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I've used ReactOS at the past to automatically create Win32 builds for software (the real hardware ran Linux, ReactOS was booted in a VM), the command-line stuf

I've used ReactOS at the past to automatically create Win32 builds for software (the real hardware ran Linux, ReactOS was booted in a VM), the command-line stuff tend to work fine. The main problem is that there are still tons of issues with the GUI side, including glaring things like region clipping (you can see obscured windows sometimes being drawn above other windows or areas in some windows not being drawn at all) and a single window being able to hang the entire UI (seems all window message handling is synchronized). Older software tends to work ok (i ran Borland C++ Builder on it without major issues, beyond the GUI glitches i mentioned), but not perfect. Also old software sometimes tends to include 16bit components that do not work yet with ReactOS. The file manager was also rewritten at some point and it seems to have issues (e.g. you need to manually refresh the desktop/a folder to see changes, drag-drop doesn't always work, etc). However it is much better than 1-2 releases ago, which shows that it gets a lot of development. Command-line stuff seem to work perfect (although the current shell is quite primitive) though so, if nothing else it can be used for automated tasks. IMO they should try to pay a bit more attention to getting the basics of the GUI side working since this will attract more developers who are interested in helping with the higher levels (as higher as working with stuff like user32.dll etc can be anyway) but don't want to mess with the low level stuff (graphics, etc). I think ReactOS is still at a point before the "snowball effect" with its developer popularity.

harrygeez 9y ago
to be fair even on Windows 10 you still have refresh manually sometimes
oneweekwonder 9y ago
> i ran Borland C++ Builder on it without major issues, beyond the GUI glitches i mentioned To whom does the Borland C++ builder belong. Because I wonder if there will open a market to get old c++/pascal code running in ReactOS? There is projects like lazarus and free pascal. But if you can keep your legacy win32 stuff in a self contained ReacOS vm... This will solve the enterprise problem of keeping legacy applications contained without win related licencing worries. Also your long term support looks more promising with ReactOS compared to Win XP; But microsoft will still drag the bone along for a little longer if not indefinitely at a enterprise price, ofcourse.
- badsectoracula 9y ago
  > To whom does the Borland C++ builder belong. Me, i bought it off ebay some time ago. Here is a blog post with some details: http://runtimeterror.com/blog/borland-c-builder.html http://runtimeterror.com/blog/borland-c-builder.html Note that i remembered wrong: BCB doesn't work out of the box, there is some issue with paths and such (i tried a few hours ago to install it in the latest version). I remember i solved it at the past, but i don't remember how i did it. > Because I wonder if there will open a market to get old c++/pascal code running in ReactOS? Well, if ReactOS is supposed to be Windows compatible it should be able to run that software without any explicit support for it since they work fine in Windows 10 (and as you say it is more likely they'll continue working on ReactOS than Windows - after all Wine can run today old 16bit software even on 64bit Linux, unlike Windows). > But if you can keep your legacy win32 stuff in a self contained ReacOS vm... Personally i prefer to run things natively because i often use those older tools for "real" work, mainly because of their speed (i write a game engine in C and Borland C++ 5.0 can compile the entire thing in less than a second). C++ Builder can also be very helpful to create a quick and dirty GUI for some C library (merging oldschool retro with bleeding edge, i modified GLEW to work with C++ Builder to create some tests for OpenGL 4.6 that was released a few days ago - being able to easily throw sliders, knobs and other widgets is neat).
- rzzzt 9y ago
  Embarcadero was the company which made historically significant projects, like Turbo Pascal, downloadable quite a few years ago: http://edn.embarcadero.com/museum/ http://edn.embarcadero.com/museum/
  - badsectoracula 9y ago
    Sadly, this stopped around when they changed the name back to Borland and years before they split into "Borland" and "CodeGear". I wish they would release Delphi 1 at some point, but that never happened.
smitherfield 9y ago
> Also old software sometimes tends to include 16bit components that do not work yet with ReactOS. Possibly some "new" software too? A few months ago on HN there was a thread about the "age" of various software, someone had mentioned that Visual C++ traces its lineage back to 1983's Microsoft C (written in pre-ANSI C and 16-bit x86 assembly for DOS), and I said I imagine they must've thrown that code out when rewriting it in C++ for Win32, but then someone from the VC++ team corrected me: a lot of that code is still in there. Of course, 64-bit Windows doesn't support 16-bit programs, so I'm not sure if those parts are only still present on builds for 32-bit Windows, or if they're recompiled as 32-bit, or if they're run in a VM or kernel module.
- badsectoracula 9y ago
  I'm going to guess that some stuff might be there, if for no other reason than to support the bootup process for computers that use the classic BIOS which starts at 16bit real mode. Although considering that 32bit Windows can still run 16bit code, i guess they also need to be able to compile the 16bit-to-32bit bridge code so this is probably another reason why the 16bit stuff exist.

