Purely Academic: Compatability with ReactOS?

[Fletcher Kauffman]

ICYDK:

ReactOS (https://reactos.org/) is an open-source project to completely replace Windows with a Windows-binary-compatible-Microsoft-free platform.

I have been playing with it in a VM, and any casual user would mistake ReactOS for Win7 or Win98. It sneaks in some really useful features you find in Linux, too, but mostly, it can run Windows software that is designed to run on the NT-based Windowses.

It appears that a lot of software just runs on it, so I thought I would-- just for funzies-- try installing yWriter. In theory it should work, since yWriter (especially older versions) seems to be compatible with older versions of Windows that most current software is.

Unfortunately, the installer throws a message that yWriter isn't compatible with "this version" of Windows.

So, I don't know what yWriter is seeing as the version, but it may be thinking there's an incompatibility where there possibly isn't.

The only reason I mention it is that it could be as simple as altering a few characters in the installer to make it compatible, and then it would be a fun badge to add. Just throwin' it out there.

[Todd Carnes]

Have you tried using the portable (plain zip without an installer) version?

http://www.spacejock.com/RunFromThumbDrive.html

[Peter T.]

Some time ago I tried ReactOS under VirtualBox. The annoying thing was that I couldn't install the Windows Guest Additions, which meant: no data exchange with the host. 

Then such nice things as font smoothing on the screen were missing.

After hardly anything else worked, I gave up the topic again. 

But maybe it has become better in the meantime? Should a "productive use" be possible for you, let me know. 

[Fletcher Kauffman]

I'd be curious about the guest additions now.

I'm running it on a Synology NAS, so it's already performance-limited by the fact that I'm accessing it through VNC.

I may try Todd's suggestion and run the non-installer one.

See what I spend my time on?

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[Peter T.]

A little advice: If everything else works, you were able to set up a "data exchange drive" and get on the Internet, and yWriter still doesn't work, try to install the correct dotnet version. This is what yWriter needs. 

In a pinch (or to start with) try this yWriter version:

http://spacejock.com/yWriter5_2k.html

[Fletcher Kauffman]

It appears that .NET 4.8 installed(?)-- the installer ran, no complaint, but also no 'Install Done' splash.

The .zip version of 7 doesn't appear to do anything when launched. It doesn't even hit Task Manager for a split-second.

Just tried to install .NET 4.5.2 and got a "The .NET Framework 4.5.2 is not supported on this operating system." Sooo, let's see if they have a Mono runtime equivalent... BINGO...

Hmm.. version 6 doesn't run, either. It just does nothing when I click it. Almost like ReactOS isn't launching it.

OHH.. properties/compatibility/Windows 7 (SP1). It runs, you can create a project, you can create a Chapter, but it won't show in the list of Chapter (so you can't create scenes)-- but if you create a new chapter, it will be one number higher, as though the prior one does exist. You can create characters seemingly without a problem.

yWriter 7 still does the "not starting" thing..

Oh well, let's see if I can get it to run on Haiku!

[Simon Haynes]

yWriter uses dotnet (3.5, 4.6.2, 4.8 depending on YW5/6/7)

It doesn't do any checks for Windows versions, but dotnet does - and the installer checks for dotnet.

Just a wild guess here, but downloading the zip version of yWriter, unpacking it to a folder and running the exe from there might work, as long as you've installed dotnet first.

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[Fletcher Kauffman]

I don't know if you saw what I wrote, as we posted 3 minutes apart, like ships that pass in the night.

yW6 appeared to work partially, and yW7 wouldn't even attempt to launch.

I guess that's a datapoint for future reference.. :)

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[Peter T.]

Probably the problem now reduces to the differences between mono and dotnet.

Does Python run under ReactOS? OpenOffice?LibreOffice?, Timeline?

In case you really can set up a workflow with yWriter on ReactOS, it wouldn't be bad if you could post an installation guide online. Maybe, there's some ReactOS wiki where the users can find it.

[Simon Haynes]

Mono still has bugs which make it hard to run yWriter on it.  There's one I reported about 12 years ago where setting the value 'dialogresult' within a dialog/form will immediately close that dialog. That's not how it's meant to work, and it breaks most of ywriter (and probably a load of other programs too.)

My recommendation (for Linux) is dotnet on top of Wine, and then yWriter on that.

Obviously you can't run wine on Reactos though.

By the way, I thought Reactos was a win98/2k clone?  Dotnet 3.5 is XP or later.

The only thing you might be able to do is run yWriter2 through 4, which are still available on my site.

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[Peter T.]

On Sunday, August 1, 2021 at 7:58:14 AM UTC+2 Simon Haynes wrote:

Mono still has bugs which make it hard to run yWriter on it.  There's one I reported about 12 years ago where setting the value 'dialogresult' within a dialog/form will immediately close that dialog. That's not how it's meant to work, and it breaks most of ywriter (and probably a load of other programs too.)

My recommendation (for Linux) is dotnet on top of Wine, and then yWriter on that.

Obviously you can't run wine on Reactos though.

By the way, I thought Reactos was a win98/2k clone?  Dotnet 3.5 is XP or later.

It looks like Wine is not completely unknown to ReactOS. Here's a comparison between the architectures of Windows 16/32, ReactOS, and Linux:

[Simon Haynes]

If you can run Wine on ReactOS and then install dotnet 3.5 on top, that should let you run yWriter5.

