
NTFS now supported in ReactOS LiveCD - jeditobe
http://reboot.pro/topic/20149-ntfs-now-supported-in-reactos-livecd/
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vezzy-fnord
I think a lot of people ignore the fact that the ReactOS and Wine projects
have a symbiotic relationship. Work on ReactOS will lead to improvements on
Wine, and vice versa.

So it's still a useful project for the common user, even if the final product
of a fully functional Windows NT clone is still far from being realized.

But actually - there's another, even more interesting use for ReactOS that I'm
surprised has yet to be attempted.

A lot of people seem to praise the NT kernel on an architectural level for its
microkernel-like features and object system, but it's buried between the cruft
that forms the rest of the Windows stack. A free software reimplementation
like ReactOS could actually allow for people to exploit the untapped potential
of the NT kernel by fusing it with other userlands. Think in the vein of
GNU/kFreeBSD. Perhaps a FreeDOS one? Either way, the novelty value is
certainly high.

~~~
bobajeff
I've been given the impression that NT's superior kernel architecture is why
they are doing this. But they also want other people to care so they also try
to get Windows apps working on it too.

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RexRollman
I love the idea of ReactOS but it is moving so slowly that I don't see how
they can ever be a relevant alternative to Windows. Is my impression wrong?

~~~
gbl08ma
That was my impression in 2011 already. Back then I wrote a blog post (in my
then-much-worse English) with, admittedly, a bit of Microsoft hatred[1].
However, most of the points I mention are still valid, I think. Of course
there have been new releases since 2011, but nothing exactly groundbreaking,
at least in the eye of a casual follower like me. Relatively recently, they
have run a IndieGoGo campaign and have made this[2], but to be honest (and I
admit I haven't looked very deep), as a first impression, it seems it is more
the result of web development, design and social media work, than work on the
hard part, i.e. the operating system itself. It'd be nice if someone could
clarify whether that's really the case.

As others have mentioned, perhaps the idea is to offer support for legacy
software on newer hardware, when that software doesn't need everything Windows
has to offer... but I'm not sure how big is the audience for that, if one
takes into account that some of the need is fulfilled by running Windows XP in
a VM, using Microsoft's own tools for legacy compatibility ("compatibility
mode" has solved all the compatibility problems I've had so far, but then
again, I'm not a heavy user of such functionality), or running XP on real
hardware (isolated and where applicable; it's not like Windows XP won't run on
modern hardware, except possibly due to UEFI, or the like, and in that case I
doubt ReactOS is of much help either).

[1] [http://gbl08ma.com/reactos-will-they-ever-get-
somewhere/](http://gbl08ma.com/reactos-will-they-ever-get-somewhere/)

[2] [http://community.reactos.org/](http://community.reactos.org/)

~~~
RachelF
It is nice to see that ReactOS are still developing, but I think that their
time to make a big impression was 7 years ago. The world has moved on from
being a Microsoft-centric place.

Perhaps if the Chinese or Russians decided to use it as an alternative OS, it
would have worked?

~~~
eksith
Considering the swath of (mostly pirated) XP installs still floating around
China[1], I wonder if many of them would be willing to try this instead. Most
of their apps should run just fine too.

[1] [http://www.pcworld.com/article/2103680/chinas-windows-xp-
use...](http://www.pcworld.com/article/2103680/chinas-windows-xp-users-to-
still-get-security-support.html)

------
lsiebert
The real benefit of ReactOS is things like security and support for legacy
proprietary medical applications for hardware interfaces into medical devices
that on only run on old Windows machines, that can't be updated anymore.

~~~
wfjackson
I wouldn't want to risk legacy proprietary medical applications for hardware
interfaces into medical devices to be running on an API re-implementation
layer that could easily be missing functionality, quirks and bug-for-bug
compatibility.

~~~
derefr
Why? "Legacy" implies "not a moving target." If you know the software you need
to run, you can QA your API compatibility layer until it works with exactly
that software.

CrossOver Office (the commercial version of Wine) is basically authored by
picking particular versions of particular software that they want to get
working, and then treating them as unit tests to write code against. When the
program works, the library works. No more or less is needed.

~~~
pyre
I think that the point is that using this method with MS Office is one thing.
Using it with medical software is a whole other ballpark. Using the medical
software as a black box and 'getting it to run' on ReactOS might not be up to
the level of rigor we would expect for a device that someone's life may depend
on...

~~~
stcredzero
_I think that the point is that using this method with MS Office is one thing.
Using it with medical software is a whole other ballpark._

According to what an ex-coworker told me, you only _wish_ all medical software
using Windows as an OS was remotely well maintained, tested, and vetted as MS
Office.

~~~
pyre
Moving to a different platform with possibly unknown compatibility issues
could trigger bugs in the code that were lying dormant.

For example, I worked for a company that was still coming across data
corruption issues from time to time after a move between a platform where all
memory was zeroed by default to Linux (where it isn't). Plenty of places were
memory was allocated, and just used without zeroing it, and then jamming the
whole thing into a database as a string.

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orionblastar
I follow ReactOS and other alternative operating systems like Haiku and AROS
to see if they made enough progress to use them to replace Windows.

I'd like to see them at a level where the average person can use a DVD or USB
stick and install it on their main PC and get apps for it to do what they
want.

They haven't gotten that far yet.

I donated to the ReactOS Indiegogo and Kickstarter campaigns, but they never
raised enough money for the Community edition. One feature I did want to see
was NTFS support so a LiveCD of ReactOS can run an Antivirus scanner to clean
an Infected PC that uses NTFS.

------
mwexler
While I agree with other commentors that ReactOS in general is slowly becoming
irrelevant, I do believe making NTFS a read and write file system via open
source would be a useful addition. I did a hunt a little while ago for ways to
read and write NTFS on Linux and Mac, and didn't find many options (commercial
or open). The most common response (beyond "reformat!") was to just mount the
filesystem in a windows box (or windows running in a VM) and share it over a
network connect, which abstracts away the file system, though adds overhead.

(BTW: For mac, I found Tuxera and Paragon, and the "built in" non-supported
approach to writing NTFS. For linux, NTFS-3G (with proper fuse support) was
the go to, but I found corruption under load in my minimal tests, which
probably reflect my setup and lack of experience more than problems with the
software)

Have you guys found preferred ways to R/W mount an NTFS volume or partition or
USB drive without having to do a network mount for Linux or MacOS? Could this
work in ReactOS become the seed? Or is considered a solved problem?

~~~
JelteF
Try ntfs3g, it works like a charm.
[http://www.tuxera.com/community/ntfs-3g-download/](http://www.tuxera.com/community/ntfs-3g-download/)

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fsiefken
Nice, speed, memory and performance wise is ReactOS more efficient then XP or
nlited XP on virtualbox or qemu? For example, if efficient you could run it on
a cheap android tablet onder bochs, qemu or dosbox and use it as a workstation
if lxde/xfce linux would not be good enough.

~~~
giancarlostoro
Runs smooth, but I had problems getting VirtualBox to connect to the internet,
so I couldn't do any serious testing. Installation took less than a minute
(not kidding).

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nobleach
I've been seeing this project since around 1999 or something. It was listed on
a page of emulators and open source OSes that I visited frequently. Glad to
see that it's still alive.

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higherpurpose
Is this infringing on any of Microsoft's patents? And if not, why is Microsoft
allowed to collect royalties from Android OEMs who support the FAT file
system?

~~~
wfjackson
It's quite possibly infringing, but it's unlikely to become a target for a
lawsuit unless it starts making a lot of money or starts hurting a good
percentage of sales of MS products.

