ReactOS 0.4.14 "Open-Source Windows" OS Brings Many Improvements

Written by Michael Larabel in Operating Systems on 18 December 2021 at 05:33 AM EST. 32 Comments
OPERATING SYSTEMS
ReactOS as the "open-source Windows" operating system developed by the community with an aim for binary compatibility with Microsoft Windows is out with a big update. The last release was ReactOS 0.4.13 all the way back in April 2020 while this week has been succeeded by the big ReactOS 0.4.14 update.

- The ReactOS kernel has better stability and a variety of other improvements. The kernel has seen work on improved memory management, initial work on Physical Address Extension (PAE) handling, CRT exception handling, better Plug 'n Play, and driver work.

- Various user-interface/shell improvements, including "Send To" support from context menus, "Open Command Prompt" support, and other additions.


ReactOS 0.4.14


- Working on being able to boot ReactOS on the NEC PC-9800 (PC-98) computers.

- Better support for the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP).

- Support for the NetKVM VirtIO interface for virtual machine networking.

- Removing obsolete fonts from the system was enough to reduce the binary size of the new ReactOS release as well as a noticeable difference in RAM consumption at boot ~116MB vs. ~92MB.

- Updating against various open-source components.

Downloads and more details on the ReactOS 0.4.14 release via ReactOS.org.
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Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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