ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

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Kevin Castro
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Location: Australia

ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by Kevin Castro »

Having taken some annual leave, I found time to horse around with ReactOS again. Nearly two years ago, I purchased a new Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2 motherboard and an AMD A4 7300 dual-core APU; but 0.4.7 wouldn’t run in it, and 0.4.9 was near impossible to boot. In my previous thread, I demonstrated how a Firefox link to the google homepage (from a Windows PC) can be pasted into the ReactOS desktop and Start Menu, and when you click on it, Wine Internet Explorer will open up ready for use. But it took literally hours of boot attempts for me to be able to perform that test.

I subsequently decided to install that hardware (including the network card and the addition of a graphics card) into a nicer tower case and format it into a fast XP websurfer (with the help of some extra drivers). Then I bought two more of those motherboards, another APU, plus two Athlon X4 845 quad-core CPUs to add to my hoard of hardware that supports XP, Vista, 7, and 8.1.

Also, I bought four rather large Foxconn tower cases for AUD25 each. They come with a 120mm rear fan, a 90mm diameter side duct, and a loud 350W PSU. I enhance the side duct with an Arctic F9 92mm fan running quietly at 5V. My PSU of choice for any build is either the Seasonic S12 II 430W or the Antec Neo Eco 450W (built by Seasonic). They are virtually inaudible.

In this photo, we see “KATRELL” powered up with 0.4.12 installed in the SSD. A welcome fix with -12 is the fact that I can hot-plug and hot-unplug a USB flash drive without the install bricking. In the front is a green Sandisk drive. I took this photo with my Pentax X5, then USB’d the camera into the front, and copied the photos in. Using Irfanview 4.10 within KATRELL, I then halved the resolution of the image and added the text.
[ external image ]
Attachments
KATRELL powered up.jpg
KATRELL powered up.jpg (481.12 KiB) Viewed 2614 times
Last edited by Kevin Castro on Mon Apr 20, 2020 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by Kevin Castro »

In this photo, we see two 2GB RAM sticks, the TP-Link TG-3269 PCI network card, and the 120mm fan running quietly at 7V. Having the SSD outboard allows this rig to have multiple Operating Systems, each on its own drive (i.e. Win7, Win8.1, Manjaro). It also means that if the install bricks, you can retrieve any screenshots or files by outboarding the drive into a Windows PC.
[ external image ]
Attachments
Inside KATRELL.jpg
Inside KATRELL.jpg (598.71 KiB) Viewed 2614 times
Last edited by Kevin Castro on Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by Kevin Castro »

It has taken several installs for me to arrive at the point where I can write a “how-to”. And I will probably brick more installs as I continue to find more limits.
This motherboard has only one PS/2 socket, into which I plugged a PS/2-only keyboard. Mouse is in USB. In the bios, ensure the USB legacy support is enabled and the CPU C6 State is disabled (otherwise you invite coil whine when the APU idles). Set boot priority to DVD to allow for the possibility of multiple reinstalls.

Firstly, burn an ISO image and begin the setting-up/format/installation. (If the setting-up hangs at a blank blue screen, outboard the SSD into a Windows PC and quick-format it.) My monitor of choice for this build is the trusty 19” 1280×1024, so when the setting-up gets to
“The list below shows the current device settings.”, I set the “Display:” to “1280x1024x32”.
At some point, I select “Install bootloader on the harddisk (MBR and VBR)”.
When ReactOS wants to perform its first boot, select the normal ReactOS boot. The USB will not work yet, but if you perform a Debug boot, it is likely to get stuck—requiring a reinstall.

Use Tab and Enter to highlight and press buttons and fill out the necessary fields.

When ReactOS performs its second boot, select Debug boot this time (and every time from now on), and your USB mouse should be working perfectly. Cancel all the grey boxes until you just have the blue desktop.

