System Requirements

1.1 System Requirements

The IDV should run on any platform that fully supports Java 7 and Java 3D and has been tested by Unidata on Windows, Linux, Solaris x86, Mac OS X.

For reasonable performance, it is recommended that an Intel system running IDV have at least a 1.2 GHz processor and 1 GB memory (RAM). Performance will be even better with faster processors and more memory. Detailed requirements are listed below.

1.1.0	Operating Systems and Java Versions
1.1.1	Disk Space
1.1.2	System Memory and Processor Speed
1.1.3	Graphics Cards
1.1.4	Internet Connection for Downloading the IDV, and for Data Sources

1.1.0 Operating Systems and Java Versions

The IDV runs on any platform that supports:

Java version 1.7 or higher
Java 3D version 1.6 (including pre-release versions).

The IDV is known to run on the following operating systems:

OS Version

Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8

Linux Most modern flavors of Linux

Mac OS-X 10.7 or later

Solaris/x86 Solaris 10, 11 (Intel)

Your graphics system must support Open GL, and for X Window Systems, GLX.

OS	Version
Windows	XP, Vista, 7, 8
Linux	Most modern flavors of Linux
Mac OS-X	10.7 or later
Solaris/x86	Solaris 10, 11 (Intel)

1.1.1 Disk Space

You will need about 150 MB disk space for the installer file, which will uncompress into about twice that size. These include Java and Java3D.

1.1.2 System Memory and Processor Speed

The IDV can be demanding of hardware speed and memory depending on the size of the datasets you wish to work with. It is recommended that the system have a minimum of 512 MB of RAM free for IDV use. Performance is significantly better with 1 GB RAM or more.

Recommended processor speed will vary by platform, but in general, the faster the processor, and the more memory your system has, the better IDV performance will be.

1.1.3 Graphics Cards

The IDV works on systems with graphics cards that support OpenGL (all systems). In most cases, you should make sure you have the latest video driver for your system. Even if the system is brand new, the video driver may be old.

1.1.4 Internet Connection for Downloading the IDV, and for Data Sources

You will have to download some 100-150 MB of IDV software which provide Java and Java3D.

The IDV is designed to access data on remote servers on the Internet, as well as from local files. Downloading data from remote servers benefits from a fast connection to the Internet, since many data fields are large.

There are several ports you need open at your institution in order to run the IDV so that it may connect to different data servers. In general, ports 112, 8080 and 80 are required.

Unidata's Integrated Data Viewer > Overview