0.4.14—First Impressions

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Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

0.4.14—First Impressions

Post by Kevin Castro »

Well, I finally got around to installing Fourteen.
01 Station.jpg
01 Station.jpg (683.78 KiB) Viewed 3581 times
Start Menu.
02 Desktop.png
02 Desktop.png (726.61 KiB) Viewed 3581 times
When you open youtube in XP/FF52/FP31, a warning box pops up—notifying you about an unresponsive script. This is new—it never used to happen. Click "Continue" and everything will be fine. When you open youtube in ROS 0.4.14/FF48/FP31, the unresponsive script sinks the ship.
Now you might recall that in 2019, 0.4.12 was not only happy to play youtubes; I was able to download them, using YTD Youtube Downloader.

Another development is that while Twelve and Thirteen were happy to stream (silently) American cable news, Flashplayer no longer executes the "Allow Now" message in FF48 and so there is no way to start the stream. Now, you're probably going to remind me that I've never had audio so there was no point streaming the news, and my youtube viewing was limited to channels like FailArmy (no audio required); but what this means is that Firefox 48 is becoming significantly less useful than it used to be.

In 2020, I was able to install Adblock as an Addon. Now, I find myself limited to Adblocker Lite (and it doesn't seem to block anything at all). The tragedy of it all is that 0.4.14 is less capable online now than 0.4.12 was two years ago. Ebay no longer works and Google News often won't scroll in an article.
Streetview is still as good as with XP/FF52.
03j Maps.jpg
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Wine Internet Explorer remains good for light-weight websites.
04 Wine.png
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Mypal opens youtube but won't play any videos. It may need a flashplayer.
05 mypal2.png
05 mypal2.png (859.56 KiB) Viewed 3581 times
The icons in the taskbar no longer disappear randomly and that would seem to indicate more stability somewhere. I still need to do a [Windows+D] (go to desktop) in order to switch quickly between windows.

USB seems more agreeable although I can't hot-unplug without getting a BSOD on the next shutdown (which then needs to be forced). But connecting/disconnecting during one continual session has never been as free of problems as it is now; and she always bounces back from the shutdown BSOD unscathed. I have a USB drive plugged in to a mechanical USB switchbox and I use the switch to flip-flop the drive between KARETTA (Win-7) and KATRELL (ROS). The safe-disconnect function doesn't seem to work but I don't really need it to.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: 0.4.14—First Impressions

Post by Kevin Castro »

Videos in 1920×1080 play flawlessly (silently).
06 Video HD.png
06 Video HD.png (708.23 KiB) Viewed 3578 times
As usual, I'm going to unplug the boot drive to preserve this install and then do multiple installs on different drives so I can push the limits.
In summary:
The installing is the smoothest yet.
USB is friendliest yet.
The system seems slightly faster (but that might be my imagination).
ReactOS alpha seems to be sliding off the internet at about the same rate XP is.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: 0.4.14—First Impressions

Post by Kevin Castro »

Just a quick update. Mypal wasn't recognizing FP31 as a plugin because I had installed Mypal after it. So, I uninstalled FP, reinstalled it, and now Mypal recognizes it as a plugin. Also, I managed to get one of the legacy versions of Ublock Origin to install and it blocks all the ads in youtube. Mypal still won't play youtubes, but I haven't given up looking for online video content that will run, somehow, in 0.4.14.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: 0.4.14—First Impressions

Post by Kevin Castro »

Yes, live streaming is still possible!
This is Mypal/FP31 streaming "ticker NEWS" live, and Ublock Origin has blocked 10 ads/scripts.
07 live news.png
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This is Firefox/FP31 streaming the same, and Adblocker Lite possibly blocking what may have been an ad on the right-side.
08 live news 2.png
08 live news 2.png (644.6 KiB) Viewed 3530 times
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: 0.4.14—First Impressions

Post by Kevin Castro »

Further Findings.
I did a second install on another SSD and began another round of experimenting.
With thirteen, I had fitted a Sound Blaster Audigy RX sound card—knowing that, theoretically, it had no chance of working. Unfortunately, thirteen bricked simply due to the card’s presence in the motherboard and I had to remove the card and reinstall the OS. With fourteen, there was no such drama—it simply said, ‘no’. The sound card is still in the motherboard—it simply does nothing.

