Introduction > Minimum Requirements for running SpecView

The Minimum Hardware Requirements for Running SpecView:

Intel Pentium processor or equivalent AMD

4GB RAM (8GB or more recommended, as Windows takes most of this minimum)

800MB hard disk space to install SpecView if installing with all the Videos, 200Mb for the Website download

additional disk space for data logging (varies depending on how much and how often you log data)

Instrument connection: RS232 / RS485 / RS422 / Ethernet / OPC

There are now both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of SpecView. Please review the link to see which is appropriate.

Ideal System:

Intel Core i5 (or Celeron or AMD equivalent) 2.6Ghz

8GB RAM

500GB hard disk + enough space for Data Logging.

Essentially, anything that runs MS Word and MS Excel quickly will be OK for a typical SpecView system. For heavily loaded systems with lots of comms, screens and Strategy Control, it is recommended to get the fastest PC possible with 8GB RAM.

The amount of disk space used by SpecView's log files varies according to the number of variables being logged & the logging rate.

We have no plans for Macintosh, Linux, Palm-OS or Windows CE at present.

SpecView may be configured on a Virtual PC - such as Hyper-V or VM-Ware but this can only be done using a soft license.

Touch Screen Compatibility

SpecView is partly compatible with touch screens for use during Runtime Mode, as the main data-input boxes have on-screen buttons or an on-screen keyboard with buttons. For foreign languages, it is not possible to enter accented or complex characters using the on-screen buttons.

However, projects cannot be edited using just a touch screen. A keyboard is needed (either on-screen or physical).

Similarly, there are some Runtime features which need a keyboard, such as searching for batches in Historical Replay.

Also, for doing Log Report Setup during Runtime mode it is easier to use a standard keyboard & mouse.

The Minimum Software Requirements for Running SpecView:

SpecView runs on the following Windows operating systems:

Windows 11 (32 bit and 64 bit)

Windows 10 (32 bit and 64 bit)

Windows 8, 8.1 (32 bit and 64 bit)

Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit)

Windows Vista (32 bit)

Windows Server up to 2022 (32 bit and 64 bit)

Windows XP (32 bit)

Windows Evergreen

Note that SpecView does not work on Windows 8 RT (as found on some early Microsoft Surface tablets).

Support for Virtual Machine Environments:

It is best to use a soft license for use in a Virtual Machine Environment.

However, it is possible for a USB license dongle to work in some Virtual Machine environments, for example:

VMware - In VMware, USB dongle passthrough is only supported to a limited extent. Meaning, it is not not possible to access a USB license dongle from VMware VMs if the dongle isn't plugged directly into the VMware ESXi host machine.

Hyper-V - USB dongle passthrough is supported to a greater extent - Google for: hyper-v usb passthrough

For the specification of a computer to be used as a Remote see: SpecView Networking - Minimum Requirements