Manifold System Release 7.00 Hardware and Software Requirements

Hardware and software requirements vary considerably depending on the tasks undertaken.

Minimum Configuration

The minimum configuration allows installation of Release 7.00 and work with small components.  It is a limited configuration that is not recommended for anything other than small drawings.

• 200Mhz Pentium (500Mhz PIII or greater recommended) PC compatible.
• 256MB RAM (1 GB or greater recommended)
• 800 x 600 SVGA Display (1280 x 1024 or greater recommended)
• DVD ROM
• 250 MB hard disk free space (gigabytes of free space recommended)
• Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP or 2003 (Windows 95 is not supported by 7.00)
• Internet Explorer 6 or most recent IE version plus most recent service pack.
• Microsoft's .NET Framework 2.0
• IIS 5.1 or greater to operate Manifold IMS.

Windows Me or Windows 98 might not be supported by any service packs or releases after 7.00 or as a result of Microsoft updates.

Manifold is not supported for use in Macintosh or any other non-native PC environment using Windows emulators.  It is only supported in true PC compatibles.

Manifold IMS (Internet Map Server)  - Manifold IMS is published for use in Windows 2003, XP or 2000 systems that have Internet Information Server (excludes XP "home" edition, which does not have IIS and cannot function as a web server). The map server has been observed to work using the personal Internet server in Windows 98, and Me; however, these operating systems are not supported for use with the Manifold map server. Performance with 98 or Me (if it works at all) will be greatly reduced as compared to 2003, XP or 2000.  Although IMS can work in Windows systems with non-IIS HTTP servers that are capable of instantiating and using a COM object, only IIS is supported by tech support for developer support incidents.

Note: It is quite likely that future editions of Manifold after 7.00 will not support 98 or Me.  Manifold.net strongly advises migration of antique Windows editions to Windows XP or 2003.  At some point, even Windows 2000 may no longer be supported by Microsoft or by Manifold.

Recommended Hardware Configurations

Some suggestions when assembling a system:

• Just about any modern AMD Athlon or Intel Pentium III system with 256 MB of RAM and Windows 2000 will be fine for working with small to mid-sized drawings in an ordinary vector GIS way. Faster Duron or Celeron class machines will be fine as well. 
• When working with images, we suggest at least a 500 MHz Pentium III class machine with 256 megabytes of RAM running Windows 2000. This is excessive for small images but necessary for mid-sized images. Images are computationally intensive.
• A fast graphics card must be installed when performing 3D rendering in terrain windows. NVIDIA-based cards currently selling for under $50 will provide smooth motion even with large terrains. We like cards using NVIDIA graphics processors.  Download the latest drivers from the NVIDIA site for maximum performance.  
• When working with larger images or sophisticated maps combining many images and drawings, we recommend a gigahertz class processor with at least 512 megabytes of RAM or even gigabytes of RAM. At this writing a very fast AMD Athlon machine with 1.5 gigabytes of RAM, 250 gigabyte hard disk and a very fast NVIDIA graphics  card can be assembled for well under $800. This is thousands of dollars less than the cost of proprietary workstations that are currently used for such work. Very soon, prices will plummet so such machines will be considered entry-level devices that may be assembled for less than $500.  
• For very large tasks or large images, consider investing in a dual or quad processor machine.  Various processes within Manifold can use multiple processors, and the additional processors will offload other processes that would otherwise rob some processor performance from Manifold.
• We suggest Windows 2003, XP or 2000 when working with more than 64MB of RAM. 2003, XP and 2000 are much more reliable with modern amounts of RAM than 16-bit Windows systems.  Install XP or 2003 today to avoid the inevitable migration process when at some time in the future 2000 is no longer supported.
• Gigahertz machines are now cheap and highly recommended.
• Large disk drives are now cheap.  Get lots of space to hold the maps and images you will download for free via Internet (get DSL or a cable modem too so you can download lots of free data).  Release 7.00 reads over 80 formats so you will find a wealth of free GIS data on the web you can use.  

Windows Configuration Requirements

Getting ready for installation consists mostly of making sure your Windows system has been updated to the latest spec.

1. Review the hardware requirements above to make sure you have adequate room on your hard disk, etc. 

2. Installation of Manifold System Release 7.00 Professional edition requires that your Windows system be updated to the latest Microsoft spec using the latest Microsoft Service Packs or other updates.   We strongly recommend Windows 2003, XP or Windows 2000.

3. You must install .NET Framework 2.0 Manifold depends upon the .NET Framework for necessary Windows routines, including XML parsing. 

4. You must install Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or more recent because it is required by the .NET Framework.   You may use whatever browser you like (AOL Netscape, Opera, whatever) as your default browser; however, an IE installation is required.  

5. Other required Microsoft updates to your Windows system are provided on the Manifold DVD. 

Limitations when using Windows 98 or Me

Although Manifold may be used on Microsoft Windows 98 or Me, there are several key limitations in this operating system. 

To avoid limitations, use Windows 2003, XP or 2000.  Windows XP or more recent is strongly recommended.

Windows 9x Crashes  - Manifold uses standard Windows virtual memory management facilities when working with components too large to fit into available RAM. Windows 9x (Windows  98 and Me) memory management facilities are unreliable for large projects and will crash when Windows 2003, Windows XP or Windows 2000 will not. In addition, printing through Windows 9x  is less reliable because these systems do such a poor job of memory management that internal bugs in printer drivers are more likely to surface. These are not Manifold crashes but are operating system crashes. When working with large projects, use Windows 2000 or greater, preferably XP or more recent.

Limited Support- The Manifold team strongly recommends Microsoft Windows 2003 or Windows XP. We believe that Windows 98 and Me were outstanding products for their time but are now antiques.  In general would like to make sure our product works the same in Win 98/Me as they do with 2003, XP or 2000; however, since newer Windows editions provide more capability than 98/Me, we cannot in our product add capability that 98/Me do not have. Our support plan for 98/Me is limited to verifying that our code conforms to the Microsoft standards and that any errata are a result of limitations in Windows 98 or Windows Me.

Note: It is quite likely that future editions of Manifold after 7.00 will not support 2000, 98 or Me.  Manifold.net strongly advises migration of older Windows editions to Windows XP or 2003.  At some point, even Windows 2000 may no longer be supported by Microsoft or by Manifold.

Printer Limitations - Manifold uses standard Windows facilities to print to printers. Manifold passes the print job to Windows, which then calls the printer driver. There is no contact between Manifold and the printer driver at all, so that any Manifold print job passed by Windows to the printer driver is guaranteed "legal" since it arrives from Windows using internal Windows system routines. Experience with previous editions of Manifold showed that some printer drivers do not fully support the requirements of a printer driver documented by Microsoft, so that some "legal" but complex jobs passed by Windows to the printer would crash the driver.

Release 7.00 therefore uses a very simple set of Windows calls in an attempt to avoid triggering bugs in printer drivers provided by the printer manufacturer.  If you experience difficulty printing, make sure to check the printer manufacturer's web site to see if there are more recent drivers available for your use, since the difficulty may arise from a bug in the printer driver that has since been fixed. Note that Manifold is sold for use with printers that fully support Windows requirements for printer drivers.

Memory Requirements for Large Projects - Manifold is designed for an era where RAM memory is cheap and personnel costs are high. Undo and may other user-friendly features require a lot of memory to implement. For best performance we recommend installing lots of RAM and having plenty of free disk space for temporary files.  RAM is so cheap in modern times it is "penny wise and pound foolish" not to load up your system with the maximum amount of RAM it can hold. This will help all your work go faster and not just Manifold.