS virtual sandbox, programs that I have previously created for XP, it will already prove to be an invaluable testing asset.