ReactOS... is going online!
or
"Bin ich schon drin oder was?" (If you lived in germany in the late
90s you understand)
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I tried again to install the network driver for my Thinkpad in ReactOS
and - weirdly - it worked without any hassle. What did i do wrong the
first time i tried to install various drivers? I have no idea, but
nevertheless now i can go online. If i find time on the weekend i will
create a backup image of the system in the current state and try to
reinstall everything to find out what had gone wrong the last time...
would be nice to know for the next time i have to setup the system.

The only thing i am still missing is sound... but somehow i think this
will also be fixable.

Over the last few days i used the ReactOS Thinkpad nearly exclusively
and so far the system feels surprisingly mature for alpha grade
software. Granted, frequent backups of my files and a harddisk image to
revive the system should anything go south are helping to keep the
mind at ease. 

What is really astounding is how "fluent" the system runs, and how
responsive everything is. It somehow feels like being transported back
in time to the days of Windows 2000... and it is somehow sad that my
1500 Euro workstation at the office feels a bit slower than this
nearly two decades old laptop.