MACINTOSH COMPUTER SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

WHAT COMPUTER CAN I USE?

To view the Great Basin Visual Science Symposium web site, you can use either a Windows-based computer or an Apple Macintosh computer. How powerful a computer do you need? The following specifications are the minimum configurations required. If you can't meet these minimum requirements, your experience with the symposium site will be slower than you would like or errors may occur.

The information below is divided into two sections:

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR MACINTOSH COMPUTERS

  1. Power PC based processor, G3 or greater.
  2. Macintosh Operating System 8.1 or greater
  3. Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.5 or greater
  4. Netscape Navigator 4.0 or greater
  5. QuickTime 4.1.2 or greater (comes as part of your computer's Operating System) (Version 4.0 or greater is needed and is available as an upgrade)
  6. Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 or greater (or latest version)
  7. At least 64 MB of RAM. 5. Internal
  8. Hard Drive with about 12 MB of space available for file downloads.
  9. Sound capability with internal or external speakers or headphones
  10. Monitor capable of displaying a screen 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high.
  11. Screen display capable of "thousands" (16 bit) or "millions" (24 bit) colors. A system that only displays 256 colors (8 bit) will not show colors correctly.
  12. Connection to the internet: You must have an account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that you dial up or a direct TCP/IP connection from your educational institution

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HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR COMPUTER'S PROFILE

 

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MACINTOSH OPERATING SYSTEM

To determine what version of the Macintosh Operating System you have on your computer, follow these steps:

  • From the APPLE MENU of your Macintosh computer, select the option APPLE SYSTEM PROFILER (If you don't have a System Profiler Application, see the instructions below).
  • A program will open after a few seconds that displays information about your computer.
  • Without having to do anything else, the default window displays the information you need to determine your operating system.

If you don't have an Apple System Profiler under the Apple Menu, follow these steps:

  • From the APPLE MENU of your Macintosh computer, select the first item labeled ABOUT THIS COMPUTER.
  • A window will open displaying information about your OS and the amount of RAM installed in your computer.

 

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MACINTOSH COMPUTER PROCESSOR

To determine what type of computer processor you have on your computer (PowerPC, G3, G4, etc.), follow these steps:

  • From the APPLE MENU of your Macintosh computer, select the option APPLE SYSTEM PROFILER.
  • A program will open after a few seconds that displays information about your computer.
  • Without having to do anything else, the default window displays the information you need to determine your computer processor.

 

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RAM (Random Access Memory)

To determine how much RAM (Random Access Memory) you have on your computer, follow these steps:

  • From the APPLE MENU of your Macintosh computer, select the option APPLE SYSTEM PROFILER (If you don't have a System Profiler Application, see the instructions below).
  • A program will open after a few seconds that displays information about your computer.
  • Without having to do anything else, the default window displays the information you need to determine your RAM (expressed in MegaBytes, MB).

If you don't have an Apple System Profiler under the Apple Menu, follow these steps:

  • From the APPLE MENU of your Macintosh computer, select the first item labeled ABOUT THIS COMPUTER.
  • A window will open displaying information about your OS and the amount of RAM installed in your computer.

 

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MONITOR OR DISPLAY PROPERTIES

To determine the Color Depth (256 Colors, Thousands of Colors-16 bit, Millions of Colors-24 bit) and the Screen Resolution (640 by 480 pixels, 800 by 600 pixels, 832 by 624 pixels, 1024 by 768 pixels, 1152 by 870 pixels, 1280 by 960 pixels, 1280 by 1024 pixels, 1600 by 1200 pixels) you have on your computer, follow these steps:

  • From the APPLE MENU of your Macintosh computer, select the option CONTROL PANELS. A window will open that lists all the Control Panels installed in your computer.
  • In the CONTROL PANELS window, look for the Control Panel labeled MONITORS or MONITORS&SOUND. Double-click the CONTROL PANEL to open it. A window will open.
  • In the DISPLAY PROPERTIES window, click the icon labeled MONITOR.
  • The Color Depth options and Screen Resolution options for your computer will be displayed.

 

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QUICKTIME PLAYER 4.1.2 or Greater

To determine if the QuickTime digital media player is installed on your computer, follow these steps:

  • From the APPLE MENU of your Macintosh computer, select the option CONTROL PANELS. A window will open that lists all the Control Panels installed in your computer.
  • In the CONTROL PANELS window, look for the Control Panel labeled QUICKTIME SETTINGS.
  • If QUICKTIME SETTINGS is present, you have some version of QuickTime installed.
  • All Macintosh computers have QuickTime installed as part of the standard operating system. You may have to upgrade to the latest version, however.

To determine which version of QuickTime you have installed, follow these steps:

  • Double-click the QUICKTIME SETTINGS CONTROL PANEL to open it. A window will open entitled QUICKTIME SETTINGS.
  • In the QUICKTIME SETTINGS window, select "About QuickTime" from the pull-down list.
  • The version of QuickTime you are running will be displayed.

If QuickTime is not installed on your computer or you need to upgrade, follow the instructions offered under Get QuickTime for Macintosh Computers.

 

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ADOBE ACROBAT READER PLUGIN

The Adobe Acrobat Reader opens any text document saved in the PDF or Portable Document Format. With the reader installed on your computer and configured to seamlessly open PDF documents from within your Web browser, the ability to open, save and print documents has never been easier across Windows and Macintosh computer platforms.

Regardless of which version you may or may not have installed on your computer, we strongly recommend that you download and install the latest version of Acrobat Reader.

To get the Reader, f ollow the instructions offered through the link Get Acrobat PDF Reader for Macintosh Computers.

 

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