I tried and tried to find a legacy version of Ublock Origin for FF48; and I haven’t given up my mission to find any sort of adblocker better than Adblocker Lite. I even tried installing FF49 and 52. Again, fourteen said, ‘no’.

I reinstated the first SSD/install and decided to revisit my Adobe Reader 9 problem. I knew there was a downloadable PDF reader in the Applications Manager, but I am always wanting to discover how much of a ReactOS PC can be put together with offline installing only. The problem with Reader 9 is that it wouldn’t open a recently-downloaded PDF of Western Digital spinners. So, I uninstalled 9, removed all its folders, and tried doing an offline install of Reader XI; then reboot. But it didn’t install properly. So, I uninstalled XI, cleared out all the folders from Program Files, and Documents And Settings, and started again; CClean and reboot. Then 9 wouldn’t install; reboot. But then it did. Then I uninstalled it; reboot. Then I downloaded the newest Adobe Reader compatible with Server 2003. But it wouldn’t install because it, somehow, found remnants of my XI and told me I already had a newer version; reboot. So then, I installed 9 again to see if it would still work—it did. Then I uninstalled 9 (+ CClean and reboot) and downloaded Foxit Reader from the Applications Manager. It opened my PDF and then BSOD’d. I did a button-hold shut-down and rebooted. Then I opened the PDF again, and then closed it (and again and again, and left it open for ten minutes). No more problems there.
And here is the PDF in the flesh (and other programs running in the taskbar).
Foxit Reader.jpg
Foxit Reader.jpg (359.71 KiB) Viewed 3326 times
I’ve also discovered how to deal with Google News in FF48 when pages won’t scroll—it’s because the slide bar has vanished. Refresh the page and it reappears. Google News, unfortunately, does not run properly in Mypal.

Mypal is more agreeable than Firefox for Reading the ReactOS forum pages (and also very fast); however, neither is completely agreeable for entering text in any website (even the Google homepage somtimes) regardless of the hardware acceleration. Even Wine Internet Explorer suffers from this, particularly after I have just copied and pasted some text from a Word doc. I persevered for half-an-hour trying to submit a post from KATRELL but it wasn’t to be. I had the same problem in thirteen with Firefox and Wine IE.
I’ve read all sorts of handy hints:
Minimize the page and then quickly maximize again. “Quickly”? I’m playing with alpha-state in real steel.
Get CCleaner to scan the registry. Nup—I’ve been using CCleaner for thirteen years and I have never gone anywhere near the registry.
Something about dll’s. Nup—now it’s sounding like a chore. I could go outside and trim the edges instead.

In Word (in twelve and thirteen), if I forgot not to use the “X”-icon button to exit, I would consequently have to use Task Manager to close the program and then endure a BSOD on the next shut-down. In fourteen, clicking the “X”-icon button simply freezes up the program. Minimize the program, pop it back up, and it is unfrozen. Then use File/Exit and the program closes. No Task Manager, no BSOD, no problems.

I have done all this bashing about and fourteen has not yet bricked. With twelve and thirteen, bricking the install was part and parcel of experimenting with software that ReactOS had not been designed to handle. In fact, the last time I put a USB drive in and out of thirteen (as part of my XP Birthday post in October), it bricked the install. Sure, she had no problem with being fired up after thirteen months of sleeping, and she didn’t mind that I had to change her IP address because I had changed my modem since the last time she ran, and she had no problem going online with Wine Internet Explorer, but the USB in-and-out was a bridge too far. And here is fourteen—seemingly unbrickable. It can’t be overstated just how much more pleasant it is to fail an experiment without the OS bricking. A simple ‘no’ from ReactOS is a win—it means I have discovered something it seems unable to do, and then I can move on to the next experiment. And the restart with fourteen also seems faster than with thirteen. With twelve, I always had to do a “Debug” boot; but thirteen and fourteen have always been hands-free (or a quick stab of the “Enter” key). And I’m sure fourteen does it slightly faster.