I like to have my favourite stuff in the Start Menu instead of the Desktop. So, using the “Start/Programs” menus, I “Copy” and “Paste” the following items onto the Desktop: ReactOS Explorer (which I rename “1 File Manager”), Paint (for saving screenshots), Notepad, and Calculator. Unlike 0.4.7, -12 is not so cooperative when populating the Start Menu. You will probably need to do it within the folder tree but it is tricky. You need to open up ReactOS Explorer, “My Computer/C/Documents And Settings/Administrator/Start Menu”. But no, you can’t pull items from the “Desktop” folder within the menu tree, you need to click and drag the items directly from the actual Desktop into the opened Start Menu folder. I pull in Applications Manager, Calculator, Command Prompt, File Manager, Notepad, and Paint. Also, I create two new folders in the C drive: “# Stuff General” and “# Stuff IT”. Then I move “Read Me” into “# Stuff IT”. Then reboot.
[ external image ]
Attachments
Beginning the Start Menu.jpg
Beginning the Start Menu.jpg (107.71 KiB) Viewed 2614 times
Last edited by Kevin Castro on Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:05 pm, edited 3 times in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by Kevin Castro »

Next, I’m impatient to customize the appearance. I insert my USB flash drive and wait about fives seconds. Then I press “Start, down, Enter” and up come the folders. I Copy some of my favourite 1280×1024 images into “ReactOS/Web/Wallpaper”. Then I set my Desktop image, and then go into Display Properties, “Appearance/Advanced”, click on “Active Window” and choose my new colours. You should be able to unplug your flash drive at any time without bricking the install; but on the next boot, ReactOS may wish to embark on an error-checking safari. Let her do it, and everything should be fine. Otherwise, just leave the flash drive in the tower—she won’t try to boot from it. Also within this flash drive, I include the following: “mfc42.dll” (copied from XP/C/Windows/System32), a network driver folder from the TP-Link website (the folder is called “TG-3269_XP_beta”), the setup file for Irfanview 4.10, and an offline setup file for Flashplayer 31.
[ external image ]
Attachments
Customizing appearance.jpg
Customizing appearance.jpg (257.45 KiB) Viewed 2614 times
Last edited by Kevin Castro on Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:07 pm, edited 3 times in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by Kevin Castro »

Next, I do a quick check of the system. Here we see that ReactOS has down-clocked the 3.8 GHz dual-core to a 1 GHz single-core, and the installed RAM is being underutilized. ****EDIT: I have chosen my words poorly. As pointed out below, it is not actually "down-clocked".****
[ external image ]
Attachments
System check.jpg
System check.jpg (261.37 KiB) Viewed 2614 times
Last edited by Kevin Castro on Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by Kevin Castro »

Next, in Device Manager, I double-click the second “Ethernet controller” and make sure it is the one that shows
“Location: PCI-Bus 2, Device 6, Function 0”.
To install the driver, I “Install driver from specific location” and then browse through to the TP-Link folder in my flash drive. Then click all the OK’s and reboot.
Next, I set the static IP Address. Reboot.
[ external image ]
Attachments
IP Address.jpg
IP Address.jpg (274.79 KiB) Viewed 2614 times
Last edited by Kevin Castro on Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by Kevin Castro »

Next, I like to set the “Virtual Memory” to the “Recommended” (in my case, 3399 MB). Reboot.
[ external image ]
Attachments
Virtual Memory.jpg
Virtual Memory.jpg (208.4 KiB) Viewed 2614 times
Last edited by Kevin Castro on Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by Kevin Castro »

Next, I copy the “mfc42.dll” from my flash drive into “ReactOS/System32”. Then I install Irfanview 4.10 using my setup file. During the setup, I ‘check’ Desktop shortcut and a Start Menu shortcut (but not the Thumbnails opener). I don’t set any file associations. I don’t let it launch, then Click “Done”. The Start Menu shortcut won’t be there yet, so using the desktop shortcut, I open Irfanview and set my preferences. Then, “Esc” to close it. Then, from my “Sample Images” folder, I right click each a .bmp, .gif, .jpg, and a .png and choose to always open with Irfanview. Then reboot. Then I delete the Desktop shortcut.

