REACT - OS first footings

[#1]

REACT – OS
After downloading and burning the two cd`s  (Live CD and Install CD)… I got my spare laptop and insterted the Live CD…. Switched on and booted as requested… Press any key to boot from CD….
A very Basic Screen appears stating that React OS is in the process.. This disappears and you get the usual Pale Blue screen of Windows, and a message box as in Windows stating "loading devices" . After about 2 minutes, a Desktop with a Pale Blue background and ReactOS logo appears with My Documents and My Computer icons in the top left corner…. Bottom left is the usual START box, which produces a pop up menu as in Windows XP  (In fact… even the Control Panel looks exactly like Windows XP, and sports the same items !.. )  bottom right of the Desktop screen is a Speaker icon and the current time, … ( actually the clock was 1 hour slow, so I double clicked on the time , and it brought up the Properties box for the date and time, with the clock face and the calendar, changed the time to correct, and apply…  just as in windows…).. Hover over it, and you get the current date…..
So far… so good… Only problem at the moment, is the mouse cursor is only controllable from the touch pad, (on which the left click key is not working – knackered),.. So that needs to be sorted…. Have checked it out on  the control panel, but although it says it is there, and it is working properly, the troubleshooter does not work.  May be a bug or a glitch…

At present, when you want to use My Computer, to see what is on the HDD, it will only show the Live CD as C drive…. (as with windows, it does not show the Linux installation)… will check this out when I put the  Install CD in…...Fingers crossed here !..
.With the Live CD in the  Drive, Tray, I cannot get any windows progs  installed to see if the work, and similarly, there is NO NETWORK or Wireless facility… Again, we shall have to see what happens when I put the full Install CD on the laptop…
So that is the initial  insight on REACT – OS… more to follow…

[#2]

REACT INSTALL CD.... the first bit.... 
Part Two
Inserted the “Install CD”… and switched on… “Press any key to boot from CD”
Basic screen appears with React OS setup    (F8 for options if your are quick ! ! !)…
Then blue screen  (as in BIOS) choose language – use up down arrows to select
You then get a screen very similar to the windows setup with choices of
Enter to install React
R to repair or update
L to view the licensing terms
F3 to quit
Choice is on bottom of screen
Next is a screen with the following notice on it….
ReactOS 0.3.13 Setup
ReactOS setup is in an early development phase. It does not yet support all the functions of a fully usable setup application.

The following limitations apply.
Setup can not handle more than one primary partition per disk
Setup can not delete a primary partition from a disk, as long as extended partitions exist on this disk.
Setup can not delete the first extended partition from a disk as long as other extended partitions exist on this disk
Setup supports FAT file systems only
File System checks are not implemented yet.
Press Enter to intall React os

So… at this point I am going to press F3 to exit and not install….
(because I do not have the time to proceed today, and I want my spare laptop, with Linux Mint  11 available.. )

[#3]

As you still have a spare laptop, remember that Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" will be released later TODAY, if you wanted to try out the supposedly new and improved Unity GUI. 

[#4]

nope !  going to see how REACT works out .... when I have more me time !

[#5]

Thought I would have another bash at setting up the REACT OS on a spare hdd... this already had Linux Mint 9 on it, and so the "Install CD" does not seem to get anywhere when booting from CD... so I am in the process of formatting the hdd....
However... having read my original posting above, it seems that REACT OS only supports FAT file systems... and the HDD I am formatting says it is NTFS... how do I change it to FAT file system?

[#6]

Could you boot to a 'live' Linux CD/USB, and then format the drive from the disk utilities ?

[#7]

Yes, I have a Linux Mint 9 Live CD so I could boot from that...
I also have the "spare" hdd in a caddy, showing as drive E and F....
The format has just finished (windows version) but I got a message that windows was unable to complete the format. [ OK ]  ( no it ain`t OK,.. but ....... )
So now I am giving it another go, this time I chose exFAT as the file system from the menu presented on the FORMAT E screen....
will finish this format then see what happens with the MINT 9 Live CD...
meanwhile any other comments/help appreciated.

[#8]

could not find any way of formatting the drive.... on my Mint Live CD
Noddy`s guide on how to do this/where to look , please 
I am using Mint9 Installed on my HDD with windows Vista as dual boot.... so could possibly do it whilst on the Mint 9 Installation.
if I knew how !

[#9]

Haven`t got any further with formatting the drive I want to use....
Wonder if I tried installing Windows XP or Windows 2000 on it first, and then format after to get REACT on there.
Any ideas?