The ReactOS project has released version 0.3.11 of their operating system. A lot of changes in this delayed release, but the two main points of interest are a more or less rewritten memory manager, as well as many improvements in the sound stack.
The memory manager has more or less been rewritten from scratch, with one of the main new features being support for memory managers on the ARM platform. They state the ARM memory manager is rather different from those for x86 chips, but they attempted to have as much code shared between the two different memory managers.
These changes also improve WinDbg support. “WinDbg support is now at a level where the majority of everyday features are working and tasks which previously seemed so distant using WinDbg, such as stepping through the kernel, listing process threads or dynamically editing memory are now working,” the announcement reads.
The sound stack has been improved too. “This release brings with it support for wave recording and mixer support such as volume level adjustment and muting,” they state, “Improved core component compatibility with WinXP means that more components now run within Windows and goes some way to showing the level of compatibility the sound stack is now achieving.”
The full changelog details all the changes. You can download the new release from the download page.
As in, usable as an everyday operating system?
And usable as a replacement for Windows (not necessarily same answer as above)?
It’s free, it’s not a big download, try it.
I just tried ReactOS 0.3.11 and it still has a long road to go in order to become a usable system or a viable replacement for Windows, but I really like what I saw. It just FEELS right.
Also, I can’t help but appreciate the Win 3.11 homage.
It’s not usable, it’s pre-alpha after all, still it shows a lot of promise.
I’ve been lurking around the ReactOS community and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will get stable enough for web-browsing and office work in one or two years. Of course these are only my speculations. The devs, don’t want to make any promise they can’t keep.
My home server (web server, file server and a few other bits and bobs) is a runs various virtual servers ontop of Nexenta – and I run ReactOS to run some windows only services to save me having to fork out on a Windows license.
Granted it’s not a normal users set up, but it’s lower footprint is ideal for me
Please email me at winehacker _at_ gmail _dot_ com. I am interested in hearing about your usage case.
… run Windows Genuine Advantage on ReactOS?
Why would you? It’s not genuine windows.
http://home.kpn.nl/m.de.meij5/64kpixels/ros/ros_wga.jpg
This is what happens!
That’s pretty cool. “unsupported operating system” ?!? I’d really like to interview the guy at Microsoft that wrote that error message.
What unsupported operating systems did he have in mind?
Frankenstien Development builds?
Microsoft Research projects?
OS Warp 5?
Windows ME?
Or did that individual really suspect that maybe someone might run it on wine/ReactOS?
…work continuing on ReactOS. I rather like the underlying design of NT, so a free clone is good. Still, at the moment, it’s not as good as Linux + Wine in terms of application support, so I’ll hold off on installing it on any “real” hardware…
imagine in 10/20/50 years time, when you need to run some legacy app. it may be impossible to activate old versions of windows. reactOS may be the only way.
That’s pretty much how I see it. The next dosbox.
which would certainly be useful, if a little sad. DOSBox is great for running that old software, but no one uses it as a day to day OS. I worry ReactOS will take so long to come out it will be limited to that role of supporting legacy software, when ideally it would be an alternative day to day OS in the mold of Linux providing an alternative to Unix.
Hopefully ReactOS can be a little bit of both, though the legacy support will certainly be nice when the time comes.
Check its video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBqOuq8sJUU ) to see the development status.