“ReactOS 0.4.13” Released, with Japanese Calendar support

April 10, development team of open-source “React OS” announced their latest update “ReactOS 0.4.13”, which is built to be compatible with Windows at the API level.  It includes improvements to the USB stack and provides Japanese calendar support.

ReactOS is an OS environment that can run Windows software and Windows drivers.  It strives for compatibility with Microsoft Windows.  It offers kernel and desktop environment, various divers, and utility tools.

ReactOS 0.4.13 is the successor of v0.4.12, released in September 2019.   One of the notable new features is the support for Japanese calendar, which recognizes Japanese era names like Reiwa.

Another feature to note is the improved USB stack.  This version introduces a new USB stack with numerous fixes related to devices (like storage device and mouse).  Although advanced features are yet to be implemented, it includes enhancements to improve overall USB, and support HID and storage devices.

Explorer is now even better, implemented with a new file search feature “Explorer File Search”.  This is the result of the efforts at Google Summer of Code 2019. It helps users to find the location of a target file with ease.

With improved Xbox port, the boot process is improved.  According to the development team, the first generation Xbox had the Xbox architecture port dedicated to booting ReactOS, but afterward, the code maintenance of the port has been ignored.  While the team worked on porting code in this release, they found some issues in the ReactOS base system, which led to some improvements.

In addition to a wide range of bug fixes, it introduces new features, such as handling of clipboard metafile and the new registry-based font entry management.

ReactOS
https://reactos.org/