Re: [ros-dev] Problems installing REACTOS

[Ged]

Why do  you need to start on real hardware?

This is fairly unsupported at the moment, so you’re really in no-mans-land here.

I’d suggest a virtual machine until you become more familiar with it.

Anyway, looking at your hardware spec I don’t see any untoward.

Continuing down the real hardware path, your next step is to obtain debug output.

The only current method to do this is via a null-modem cable, as specified in the link I gave you.

Ged.

From: James Muthee [mailto:[e-mail]] 
Sent: 31 December 2008 09:12
To: Ged
Subject: RE: [ros-dev] Problems installing REACTOS

Hello Ged.

Thanks for the prompt reply.

First, I need to test the software on a real machine. No Virtualization, no support form any other OS.

As for the exact configuration of the system, I am forwarding the entire report from the windows system info.

I know its lengthy but, then again you would be looking for someting specific.

My disks are FAT32

Please help.

Thanks

James I. M.

--- On Tue, 30/12/08, Ged [e-mail] wrote:

From: Ged [e-mail]
Subject: RE: [ros-dev] Problems installing REACTOS
To: [e-mail], "'ReactOS Development List'" [e-mail]
Date: Tuesday, 30 December, 2008, 1:59 PM

It could be a whole range of things.

Without having your hardware spec and debug output, it’s impossible to tell.

If you just want to test it, it’s better to run it in a virtual machine.

If you’re insistent on running it on hardware, then you’ll need to start by supplying your hardware details.

If that doesn’t show any obvious problems (e.g. SATA, NTFS, etc) then you will need to grab debug output via a null cable modem  http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php/Debugging#Real_computer:_Physical_serial_cable http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php/Debugging#Real_computer:_Physical_seri...

Good luck.

Ged.

From: [e-mail] [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of James Muthee
Sent: 30 December 2008 11:21
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [ros-dev] Problems installing REACTOS

Hello.

Having downloaded the software (I was amazed it was less than 40MB), I wrote the ISO on a CD and started the installation.

0.3.7 failed to install completely, stopping dead just after loading the initial files.

I downloaded the 0.3.6 and tried again. This time, I was able to install the first portion (copying the textmode installation to the hard disk and modifying the MBR).

On restart, A GUI window flashed then a blue screen with a single line about the Build, and that was the end.

What am I doing wrong?

I would appreciate any help. I really want to test drive this software.

James I. M.

[João Jerónimo]

Ged wrote:
> This is fairly unsupported at the moment, so you’re really in
> no-mans-land here.

I've done some hobbyist OS developing for some time in the past and one of
the worst things I could do, specially when writing hardware-sensitive
stuff, was write tons of code without testing it on real hardware.
IMHO, it's ok to test with the emulator when writing the code (i.e. during
the write-compile-test cycle), but from time to time you'd better check it
on real hardware, too.
> I’d suggest a virtual machine until you become more familiar with it.

This advice is far better than the former one.
Another one is to unplug all the vital hard disks from the system the first
time he wants to test on real hardware, unless he has no other disk.

JJ
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[Ged]

João Jerónimo
> I've done some hobbyist OS developing for some time in the past and one of
> the worst things I could do, specially when writing hardware-sensitive

? stuff, was write tons of code without testing it on real hardware.
> IMHO, it's ok to test with the emulator when writing the code (i.e. during
> the write-compile-test cycle), but from time to time you'd better check it
> on real hardware, too.

ReactOS is tested on many real systems, on a daily basis.
There are millions of different hardware specs and configurations, not all of which follow the standards, and which of course have their own subtle bugs and misnomers. We obviously don't have access to the same range of beta testers Microsoft has, or the same number of hackers linux has.
Combine this with the fact that ReactOS is still in Alpha and you have a combination which isn't going to work on every single real machine out there. As ReactOS matures, it should start to run on more and more default setups as we start to both stabalise our code and introduce new code to handle the problems of running an OS on a huge amount of different bases.
But of course, as you've done some hobbyish OS development, you didn't need me to tell you that.

Currently the only way we can find out what is causing the problem on your system is by getting debug output from you. If you aren't able to do this, then your only hope is that someone else hits the same problem you have, from which we are able to get debug output and fix, or we inadvertently notice whatever is causing your problem and things just start to work for you.

Ged.