ReactOS Unifies Installation Media, Introduces GUI Installer and New ATA Driver

jeditobe writes: Developers of ReactOS told Phoronix that the project has introduced a unified BootCD, replacing its previously separate installation media and LiveCD images. The new image combines the traditional text-mode installer with a LiveCD mode in a single medium. Within this unified BootCD, the updated LiveCD mode now includes an option to launch a first-stage GUI installer. The graphical interface is intended to make installation more approachable for new users compared to the long-standing text-based setup process.

In a separate development, the project has also merged a new ATA storage driver that has been in progress since early 2024. The plug-and-play aware storage stack supports SATA, PATA, ATAPI, AHCI, and even SCSI devices, potentially expanding the range of hardware on which ReactOS can successfully boot.

Following recent improvements to graphics driver support, the project continues to make incremental progress across core subsystems, though its long development timeline remains a point of discussion. Will these usability and hardware compatibility improvements be enough to broaden ReactOS adoption beyond its current niche?

Please note that all new features are not present in version 0.4.15 and are available for testing in the latest nightly test builds.

It is late

[cyberthanasis12]

I had this windows program which did not run in wine. It ran fine in reactos. But reactos could not print or even print into pdf, and so it was useless for me. I was hoping that reactos would add print support, and so i could ditch windows.
Well too late. Two years ago a new web based version of the program was released. And the only reason to run reactos vanished.

Re:new ATA driver?

[sabbede]

Well, that kinda makes sense, given this line from the Github page:
"The ReactOS project, although currently focused on Windows Server 2003 compatibility, is always keeping an eye toward compatibility with Windows Vista and future Windows NT releases."

So, whatever was new in 2003...

Re: new ATA driver?

[SoonerSkeene]

This is a fun little project but I see no actual utility of react. I can't believe it's basically Windows XP, just created in a clean room obstensibly

Re: new ATA driver?

[drinkypoo]

The idea of this OS is that it will support Windows drivers, so it's potentially a way to use hardware which only works with windows. Any other use case you might imagine is better handled in some other way. And even that one is probably better handled with old windows on old hardware...

Re:

[sabbede]

I think they use it in Russia. As I recall, Putin uses it. Back around 2020 there were photos taken of Putin at his desk that caught his desktop and people said he was still using XP. But, if you looked close enough, it was ReactOS.

dang...

[rickb928]

Dang, I wish I could run ReactOS on a Raspberry...

Nope. I lack the skills to port it to ARM64

ReactOS is a failure

[tom_asdf]

The simple question for ReactOS team ..... What 3rd party Windows drivers can ReactOS use successfully?

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is ReactOS can't load 3rd party drivers.
Can I buy any random USB device and be certain the provided Windows drivers will work with ReactOS?
I don't think so.

ReactOS developers should admit defeat and put their energies into improving Wine. That is the only realistic way those developers can make Windows software run on an open source operating

Re:

[dbialac]

Not only that, but it's unrealistic to think that a small team of FOSS developers can replicate a system as large as the Windows OS, even if it's Server 2003. When Linux came around, the OS kernel could run the utilities that FreeBSD could run with a few tweaks and a recompile, giving it a huge foundation on which to build into something.

Re:

[unrtst]

Not only that, but it's unrealistic to think that a small team of FOSS developers can replicate a system as large as the Windows OS, even if it's Server 2003...

What about a small team and a bunch of LLM use? Give it a bit more time - someone is bound to make such a effort.

Re:

[dbialac]

If you're wanting to use it to reverse-engineer Windows binaries themselves, it would probably violate copyright law. If you're thinking using the function names and parameters with independently created execution results, that may be a useful tool.

Re:

[sound+vision]

It sounds like they're using Server 2003 as their target for compatibility. That means they are squarely in "legacy computing" territory, and everyone developing ReactOS knows it.

If they wanted to work on something current they would have moved already. Likely they already have, and only circle back to ReactOS once a year, when their "institutional knowledge" of what's now a niche historical project is needed. Because no one else works on it.

App store

[Elektroschock]

I wonder why they don't ship Reactos with an Appstore for software that is known to work under Reactos

I recall that there used to be one but I can't find it in a recent build of Reactos-

App Store

[Elektroschock]

Reactos had this app store, if they just manage to release a new version with appstore again and selected apps that work well on it, people will be excited. Show things that work out of the box.