System Requirements Overview
The following lists the minimum system requirements necessary to use the Fractal Science Kit:
- 12 MB free disk space for the product installation
- Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Vista, or Microsoft Windows 7
- Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
- 512 MB RAM (1 GB or more is recommended)
The product installation requires 12 MB of free disk space (additional space may be required if the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 needs to be installed on your machine).
The Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 is required and must be installed prior to installing the Fractal Science Kit. See the next section for instructions.
The application has been tested on Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Vista, and Microsoft Windows 7. Earlier versions of the Windows operating system may work, but I cannot attest to that at this time.
The application consumes a large amount of memory, primarily used for saving sample data associated with the fractal. You can run the application on a machine with 512 MB RAM but having 1 or 2 GB RAM or more is preferred. Processor speed is also a factor in the user experience. The faster the processor, the better. I would recommend a Pentium 4 class processor or better.
Please install the trial version and verify that the application will run on your machine and that the application's performance and memory requirements are acceptable before you purchase a license for the product.
See Installing the Product for instructions on downloading/installing the Fractal Science Kit on your computer.
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
As explained above, the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 is required and must be installed prior to installing the Fractal Science Kit. For many machines, the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 is pre-installed on the machine. For example, it is my understanding that Windows Vista and Windows 7 machines include the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 as pre-installed components.
To check if the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 is installed on your computer, do the following:
Windows XP
- Execute the My Computer item on the Windows Start menu.
- Open the Local Disk item. This is usually named (C:).
- Open the WINDOWS folder.
- Open the Microsoft.NET folder.
- Open the Framework folder (on 64-bit machines, open the folder Framework64).
- Look for a folder named v2.0.50727.
Windows Vista or Windows 7
- Execute the Computer item on the Windows Start menu.
- Open the OS item. This is usually named (C:).
- Open the Windows folder.
- Open the Microsoft.NET folder.
- Open the Framework folder (on 64-bit machines, open the folder Framework64).
- Look for a folder named v2.0.50727.
If you find the folder named v2.0.50727, no further action is required. Otherwise, you must install the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 on your computer.
To install the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 on your computer, visit the following link provided by Microsoft:
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Redistributables
On this page, under the heading .NET Framework 2.0 Redistributables, click on the download link that is appropriate for your machine and follow the instructions found on that page to install the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 on your computer.