Several questions (maybe for discussion)

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alfozavr
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Several questions (maybe for discussion)

Post by alfozavr »

Hello. I would like to know how the ReactOS developers are planning to implement certain things:

1) Are you going to clone the Windows folders structure?
I mean, use folders like "Documents and Settings", "Program files", "system32" etc. Names of some folders and placement of some files in Windows seems illogical to me. This was already discussed somewhere in the forum, that Windows applications usually place their own files in the system folder, while no other application uses it, for example. So maybe it's better to automatically replace certain files (for example, place them right into the folder with the program, instead of the system folder) and then redirect calls for these files to their new positions.

2) How will ReactOS work with RAM and swap-file?
Linux, if I'm not mistaken, starts using swap-file only when all the RAM is already in use, and this is what I personally like. Windows, on the other hand, always uses a swap-file, even if a half of the available physical RAM is free.

3) The size of the system in RAM is also important. Will ReactOS consume the same amount of memory as, for example, Win NT 4?

4) Will ReactOS use a Windows-like Registry?
Registry idea seems strange to me. Why not use some .ini-files instead? Each program could have it's own config files kept in the folder with the program itself. The OS could also use its own config files. What for does Windows have this single big config file called Registry?

5) Will ReactOS have a soft-reboot feature?
Windows 98 had this. Users could press and hold Shift while clicking Reboot and system rebooted without resetting the hardware. I suppose this is very useful, as we usually need to reboot the OS, not the hardware. I wonder, why they got rid of this feature in Win XP.

6) I hope, that the official version of ReactOS will not be bundled with many additional applications, like they do it in the Linux world.
I suppose it's absolutely unnecessary to bundle an OS bloated with numerous additional applications, that are not actually a part of the OS.

7) Will the installer become more advanced?
An installer could contain more options than it contains in Windows XP or other Windows system. It should at least be capable of managing exsisting partitions, and maybe even allow for partition modification and creation.

Anyway, what you're doing here, is great! ReactOS looks like a very interesting project. It has very high potential, as it's aim is not to prove that Windows is bad and that people should get rid of it, but just to use all the good things from Windows and to add some other things while leaving all the bad things away.
Z98
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Post by Z98 »

Welcome. Here we go.

1) ROS will follow the XP convention just for the sake of simplicity. Whether we'll try to force redirection like that sometime down the line, I don't know. However, I am not sure the devs will see a reason to do such a thing.

2) ROS works just like Windows. Certain Window applications will themselves request access to the swap. Windows grants this, and so will ROS. Why, the dev I asked wasn't sure.

3) ROS takes a minimum of around 32MB of RAM, though it's been known to run on less. However, obviously you're not going to be doing much.

4) ROS uses the registry. If you know the history of the registry, you would know that it was created to stem the tide of hundreds of configuration files. There was a time when everything was .ini files, but that quickly got out of hand. Linux uses text files for configurations, but it keeps all configuration files together, not with the actual program itself. The only operating system that does what you're looking for is GoboLinux.

5) Don't know, though it sounds somewhat like the suspend feature.

6) ROS doesn't need to bundle itself with anything. Linux distros have the added responsibility of maintaining packages for any program they want to run because of their own internal inconsistencies. ROS doesn't have this issue, since we're Windows compatible. Thus anything that runs on Windows will run on ROS. Pick two random Linux distros and the chance of a single package working on both isn't that high.

7) Down the line, there is an intention of having an installer on the LiveCD. But that's down the line and won't happen anytime soon.
GreyGhost
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Post by GreyGhost »

Hello , Just posted to say Hello as Z98 has already answered all ur question :)
Welcome to the Project and nice to hear that u see the potential in ReactOS..

6- Yeah .. the devs don't have any plans of putting any apps in ReactOS except the basic things u'd require to get starrted off with ..though i believe that with time Distro doing so may pop up .. but the "official" ReactOS wont have apps prepackaged..
I believe Linux got that way also because of one more thingy except for what Z98 said ... the thing being,..
Linux doesnt really have an "offivial " thingy u know.. they only give u the kernel "officially"so distros pop up who modify the kernel package everythinng etc..
Unlike that ReactOS gives u most of the OS to start offf with ..the kernel .. the GUI and stuff..

7-Yeah .. the installer will be *atleast* as powerfull as the windows ones like editing the partition trable and stuff (as a matter of fact ) u can do a bit ATM too .. and yes maybe once outa the alpha stage the LiveCD and installer maybe combined..

Hope you'd like to contribute in some way too :)
Regards GreyGhost
alfozavr
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Thanks

Post by alfozavr »

GreyGhost, Z98, thanks for the answers :) I have already added ReactOS website to my favorites. I'm going to stick with the project, I like its "ideology".

Z98, about question 5, I mean rebooting the system, not the suspend mode. Windows 98 had this and I used to use it. So there was a button to restart the computer as usual, but if user pressed and holded Shift while clicking this restart button, the operating system restarted without restarting the whole PC (the hardware). This is very logical, as most of the time we need to restart only the OS (to update drivers, for example), not the whole PC. It's faster and it prolongs the life of the PC a bit.

As about question 3, as I understood, ReactOS itself will consume quite a small amount of RAM, that's nice.

As about Registry, I will search for something to read about it.

One more question:
Do the developers consider such an idea, as to stick with some big company, like Google, for example, or Sun. As far as I understand, the OpenOffice.org project, for example, became what it is partly because it has support (mostly financial, I suppose) from Sun. I suppose, support of a big company could make the ReactOS developement faster.
counting_pine
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Post by counting_pine »

Re Question 5:
Windows 9x/Me, like their 16-bit predecessors (e.g. Windows 3.x) are based on top of DOS. A soft reset was possible because it just meant dropping back to DOS and telling it to reload Windows.

Windows Me was the last operating system to be based on DOS. We won't be seeing any more of them from Microsoft.

The architecture Windows uses now is very different. Windows NT/2000/XP/... don't run on top of DOS, so they don't have that option. I don't think there's anything that comes close. Restarting the kernel pretty much means a full reboot.

I understand Windows Vista has user-mode drivers, which you don't need to restart the kernel to install or change. You wouldn't need to reboot Windows when messing about with those. I guess, some time down the line, ReactOS may well be able to do this as well.
alfozavr
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Thanks

Post by alfozavr »

Thanks, counting_pine, now it's clear. I didn't think that the soft-reboot option is connected with MS DOS being a base for earlier versions of MS Windows :)
GreatLord
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Post by GreatLord »

you can restart a subsystem kernel. But it is basic doing a full rest. for it will redo the whole loading process of drivers and programs, for that kernel. and it will take almost equal long time todo a full rest.
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