harrygeez 9y ago

to be fair even on Windows 10 you still have refresh manually sometimes

oneweekwonder 9y ago

> i ran Borland C++ Builder on it without major issues, beyond the GUI glitches i mentioned To whom does the Borland C++ builder belong. Because I wonder if there will open a market to get old c++/pascal code running in ReactOS? There is projects like lazarus and free pascal. But if you can keep your legacy win32 stuff in a self contained ReacOS vm... This will solve the enterprise problem of keeping legacy applications contained without win related licencing worries. Also your long term support looks more promising with ReactOS compared to Win XP; But microsoft will still drag the bone along for a little longer if not indefinitely at a enterprise price, ofcourse.

badsectoracula 9y ago
> To whom does the Borland C++ builder belong. Me, i bought it off ebay some time ago. Here is a blog post with some details: http://runtimeterror.com/blog/borland-c-builder.html http://runtimeterror.com/blog/borland-c-builder.html Note that i remembered wrong: BCB doesn't work out of the box, there is some issue with paths and such (i tried a few hours ago to install it in the latest version). I remember i solved it at the past, but i don't remember how i did it. > Because I wonder if there will open a market to get old c++/pascal code running in ReactOS? Well, if ReactOS is supposed to be Windows compatible it should be able to run that software without any explicit support for it since they work fine in Windows 10 (and as you say it is more likely they'll continue working on ReactOS than Windows - after all Wine can run today old 16bit software even on 64bit Linux, unlike Windows). > But if you can keep your legacy win32 stuff in a self contained ReacOS vm... Personally i prefer to run things natively because i often use those older tools for "real" work, mainly because of their speed (i write a game engine in C and Borland C++ 5.0 can compile the entire thing in less than a second). C++ Builder can also be very helpful to create a quick and dirty GUI for some C library (merging oldschool retro with bleeding edge, i modified GLEW to work with C++ Builder to create some tests for OpenGL 4.6 that was released a few days ago - being able to easily throw sliders, knobs and other widgets is neat).
rzzzt 9y ago
Embarcadero was the company which made historically significant projects, like Turbo Pascal, downloadable quite a few years ago: http://edn.embarcadero.com/museum/ http://edn.embarcadero.com/museum/
- badsectoracula 9y ago
  Sadly, this stopped around when they changed the name back to Borland and years before they split into "Borland" and "CodeGear". I wish they would release Delphi 1 at some point, but that never happened.

smitherfield 9y ago

> Also old software sometimes tends to include 16bit components that do not work yet with ReactOS. Possibly some "new" software too? A few months ago on HN there was a thread about the "age" of various software, someone had mentioned that Visual C++ traces its lineage back to 1983's Microsoft C (written in pre-ANSI C and 16-bit x86 assembly for DOS), and I said I imagine they must've thrown that code out when rewriting it in C++ for Win32, but then someone from the VC++ team corrected me: a lot of that code is still in there. Of course, 64-bit Windows doesn't support 16-bit programs, so I'm not sure if those parts are only still present on builds for 32-bit Windows, or if they're recompiled as 32-bit, or if they're run in a VM or kernel module.

badsectoracula 9y ago
I'm going to guess that some stuff might be there, if for no other reason than to support the bootup process for computers that use the classic BIOS which starts at 16bit real mode. Although considering that 32bit Windows can still run 16bit code, i guess they also need to be able to compile the 16bit-to-32bit bridge code so this is probably another reason why the 16bit stuff exist.