[ros-general] 0.2.4 feedback :)

[Bernd Blaauw]

Hello,

once again a quick user review with the ReactOS livecd (testing in Vmware).

seems like 20MB RAM is the minimum for ReactOS. Anything lower, and 
kernel (ntoskrnl.exe) crashes very fast.
SETUP might require not that much of RAM.

Is the following scheme a usable one?:
0-12MB: crash (not enough memory)
12-20MB: load console (cmd.exe)
20MB-4GB: load GUI (explorer.exe).

When you right-click START MENU, and select SETTINGS, the menu opens way 
too low
(it shows 9 desktop screen layouts, and the 'show version info'.

Also 'size' bar is not big in enough (in explorer, when viewing the size 
of explorer.exe, several MB),
and screen refresh/repaint does not seem to work. Directories are 
displayed with 0 size, btw.
All sizes in bytes by default?

any attempts to put the LiveCD and installer on the same medium? or 
still a lot of conflicting files?
floppy drive(r) still disabled?

this release is looking good.

Some comments though on the installer:
*full GPL license (displayed in license screen of SETUP, option L that 
is) instead of a pointer.
*setup still speaks about extended partitions, while meaning logical 
partitions inside a extended partition (it's a container, only 1 
possible on harddisk).
*Setup offers to install bootloader in floppy or harddisk (MBR). Why not 
both? Floppy is rescue medium if the harddisk bootloader fails.
does it always install in MBR? or only for fresh disk like I had?
*Vmware SVGA driver setup is a bit strange.
1)It says "Click next to continue or cancel to skip.
2)It also indicates to "Select Install VMware tools".
It does not say: do [2] before doing [1].

New suggestion:
"Setup has detected you're running in Vmware. ReactOS can use the VMware 
SVGA drivers.
 Press Cancel to skip installing them, or, in Vmware, select "Install 
Vmware tools" and then press Continue to install the SVGA driver."

Also Vmware complains "No tools for this guest operating system", but 
that might be because I set up the VM as type MSDOS, then increase 
memory, then mount ReactOS iso-file and boot the VM. Perhaps setting it 
to 'win2000' is better (but then SCSI is used for harddisk, I guess).
I had to mount the \program files\VMware\Windows.iso manually (as ISO to 
use for first cdrom device).

Bernd