Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

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danielbarry
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Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by danielbarry »

Hello, all

I was reading across the other day and found a section on Windows MinWin.

For those of you who do not about this, it is a stripped down version of Windows. It is basically the bare minimum of Windows 7, which takes up about 40mb. This includes a server, and basic dos functions.

I then had an idea about how to develope React OS, so that not only will it become Windows, it also becomes better.

Would it be possible to make code that will test the bios to see how good the computer is when installing the OS, so that it will practically run on any computer you can chuck at it?

I think this would be a great edition to React OS, not only is it not a bad idea, Microsoft are sure to do it to Windows 7/Windows 8 anyway.

Speaking of Windows 8, is React OS going to stay compatitble for that as well?


Thankyou for Reading

Dan
Haos
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Re: Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by Haos »

I`m lost at the "test the bios" part. As for Windows 8 compatibility, i`d like to remind you that Win7 is not released yet.
Z98
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Re: Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by Z98 »

I can only assume you mean somehow dynamically scaling the OS to "fit" within whatever hardware you're running. The extent that this is feasible is very limited, since an OS has certain baseline requirements that needs to be fulfilled otherwise it can't run. Anything left over is for applications to use. You really can't strip an OS down to its core and still expect it to handle the workload that its more complete version is designed for.
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Post by hto »

I think that the installer could be changed to allow users to choose what they want to install. A full installation, including Notepad, Calculator, Paint, etc. Or a bare minimum installation. It is up to users what to install.
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Re: Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by Z98 »

I'm not referring to "space" when I refer to the resources the OS itself requires. I'm referring directly to the processing power and memory needed to actually run the OS itself.
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Black_Fox
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Re: Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by Black_Fox »

To answer the OP, ReactOS will do better than Windows 7. Seven cannot run on oldest of Pentiums with 32MB RAM, while guys from ReactOS managed to do this.
Phalanx
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Re: Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by Phalanx »

Black_Fox wrote:To answer the OP, ReactOS will do better than Windows 7. Seven cannot run on oldest of Pentiums with 32MB RAM, while guys from ReactOS managed to do this.
This is not always a good thing. It can come at performance and feature costs.
The123king
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Re: Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by The123king »

Phalanx wrote:
Black_Fox wrote:To answer the OP, ReactOS will do better than Windows 7. Seven cannot run on oldest of Pentiums with 32MB RAM, while guys from ReactOS managed to do this.
This is not always a good thing. It can come at performance and feature costs.
I really don't think this is an issue yet ;) Maybe by 0.4.x or 0.5.x, but not when half the OS is unimplemented

Also, i doubt it will ever be an issue with ReactOS. The way it's going now, i can see the maximum minimum requirements being a PIII and 128mb RAM. Heck, ReactOS runs faster than 9x on my test HW
Phalanx
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Re: Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by Phalanx »

The123king wrote:
Phalanx wrote:
Black_Fox wrote:To answer the OP, ReactOS will do better than Windows 7. Seven cannot run on oldest of Pentiums with 32MB RAM, while guys from ReactOS managed to do this.
This is not always a good thing. It can come at performance and feature costs.
I really don't think this is an issue yet ;) Maybe by 0.4.x or 0.5.x, but not when half the OS is unimplemented

Also, i doubt it will ever be an issue with ReactOS. The way it's going now, i can see the maximum minimum requirements being a PIII and 128mb RAM. Heck, ReactOS runs faster than 9x on my test HW
I'm talking about the comparison between ReactOS and Windows 7. I would much rather use Windows 7 with it's higher requirements than ReactOS in it's shape.

One problem with supporting much older systems like a P3 is the fact your supporting much old system arch and processor op codes. This means you loose a lot of the hardware advantages which make the biggest impacts.
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Re: Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by Black_Fox »

That's the huge advantage of open source - you compile for whatever architecture you want and profit tremendously! I also agree that now I'd prefer Windows over ReactOS for daily use, but the change is nearing.
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Re: Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by Haos »

No, you dont profit that much by cpu targetting...
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Post by hto »

I tried to compile ReactOS and QEMU for newer CPU arch. Subjectively, they worked faster.
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Black_Fox
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Re: Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by Black_Fox »

Haos wrote:No, you dont profit that much by cpu targetting...
"5-15% speedup without even having to touch code" counts for me as tremendous :mrgreen:
coldReactive
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Re: Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by coldReactive »

Black_Fox wrote:
Haos wrote:No, you dont profit that much by cpu targetting...
"5-15% speedup without even having to touch code" counts for me as tremendous :mrgreen:
Allow me to reword:
You don't profit much for favoring one CPU over another, and not give support (IE: Drivers) for unfavorable CPUs.
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Re: Windows 'MinWin' and Windows 8

Post by Phalanx »

coldReactive wrote:
Black_Fox wrote:
Haos wrote:No, you dont profit that much by cpu targetting...
"5-15% speedup without even having to touch code" counts for me as tremendous :mrgreen:
Allow me to reword:
You don't profit much for favoring one CPU over another, and not give support (IE: Drivers) for unfavorable CPUs.
The speed difference in the code build for today's processors vs the ones from the P3 time is massive. How memory is moved, the registers, extra maths abilities, new ops, they all ad up. Get a brand new processor and run older code on it and your wasting a lot of the advantages.

One thing windows is very good at is replacing commonly used routines in boot up with a version that matches your processor. So that way they can take advantage of new improvements. That means if you boot a copy of windows on a P3 and a i7, the code in the basic core routines for management will have changed to a version which support the features of that cpu. One thing MS is good at is doing these things without a person knowing or having to. That's what has put them in their position today.
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