4 ms·

Free95: An open-source Windows-compatible operating system

28 points by jnord 2y ago

OsrsNeedsf2P 2y ago
Seems very WIP. Might be easier to start with something like ReactOS[0] and work backwards. [0]https://reactos.org/ https://reactos.org/
- tgma 2y ago
  Perhaps they won't even need to work backwards: their implementation claims to support NT syscalls for 95! Just deploy ReactOS then.
  - ryao 2y ago
    I would have thought they could use KernelEx for that.
kittikitti 2y ago
Can I run Crysis with this?
grendelt 2y ago
I used something like this back in the day to run Winamp when CarPCs were a thing (to play MP3s before MP3 player stereos came out). If I knew what I knew now, I'd have done it so much differently, but it was the late 90s/early 2k and we use what we know.
asveikau 2y ago
Sorry this is going to be more impolite than most HN comments, but this person doesn't know what they're doing. WriteFile returns hardcoded TRUE. NtReadFile() returns a char*. NtWriteFile does a string compare if the filename is "CON", and the entire functionality is a strcpy() otherwise. This is not what a replacement Windows kernel looks like. Source: https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/blob/main/free95/src/win32.c https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/blob/main/free95/...
- mdaniel 2y ago
  I really despise people that commit .dll and .exe files to git, and https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/blob/main/free95/src/tools/dllme.txt https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/blob/main/free95/... isn't doing themselves any favors. However, https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/blob/main/free95/src/skunkworks/malware.c#L9 https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/blob/main/free95/... makes me wonder if this whole repo is some kind of elaborate joke or something
  - em3rgent0rdr 2y ago
    Free95: "Free" as in "a free laugh".
  - genewitch 2y ago
    Dang might need to manually review this post, because those files were wiped 8 minutes after you mentioned this. Skunkworks folder is 404, too. If you want a windows - like os there's reactos, right? You can compile it with itself.
    - coldcity 2y ago
      Here's the diff :) https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/pull/3/commits/3f1599afca452ef7bff19e51439b5d4094ecd5e6 https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/pull/3/commits/3f...
  - cosmotic 2y ago
    What would you suggest as an alternative to checking in DLLs?
    - mdaniel 2y ago
      In general I would expect a mixture of two things: since this is an open source project, it should be building those things from source (even if that source isn't in this specific repo), and/or [related to that one] if it has dependencies upon pre-built binaries then put those in the build script so a reasonable person could audit both what's in that .dll and where it came from. In this specific case it seems like it came from some rando spam site without any idea what is actually in the .dll This situation seems to be on brand for a repo that has a file named malware.c but I am addressing the general case that you asked
ninjin-carh 2y ago
There is a pull request from someone suggesting they are removing malware from this... https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/pull/3 https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/pull/3
- ninjin-carh 2y ago
  although it looks like the "malware" may have been a joke from the diff https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/pull/3/commits/3f1599afca452ef7bff19e51439b5d4094ecd5e6 https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/pull/3/commits/3f...
wufocaculura 2y ago
With ReactOS being around and given such a small target audience I don't expect this will go far. To be honest I wonder if this ends up being part of some CTF challenge
kappetrov 2y ago
Hmmm, why didn't i see this post before? i'm actually the lead developer of this. Don't believe? then don't. >:)
ash_fa 2y ago
I would consider this project to be a joke. The code is nasty and you can barely consider this minimal graphical window, an operating system. There is basically nothing built there to contribute or at least that's my thought after reviewing their project on github.

28 points by jnord 2y ago

Seems very WIP. Might be easier to start with something like ReactOS[0] and work backwards. [0]https://reactos.org/ https://reactos.org/

tgma 2y ago
Perhaps they won't even need to work backwards: their implementation claims to support NT syscalls for 95! Just deploy ReactOS then.
- ryao 2y ago
  I would have thought they could use KernelEx for that.

kittikitti 2y ago

Can I run Crysis with this?

grendelt 2y ago

I used something like this back in the day to run Winamp when CarPCs were a thing (to play MP3s before MP3 player stereos came out). If I knew what I knew now, I'd have done it so much differently, but it was the late 90s/early 2k and we use what we know.

asveikau 2y ago

Sorry this is going to be more impolite than most HN comments, but this person doesn't know what they're doing. WriteFile returns hardcoded TRUE. NtReadFile() returns a char*. NtWriteFile does a string compare if the filename is "CON", and the entire functionality is a strcpy() otherwise. This is not what a replacement Windows kernel looks like. Source: https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/blob/main/free95/src/win32.c https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/blob/main/free95/...

mdaniel 2y ago
I really despise people that commit .dll and .exe files to git, and https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/blob/main/free95/src/tools/dllme.txt https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/blob/main/free95/... isn't doing themselves any favors. However, https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/blob/main/free95/src/skunkworks/malware.c#L9 https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/blob/main/free95/... makes me wonder if this whole repo is some kind of elaborate joke or something
- em3rgent0rdr 2y ago
  Free95: "Free" as in "a free laugh".
- genewitch 2y ago
  Dang might need to manually review this post, because those files were wiped 8 minutes after you mentioned this. Skunkworks folder is 404, too. If you want a windows - like os there's reactos, right? You can compile it with itself.
  - coldcity 2y ago
    Here's the diff :) https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/pull/3/commits/3f1599afca452ef7bff19e51439b5d4094ecd5e6 https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/pull/3/commits/3f...
- cosmotic 2y ago
  What would you suggest as an alternative to checking in DLLs?
  - mdaniel 2y ago
    In general I would expect a mixture of two things: since this is an open source project, it should be building those things from source (even if that source isn't in this specific repo), and/or [related to that one] if it has dependencies upon pre-built binaries then put those in the build script so a reasonable person could audit both what's in that .dll and where it came from. In this specific case it seems like it came from some rando spam site without any idea what is actually in the .dll This situation seems to be on brand for a repo that has a file named malware.c but I am addressing the general case that you asked

ninjin-carh 2y ago

There is a pull request from someone suggesting they are removing malware from this... https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/pull/3 https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/pull/3

ninjin-carh 2y ago
although it looks like the "malware" may have been a joke from the diff https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/pull/3/commits/3f1599afca452ef7bff19e51439b5d4094ecd5e6 https://github.com/Versoft-Software/Free95/pull/3/commits/3f...

wufocaculura 2y ago

With ReactOS being around and given such a small target audience I don't expect this will go far. To be honest I wonder if this ends up being part of some CTF challenge

kappetrov 2y ago

Hmmm, why didn't i see this post before? i'm actually the lead developer of this. Don't believe? then don't. >:)

ash_fa 2y ago

I would consider this project to be a joke. The code is nasty and you can barely consider this minimal graphical window, an operating system. There is basically nothing built there to contribute or at least that's my thought after reviewing their project on github.