A new quirk with fourteen is that when I have opened the Task Manager and then closed it, I am left with a blank tab button in the taskbar that won’t go away. It doesn’t do any harm—it’s just annoying. (You can see it in my Wine Internet Explorer screencap and in my second “ticker News” screencap.

Of things less important, I still adore the icons within ReactOS. I hope they are never replaced with simple line-drawings, or worse—silhouettes.

So, what next? Presumably, every member has their own ‘pet’ that they would like to see become part of ReactOS. I believe the capability to run Firefox 52esr in ReactOS would be a big leap forward. In the meantime, I shall keep experimenting.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
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dizt3mp3r
Posts: 1873
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:54 pm

Re: 0.4.14—First Impressions

Post by dizt3mp3r »

Kevin, work from the dailies and do your testing there. The 0.4.14 maintenance release wasn't really meant as an improvement to any specific functionality. It was really just to get something out there after such a long wait. As such it included a lot of new code fixing other things, introducing new functionality but also some interesting features were left out. It also ended up also breaking a lot.

As always, you are advised to test the dailies and lower your expectations of a single point release as this one just marks a specific point in time.
Skillset: VMS,DOS,Windows Sysadmin from 1985, fault-tolerance, VaxCluster, Alpha,Sparc. DCL,QB,VBDOS- VB6,.NET, PHP,NODE.JS, Graphic Design, Project Manager, CMS, Quad Electronics. classic cars & m'bikes. Artist in water & oils. Historian.
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: 0.4.14—First Impressions

Post by Kevin Castro »

Thanks, dizt3mp3r. Last year I tried to test bootcd-0.4.15-dev-3353 but it either wouldn't install or wouldn't boot (I can't remember which). I have since moved my "KATRELL" PC to a more convenient station and am more motivated to spend longer hours on it. In fact, KATRELL is allowing me to type and submit this post using Mypal. Often, entering text in the forum is okay until I copy and paste (such as from a doc).
So yes, dizt3mp3r, maybe this will be the year I spend more time testing daily builds. I can set this SSD/install aside and keep it as a 'standby'.
I'm loving the resilience of 0.4.14 and I remain, as always, positive about ReactOS generally. I can't believe some of the negativity in the forum last year.
The developers are doing good work and it shows.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
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EmuandCo
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Re: 0.4.14—First Impressions

Post by EmuandCo »

The releases got a special treatment of fixes and reverts to be way more stable. So I understand quite well, why releases are used here. Some of the new features are still not fully functioning and may cause interesting side effects. Anyways. Always a good read in here :D
ReactOS is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature-complete and is recommended only for evaluation and testing purposes.

If my post/reply offends or insults you, be sure that you know what sarcasm is...
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dizt3mp3r
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Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:54 pm

Re: 0.4.14—First Impressions

Post by dizt3mp3r »

The negativity is quite understandable. People these days 'want it now'. There are a lot of potential users that hate win8/10.11 and whatever you call the cloister feck that is now the default windows UI. They decry the slow pace of ReactOS development and the fanboys decry the "old GUI" without understanding what customisability actually means. So, we try to educate them - but they do have one point that cannot be denied - ReactOS is slow to develop - but in a counter to that I would say that recently, ReactOS development is really picking up speed and we are seeing the beginnings of a truly usable o/s. To quote someone rather eloquent and rather famous too: "This not the end. This not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning!"
Skillset: VMS,DOS,Windows Sysadmin from 1985, fault-tolerance, VaxCluster, Alpha,Sparc. DCL,QB,VBDOS- VB6,.NET, PHP,NODE.JS, Graphic Design, Project Manager, CMS, Quad Electronics. classic cars & m'bikes. Artist in water & oils. Historian.
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