All the hardware in my life is Linux or FreeBSD . . . with one embarrassing exception. For years I’ve kept an Acer laptop on Win10 for a single task - running a windows application to update the firmware on a Garmin satellite SMS device (we do long distance hiking well off grid in Scotland). Micro$oft’s ongoing bullshit shamed me into finally sorting out even that one edge use case. After several hours of playing . . I was able to overwrite Win10 with . . . ReactOS!
If you’ve never heard of it . . and most people in the FOSS community never have . . it’s an attempt at reverse engineering Windows NT, using a combination of WINE plus a written from scratch open source Windows like kernel. It will never be “done” and it’s FAR from ready to be anyone’s daily driver . . but still a fun project to follow.
i wish reactos worked with the android bootloader unlocking & rom installers software that some phone makers like redmi & xiaomi require for their phones.
it’s also bizarre that a linux based device requires a windows system to enable customization when it’s the opposite in every other arena.
it’s even stranger that chinese brands are more common in requiring proprietary means for products while its gov’t is so gung ho about open source that it’s open sourced industries critical to future like ai & chip development.
All the hardware in my life is Linux or FreeBSD . . . with one embarrassing exception. For years I’ve kept an Acer laptop on Win10 for a single task - running a windows application to update the firmware on a Garmin satellite SMS device (we do long distance hiking well off grid in Scotland). Micro$oft’s ongoing bullshit shamed me into finally sorting out even that one edge use case. After several hours of playing . . I was able to overwrite Win10 with . . . ReactOS!
If you’ve never heard of it . . and most people in the FOSS community never have . . it’s an attempt at reverse engineering Windows NT, using a combination of WINE plus a written from scratch open source Windows like kernel. It will never be “done” and it’s FAR from ready to be anyone’s daily driver . . but still a fun project to follow.
https://reactos.org/
And yes, after hours more of tweaking, I was able to get the Garmin app to update on React!
i wish reactos worked with the android bootloader unlocking & rom installers software that some phone makers like redmi & xiaomi require for their phones.
it’s also bizarre that a linux based device requires a windows system to enable customization when it’s the opposite in every other arena.
it’s even stranger that chinese brands are more common in requiring proprietary means for products while its gov’t is so gung ho about open source that it’s open sourced industries critical to future like ai & chip development.