According to Japanese news, ReactOS is an open-source operating system based on the architectural design principles of Windows NT. Its main goal is to provide an operating system that is binary compatible with the Windows environment, allowing Windows applications and drivers to run as if they were running on Windows. However, currently, ReactOS is still It is in the alpha version and many features are not yet perfect.
Recently, ReactOS Deutschland e.V. has announced the hiring of long-term contributors to the project, who will spend the next five months working on the ReactOS GUI installation model, which will replace the previous text-based installation scheme, thus lowering the barrier for users.
According to an update on its official blog, ReactOS is paying Hermès Bélusca-Maïto to work on the ReactOS GUI installation model for the next five months to complete the first phase of GUI installation development.
Currently, a ReactOS installation goes through three phases. The first two phases deal with the installation of the system, while the third phase is the first available bootstrap interface for the user.
- Stage 1 – Text mode installation, booting from the ReactOS CD-ROM.
- Stage 2 – Boot to the GUI installer. User information is entered and files are registered.
- Stage 3 – Boot to desktop, user configuration.
Currently, the only option for installing ReactOS in the first step is via text mode, the rest of the installation will be handled after the second stage of installation. This has been the standard method of installing ReactOS on a virtual machine or bare metal since the project’s inception, and as such has required some gatekeeping and scared off a number of users.
The GUI installation roadmap for ReactOS
Attachment as follows:
- Complete the Winesync section on the setupapi.dll extracted from the CAB file.
- Move the FreeLdr bootloader installation selection step to after the ROS disk/partition selection step and before the actual installation.
- Integrate registry setup callbacks (currently not present in GUI installations).
- Add GPT support for GUI installations.
- Miscellaneous (further cleanup, some refactoring, etc.).
