UBCD4Win Revival

If it doesn't fit anywhere else, drop it in here. (not to be used as a chat/nonsense section)

Moderator: Moderator Team

Post Reply
ScriptTiger
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2018 10:50 am
Location: Citizen of the World
Contact:

UBCD4Win Revival

Post by ScriptTiger »

Perhaps UBCD4Win can be revived on a live ReactOS boot disk? I have reached out to a couple other communities about this with positive feedback and if we were to do something, obviously having some folks familiar with ReactOS specifically would definitely come in handy. Would there be any interest in helping with such a project? We would have to do a lot of testing on each tool to make sure it's supported and obviously the tool list itself would have to also be reviewed to ensure they are also the best modern options and up to date, etc. Besides the fact that the UBCD4Win project is currently completely dead, it also relied on the now also dead BartPE. Now I know there is still WinPE, but the major problem with both BartPE and WinPE is they include Microsoft and they cannot be distributed as ISOs and everyone has to "build" the disk themself from their own operating system for licensing purposes. The obvious benefit to starting a project like this would be the actual ISO file can be uploaded and distributed, since ReactOS is open source, and the build process wouldn't be nearly as complicated, which would allow more people to use it.

I would just like to emphasize at this point we are still just trying to gauge interest, as nobody wants to start a project just to end up sitting alone at the table.

If you're not familiar with UBCD4Win, here's a link to an archive of the website:
https://web.archive.org/web/20121117001 ... in.com:80/

And here is a link to their last release:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/ubcd4win.html

EDIT:
We have just created a new GitHub org with a ReactOS repo. The structure for UWBCD (Ultimate Windows Boot CD) is an org to house other flavors, such as those using WinPE, BartPE, or even any relevant Linux distros that may come about or be used in development. Since WinPE and BartPE flavors already exist, it's likely other projects will be opened to continue development for those since ReactOS itself is still early stages and having side projects to pose as a tool model for what to include in the ReactOS flavor later would make sense.
https://github.com/UWBCD/UWBCD-REACTOS
Last edited by ScriptTiger on Sun Jun 10, 2018 6:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
ThFabba
Developer
Posts: 293
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 11:39 am

Re: UBCD4Win Revival

Post by ThFabba »

Should be easy enough -- unlike Windows, ReactOS supports LiveCD mode.
So you just need to get the tools working (check https://jira.reactos.org/ for existing bug reports, or file new ones if things don't work and none are there yet -- login is the same as for this forum).

The difficulty of integrating tools into the CD may vary. If it's a few individual files, you just add them to the modules/optional folder and https://github.com/reactos/reactos/blob ... tos.dff.in
If the tool requires installation, it may get trickier. Adding the individual files and registry entries manually, running setup as an autostart item, or finding/creating a "portable" version of the tool are some of the options.
middings
Posts: 1073
Joined: Tue May 07, 2013 9:18 pm
Location: California, USA

Re: UBCD4Win Revival

Post by middings »

ScriptTiger wrote:Perhaps UBCD4Win can be revived on a live ReactOS boot disk... I would just like to emphasize at this point we are still just trying to gauge interest, as nobody wants to start a project just to end up sitting alone at the table.
Successful open source projects resemble the story of stone soup. Good luck with putting together a live proof-of-concept demo, no matter how crude.
ScriptTiger
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2018 10:50 am
Location: Citizen of the World
Contact:

Re: UBCD4Win Revival

Post by ScriptTiger »

Thank you, @ThFabba, for your advice! Those are definitely useful pointers. And thanks also to @middings for reality-checking, which every successful open-source project also needs :P We are just now running tests on various hardware at this point, but we also have yet to work out the logistics, such as actual project name, collaboration methods, etc.
ScriptTiger
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2018 10:50 am
Location: Citizen of the World
Contact:

Re: UBCD4Win Revival

Post by ScriptTiger »

Just as an update, I updated my initial post with the new GitHub info.

We have just created a new GitHub org with a ReactOS repo. The structure for UWBCD (Ultimate Windows Boot CD) is an org to house other flavors, such as those using WinPE, BartPE, or even any relevant Linux distros that may come about or be used in development. Since WinPE and BartPE flavors already exist, it's likely other projects will be opened to continue development for those since ReactOS itself is still early stages and having side projects to pose as a tool model for what to include in the ReactOS flavor later would make sense.
https://github.com/UWBCD/UWBCD-REACTOS
User avatar
Tobias_B._Besemer
Posts: 30
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2018 2:55 am
Location: Stuttgart, Germany

Re: UBCD4Win Revival

Post by Tobias_B._Besemer »

We try to build a maintenance ISO based on ROS!
Check: https://www.uwbcd.org
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests