ReactOS is an operating system (OS for short) that is binary compatible with most Microsoft Windows programs, features, and services. It is written mostly in C, with some parts, such as the File Explorer, in C++ and some minor bits of assembly. It is mostly licensed under the GNU General Public License, similar to the Linux kernel. Because it is mostly binary compatible with Windows, it is seen as a potential alternative to Linux while staying within the realm of free and open source software. Because of the method used to build ReactOS, its developers claim that their work is entirely original, and that no code is derived from Windows - all developers who work on ReactOS must either write original code, or create documentation based on decompiled binaries of Windows, but not both, in order to comply with American laws on reverse engineering.
The ReactOS kernel is a re-implementation of Windows' ntoskrnl.exe, for Windows Server 2003. It has been combined with a port of the WINE project to provide a userland for the operating system, which is mostly identical to the standard userland available on Windows. As a result, ReactOS is able to run any programs which WINE can run, and WINE has access to what the internals of Windows probably look like, advancing both projects to provide support for Windows programs on UNIX-like systems, such as Microsoft's Xenix, GNU\Linux, FreeBSD, and other operating systems. ReactOS also has limited support for DirectX 9, allowing some games available for Windows XP to run normally under ReactOS without modification.
ReactOS is available for x86 processors, as well as some work in progress ports such as x86-64 processors and ARM.
History[]
The project started in 1996 with the goal to create a Windows 95 clone called "FreeWin95". The project was rebooted in 1998 by Jason Filby, with its new goal of being a Windows NT clone. The name, ReactOS, comes from the developers reaction to Microsofts monopoly over the operating system market.
The first years of ReactOS were slow as only a few people were working on the project who has knowledge of kernel code. As more drivers were made and as ReactOS grew more stable, more developers joined the project. ReactOS also participates in Google Summer of Code and has been accepted in 2006, 2011, 2016, 2017, and 2018, of which some of the students decided to stay with the project.
Recent Changes[]
The current version is 0.4.12. This includes many fixes to Win32SS, windows snapping, fully implemented Windows ghosting for hanging applications, being synced with Wine 4.0 and so much more.
System Requirements[]
- 500MB IDE or SATA drive.
- 96MB ram.
- PS/2 or USB keyboard and mouse.
- VGA or VESA display.
Filesystem Support[]
Currently, ReactOS can read, write and boot from FAT32 and WinBTRFS. NTFS is still work in progress with full read and only partial write support. Read and mount support exist for ReiserFS and Ext2/3/4.