System Requirements

To use the sample applications available for download, you’ll need to have Visual Studio .NET Professional Edition. You can get a 60-day trial version from Microsoft at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/productinfo/trial/default.asp. We use the .NET Framework version 1.1 and Visual Studio .NET 2003 in this book.

You also need a computer capable of running Visual Studio .NET. The Visual Studio .NET Web site at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio specifies the following minimum configuration:

• PC with a Pentium II–class processor, 450 MHz

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional or Advanced Server with Service Pack 3, Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1, or Windows Server 2003

• Minimum RAM requirements:

  • Windows Server 2003: 256 MB

  • Windows XP Professional: 160 MB

  • Windows 2000 Professional: 96 MB

  • Windows 2000 Server: 192 MB

• Hard disk with 3.5 GB free on installation drive, which includes 500 MB on system drive

• CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive

• Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution monitor with 256 colors

• Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Please note that Visual Studio .NET is our recommended integrated development environment (IDE) for this book, but if you haven’t got the resources to run it, Microsoft also provides a free tool called Web Matrix that will do the job just fine and will run on anything that can cope with .NET. You can download Web Matrix from http://www.asp.net.