r/reactos • u/TobyGobi • 3d ago
ReactOS 0.4.16: surprisingly capable, but modern browser support feels like the biggest usability wall
Spent today testing the new 0.4.16 x86 release across Hyper-V, VirtualBox and VMware Workstation.
Hyper-V gave a 0x7E during boot. VirtualBox installed successfully, although I managed to break the keyboard/mouse input after allowing the post-install hardware wizard to automatically install a device (it did warn me in all fairness) . VMware Workstation was the best experience: default virtual hardware, ACPI PC Uniprocessor, FAT32, and I just cancelled the hardware wizard after first boot.
From there ReactOS was surprisingly functional. DHCP/DNS worked immediately, Internet connectivity worked, Applications Manager worked, Firefox 48 worked substantially better than Chrome 49, and I was even able to authenticate successfully to Microsoft 365. Outlook Web eventually hit the wall with the old browser, but authentication succeeded.
I also successfully ran Chicken Invaders, so obviously enterprise application compatibility has been validated.
The biggest thing this left me wondering was, what is the current plan for getting a genuinely modern browser running on it?
For people considering ReactOS as a possible way to extend the life of older PCs, the OS itself already feels much more usable than I expected. But so much everyday computing happens in a browser that Firefox 48/Chrome 49 became the limiting factor almost immediately. A current browser would change how useful it feels, even while the OS remains alpha.
Very cool project. I started this expecting to play with it for 20 minutes and somehow lost most of a Monday to it.
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u/Seledreams 3d ago
I wonder if Supermium works on it. Considering it's a fork of modern chrome meant to keep working on Windows XP and stuff
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u/AotoriHibiki 3d ago
I'm having lots of fun with ReactOS. Completed more than 50 games on it this year.
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u/MasterJeebus 3d ago
Thats great that it can run so many games. Do you think you could make a list of the games that worked with it?
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u/AotoriHibiki 2d ago
Yeah I have a playlist on youtube with the games and benchmarks that I've found to run well. On real hardware no less. I'm currently on a 4th gen core i7 with GTX 960.
I'm adding new stuff every few days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utbSTrXztI8&list=PLt6dEzOE4KNGEAOlZIW2IT-V6NmBS8zo12
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u/Creepy-Song1594 2d ago
Wow, that's awesome. I was thinking of using my secondary PC with an FX 8350 and a GTX 1050 Ti for something else. It could work really well, especially for more retro stuff.
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u/Better-Quote1060 2d ago
Vm or real hardware :0 ?
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u/AotoriHibiki 2d ago
All on real hardware. VM sounds boring.
I've recorded some with a capture card:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utbSTrXztI8&list=PLt6dEzOE4KNGEAOlZIW2IT-V6NmBS8zo11
u/Better-Quote1060 2d ago edited 2d ago
Sure VM are boring compair when you acually run a graphics api like dx9 on real hardware (like what they did with half life 2)
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u/AotoriHibiki 2d ago
Yeah Half Life 2(but not the episodes), Portal 1, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, they run fine at 2560x1440 4xMSAA on hardware.
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u/Better-Quote1060 2d ago
Reminds me of gallium nine (its was a driver on mesa aka linux that used to let you run directx directly to linux without a middleground like dxvk or wined3d) but sadly that project is dead
Reactos is doing the same but alive :D
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u/Proper-Train-1508 1d ago
The modern browser is the most important thing to be fixed to be a real useful OS right now.
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u/User_Typical 1d ago
FYI Supermium (32-bit) does not work on this latest release. Wish it did, though.
EDIT: using VirtualBox, with (finally) working Guest Box Additions.
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u/TobyGobi 23h ago
Yes I played with it a bit and then got pulled into several work projects before I could setup a decent debugger. I was happy to see it installed flawlessly but launching it produced nothing.
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u/FlatAssembler 3d ago
Firefox 52 ran on the previous version. Did it stop running now?