Reactos Alternatives

Reviews and mentions

• A screemshot from 2008
  2 projects | reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace | 21 Jan 2022

  There's React OS.

• [AC97] Add Open Source AC'97 Driver by Obaid51 · Pull Request #4246 · reactos/reactos
  1 project | reddit.com/r/reactos | 7 Jan 2022
• should windows 11 go open source?
  2 projects | reddit.com/r/Windows_Redesign | 5 Jan 2022

  For those of us wanting an open sourced Windows, check out ReactOS

• Which other OS are production ready aside from the big three ones?
  2 projects | reddit.com/r/software | 4 Jan 2022

  While https://reactos.org/ aims to make a fast, classic-style windows desktop emulant, it's not Ready for Prime Time. Among the list of desktop alternatives after Linux, Windows and Mac - which will be a small list - I think they're one of the more 'ready' ones, though. I'd love to learn about some more as my parents' computers all age out of win10 and need something else.

• Giving Haiku Beta 3 a try
  2 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 1 Jan 2022

  HaikuOS https://www.haiku-os.org/ is a free and open source rewrite of BeOS using APIs it can run BeOS code and has had a lot of apps portered to it. It needs less memory than Linux and is more like ReactOS https://reactos.org/ when they add in the WINE porting to run WIN32 and WIN64 apps.

  BETA3 is stable enough to use a web browser and email program to get things done. It can be installed on old retro legacy PCs to make better use of them.

  Run it in a virtual machine first.

• Ask HN: Is anyone making a simple and fast OS with limited functionality?
  1 project | news.ycombinator.com | 7 Dec 2021

  Hi Nition!

  What a great question! (Everybody who's reading this, please upvote!)

  OK, so you've got all kinds of choices in this area!

  First off, I assume, because/ you mentioned FreeDOS/TempleOS/Windows 3.1 -- that you're looking for an x86 (Intel/AMD) OS.

  First question: 32-bit or 64-bit?

  32-bit OS's will run on older hardware (20+ years old!) -- but (in general!) you'll be limited to a max of 4GB of usable RAM...

  64-bit will, of course, run on newer hardware, but in general will be a little bit more complex than an old, "barebones" OS...

  Second question: Windows compatible or not?

  You want the OS to be Open Source right? That would rule out any version of Windows -- but that wouldn't rule out ReactOS (https://reactos.org/). Many Windows programs will run on ReactOS -- but some might not, and/or have interesting bugs -- so "buyer beware" as they say.

  But, in terms of overall lines of code and complexity, ReactOS is probably the least simple Free and Open Source OS, next to Linux itself...

  You might be actually looking for two things, or rather three:

  1) Simple Open Source Non-Graphical Command-Line OS.

  2) Open Source Graphical Window Manager / Windowing System For That OS.

  3) Example Source Code (for that OS and Window Manager) which implements a text editor, an audio player app, a calculator, etc.

  Also, keep in mind that unless #2 is written to be as simple as possible (and thus uses only simple monospaced bitmap fonts) -- then you're also going to be dealing with a font rendering subsystem -- which is going to add to the complexity and thus learning curve -- of the codebase...

  If you've got an underlying Non-Graphical OS like FreeDOS (or any other) -- if that OS does not prohibit direct hardware access to the video card, OR if the underlying OS can specifically be requested to give direct hardware access to a program it runs -- then you might try writing a program to implement GUI features on that non-GUI OS... it would be a great programming exercise!

  But if you don't, I'm sure such GUI's (ideally, simple ones, not X/Windows AKA X11, nor the Windowing code in Windows/ReactOS) must exist -- just search GitHub...

  Maybe that's what to do...

  Search GitHub for GUI's or simple OS'es that implement GUI's... find one that is as simple/understandable as you desire -- and that's your go-to OS for this!

  Anyway, Good Luck in your quest!

• If I make my own OS, will this work?
  1 project | reddit.com/r/software | 7 Dec 2021

  Yep, look at https://reactos.org - it's been in alpha stage for over two decades (23 years), and that's with a team of people tinkering on it. You have absolutely zero hope as a single developer, sorry.

• Prince of Persia open-source port based on the DOS version disassembly
  4 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 23 Nov 2021
• Microsoft gaming chief calls for industry-wide game preservation
  2 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 18 Nov 2021

  I'd go a step further and suggest that trying to mimic a closed operating system is always going to be a somewhat unsuccessful uphill battle. Just look at how much the people over at ReactOS have been struggling for years, just to get the basics working: https://reactos.org/

  It's certainly admirable, but to me it feels like Windows and all of the closed OSes will eventually die outside of museums and give way to open systems instead, at the same time killing any hopes of running older games and such, outside of cases where they are pretty simple, there have been source code leaks or other things to make running them easier (e.g. huge cult following). For example, you can probably port over something like "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" in a feasible amount of time[1] but something like "Cyberpunk 2077" or "Grand Theft Auto V" would be way more complicated in comparison.

  Thus, your choices are probably limited to the following:

    - use open systems and say no to playing games that don't support them, out of principle or otherwise

• Show HN: Windows 2000 on Docker
  6 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 14 Nov 2021

  If it had updated security patches, drivers for modern hardware, and a modern web browser, I'd seriously consider using Windows 2000 as my daily driver today. Windows 2000 was peak Windows for me. It was stable, and the desktop did not get in my way. It's Windows without the bloat, the nagging, and the surveillance. I loved it in the early 2000's, preferred it to XP (which introduced activation, the Fisher-Price theme, and some nagging), and still love it to this day. I periodically check the progress of ReactOS (https://reactos.org), since this is the closest thing to this vision of an updated Windows 2000.

  While I'm at it, I'd be very productive with 2000-era productivity software, such as Microsoft Office 2000 and the Adobe software of that era. Of course, I'd need updated compilers and other developer tools since I'd like to work with modern languages.

• Are there really any people that think Linux shouldnt get more of an GUI to be more user friendly?
  1 project | reddit.com/r/linux | 9 Nov 2021
• Open Modern Warfare or something, idk, I didn't achieve CHIM
  1 project | reddit.com/r/TrueSTL | 5 Nov 2021

  developers of ReactOS about to rush in and Ctrl+Alt+Delete you into oblivion.

• The Roll-Out of Windows 11 Is the Perfect Time to Decide to Switch to Linux
  4 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 30 Oct 2021
• Writing a Linux-compatible kernel in Rust
  2 projects | reddit.com/r/rust | 26 Oct 2021

  Have you heard of ReactOS?

  2 projects | reddit.com/r/rust | 26 Oct 2021

  Right, but where are they getting that information? The most natural place I would look for information about how Linux-specific ABIs and API work would be... the Linux kernel. I suppose one could work strictly off the man pages, but I don't see any mention of observing that restriction, either by the main developer, or for accepting submissions. Compare this with the policy ReactOS has for contributions, where you have to affirm you've never looked at Microsoft source code.