Then, through “Application Manager”, I install Firefox 48. I don’t launch it, I just Reboot.
Then, through “Start/Programs”, I “Copy” “Mozilla Firefox”. Then I open “C/ReactOS/Documents and Settings/Administrator/Start Menu” and “Paste”. Reboot.
Then, I set my homepage, and tell Firefox to save downloads into “# Stuff General”, disable updates, get the “Avast Online Security” add-on (which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t), set the Security and Privacy; and finally, I install my Flashplayer 31 software and confirm that it appears in the Firefox Plugins as “Shockwave Flash”.
[ external image ]
Attachments
More programs into the Start Menu.jpg
More programs into the Start Menu.jpg (234.62 KiB) Viewed 2614 times
Last edited by Kevin Castro on Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by Kevin Castro »

Firefox is temperamental. It almost never shuts down properly; and if you try to reopen it after closing it, you will most likely have to do a button-hold shutdown and boot. When you scroll in a webpage, the images will go crazy. Simply click on the refresh icon and the images will straighten out. My Firefox crashed a few times, and the “Avast Online Security” vanished from my Add-ons, and “Shockwave Flash” vanished from Plugins. I checked to make sure Firefox hadn’t reset back to defaults—and it hadn’t. I decided to let it be—in any case, I probably won’t be watching online videos.

So that’s it for the time being, and I hope to add to this as I discover more about ReactOS 0.4.12.
[ external image ]
Attachments
Online window-shopping.jpg
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Last edited by Kevin Castro on Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
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mrmajik45
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Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by mrmajik45 »

Does CPU-Z show the hardware properly?
Last edited by mrmajik45 on Mon Oct 28, 2019 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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binarymaster
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Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by binarymaster »

Kevin Castro wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2019 2:17 pm Here we see that ReactOS has down-clocked the 3.8 GHz dual-core to a 1 GHz single-core, and the installed RAM is being underutilized.
It's not downclocked, it just shows hardcoded value, because unimplemented.
Kevin Castro
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Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by Kevin Castro »

Yes, I chose my words poorly ("down-clocked"), it was after midnight and I was tired.
"Unimplemented" and "CPU-Z" are terms I don't understand. Thanks for your replies.
Does this suggest the problem can be corrected to run the chip properly?
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
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onestop_mid
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Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by onestop_mid »

From the sound of it, the CPU is running full speed. CPU-Z is a program that displays CPU/RAM/Motherboard information, and unimplemented means that ReactOS just doesn't display CPU speed, instead having a hard coded 1.00 GHZ in, despite the CPU actually running higher.
Kevin Castro
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Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by Kevin Castro »

Thank you for that information, it's very helpful.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: ReactOS 0.4.12 in Real Steel (how to)

Post by Kevin Castro »

Deciding to make the most of the outboard sata cabling, I unplugged the Samsung SSD, plugged in an old Intel 335 80GB, and did another install. I installed SSDlife Free 2.2.39 and launched it. Just like with 0.4.7, it told me there was no SSD.

Next, I installed Office 2000. This (to my knowledge) remains the fastest, most responsive office suite ever to walk the earth (maybe not, but I bet it’s close!)—I run it in all my XP, Vista, and 7 computers. (If memory serves me correctly, it is just a bug-fixed Office 97, with a few extras.)

Excel opens but doesn’t scroll very well, and the cell you select begins blinking like a giant cursor.

Word opens and is a joy to use except the jumbled icons along the top. As you can see, when I moused over the “Redo” icon, it turns out to actually be the “Bold” button. That gaggle-of-three showing as “Redo, Underline, Italic” is actually “Bold, Italic, Underline” (or I can use Ctrl-B, Ctrl-I, and Ctrl-U). The margins can be set as normal, the text colour can be changed using the colour pallete, and Ctrl-S saves the document. The only way I can close Word is through Task Manager; and if I’ve changed the document without saving, it asks me if I would like to save the changes. I’m giving it a thumbs-up.
[ external image ]
Attachments
Word 2000.jpg
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Last edited by Kevin Castro on Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
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