(YW5, 6 and 7 are all the exact same code, they're just compiled for different versions of dotnet for compatibility with older machines. XP is my limit right now.)

YW8 is a trial run for dotnet 5, which was quickly replaced with dotnet 6.  My long-term goal is to convert the user interface in yWriter to Maui... but I've been looking at the preview edition and I think it's going to be a couple of years before it's anywhere near ready for desktop - for my usage needs, at least.

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[Todd Carnes]

I just installed ReactOS in a VM.

Out of the box, the application manager offers the option of installing the following Microsoft .NET runtimes.

• Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.1
• Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0
• Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 Service Pack 2
• Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.0

The application manager also offers Visual Basic runtimes 5 & 6 as well as Wine Mono .NET Framework 4.5.6

From what I was able to glean from a (very) cursory look at the wiki and the fact that it reports itself to be NT 5.2 internally, it's intended to be a Windows 2003 clone.

As an aside, VirtualBox also identifies it as Windows 2003 and the VirtualBox Guest Addition install and run with no problems. However, the OS as a whole is still in alpha and it shows. It's very buggy. It kept crashing and I even got the BSOD a few times.

Todd

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[Fletcher Kauffman]

This is still purely academic. I don't know why I get grabbed by these things. As Todd said, ReactOS is meant to cover any of the NT-based Windowses, but its sweet-spot is Windows Server 2003.

My only interest in things like this, really, is that I can create a distraction-free environment where I really can't run anything else.

Depending upon what I'm writing, I have gone back as far as an Apple //e emulator.

yWriter mostly runs under Wine on Linux-- I think the indent/hanging indent issue is a Wine-only problem. I don't seem to get it on my desktop. Riddle me that one.

[Peter T.]

On Sunday, August 1, 2021 at 7:54:50 PM UTC+2 fletcher...@gmail.com wrote:

[...] 

My only interest in things like this, really, is that I can create a distraction-free environment where I really can't run anything else.

Depending upon what I'm writing, I have gone back as far as an Apple //e emulator.

Why not just unplug the LAN? ;-)

Or dig out any old Windows license and set up a VM. I have something like that with Vista and Win 2000. 

[Todd Carnes]

I have MS DOS 6.22 and Win 98 SE VM's set up. They certainly don't
prevent distractions, I mostly use them to play old games. :)

Todd

[Simon Haynes]

yWriter uses the same Rich Text Control as wordpad, and there have been a few versions of this control over the years.

This is the reason yw5/6/7 all have different levels of compatibility with unicode character sets. The control used in yw5 is not that great, the one in yw6 works most of the time, and the rich text control in yw7 seems to be flawless. (Not that I use extended character sets myself, but I keep a test project for these things.)

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[Fletcher Kauffman]

You have no idea what you're dealing with here, Peter! I seriously looked at making a Linux distro that would convert a Chromebook into a typewriter. Like, all it was intended to do was simulate (very accurately), having a typewriter (paper, platen, et al. simulated). It would only support markup, so it behaved like a typewriter might. I had some other ideas for it, but Kauffthor will have to wait. Hopefully a Bukowski simulator doesn't come out before then.

Simon, for what it's worth, I think that bug with the changing indent spacing does happen only under Wine, for whatever reason. It also seems like the over-highlighted or black text happens more often under Wine, but it's not exclusive. The Windows version is definitely much more "shelf stable".

But I am still mad at those other controls (the list boxes and grids, etc.)-- and after you said it, I actually remembered this specific problem from almost ten years ago-- if I changed the background color by even 1 value, e.g. 255, 254, 255, then the header/controls lose their 3D-ness and blend into the background. I used to run into this when I did a lot of work in Access and there were times where it was handy, but mostly, it was not.

[Peter T.]

On Monday, August 2, 2021 at 9:06:35 AM UTC+2 fletcher...@gmail.com wrote:

You have no idea what you're dealing with here, Peter! I seriously looked at making a Linux distro that would convert a Chromebook into a typewriter. Like, all it was intended to do was simulate (very accurately), having a typewriter (paper, platen, et al. simulated). It would only support markup, so it behaved like a typewriter might. I had some other ideas for it, but Kauffthor will have to wait. Hopefully a Bukowski simulator doesn't come out before then.

For something like this I once used a Pentium 3 notebook with W2k discarded by my company. No wifi. No other apps. But actually, I don't really need that.

The distraction-free scene editor of yWriter has never quite convinced me, but "external editors", such as OpenOffice, also have their user interface configured accordingly. Here's a screenshot:

Ctrl-Shift-J is for full screen mode, which covers all screens without scaling up the worksheet. 

However, my biggest distraction is my own programming ideas, they can't be hidden by software. 

[Fletcher Kauffman]

yWriter's distraction-free mode is distracting itself because of how wide the text column becomes (I'm on a 3440px wide monitor).

I've definitely seen it done in things like, as you point out, Writer. Though it truly is an empty screen and a piece of paper. I miss MS Word's (old?) distraction-free mode: white text, blue background, and zero formatting.

I wanted to basically make a digital typewriter. No fancy tools, no copy-and-paste, even corrections are subject to some kind of restrictions. No spellcheck, no italics, no bold (but you could do them in markup), etc. Quite literally, the Chromebook becomes nothing more than a typewriter.

For me, the text formatting itself can become distracting. If I could only output text, with extra work to do anything beyond that, I feel like I'd be sufficiently corralled as to get more done.