Version 5 of Plaque Simulator has been optimized for a PowerMac G4 or G5 computer running MacOSX 10.3 (Panther). A MacOS 9.2 version is also available for older G3 and G4 machines. Plaque Simulator may run on nearly any MacOS or compatible computer that has a PCI bus and that can run MacOS 9 or greater, but 3D rendering performance may be sluggish. Please note that MacOSX 10.2 (Jaguar) is NOT recommended due to performance issues. Performance is excellent with MacOSX 10.3 (Panther).

Post 1999 Macintosh computers such as the "blue & white" G3s, the silver and gray G4s, Aluminum G5s, recent iMacs, Powerbooks and iBooks all ship with adequate OEM 3D acceleration. If you have an older Mac or compatible that did not originally ship with at least an ATI Rage-128 class AGP video card it's time to upgrade your hardware. Any retail AGP card for Macintosh with an ATI Radeon or nVidia GeForce accelerator chip should work.

The development system is currently a Dual 1.25 G5Hz PowerMac G4 with a 64MB ATI Radeon 9000 series video card and 1GB RAM running MacOSX 10.3 (Panther). Peripherals include an Apple 22" cinema flatpanel display, Epson 1260 USB flatbed scanner, USB hub, Nikon 5000 series digital camera mounted above a portable light table, a USB flash memory reader, Canon and/or Epson inkjet printers, and several workgroup class color laser printers such as the HP 8550 on the department's ethernet network.

• CPU: 400MHz or faster, single or dual processor G3, G4, or G5 PowerMac or PowerBook.
• RAM: 256MB minimum, 512MB or greater recommended.
• OS: MacOSX 10.3 (Panther) or MacOS 9.2.
• Video: ATI Radeon or nVidia GeForce card connected to a 1024x768 or greater color display.
• CT image digitizer: Nikon 5000 series or equivalent 5 megapixel digital camera with macro focus mounted over a light box. Other options include a "high-quality" flatbed scanner with transparency option, or you can import DICOM format images directly from your CT or MRI scanner over a network. Plaque Simulator imports most DICOM 3 images.
• Fundus photo digitizer: Any current generation Mac compatible USB flatbed scanner such as those from Epson, Canon, HP, or Microtek. These typically cost less than $200.
• Tablet: Plaque Simulator supports Wacom graphics tablets such as the USB Intuos and Graphire series. You can use the tablet & stylus in lieu of a mouse to operate the entire the program if you wish. You can also digitize fundus photos and hardcopy retinal diagrams from the tablet.
• Mouse: A multi-button scroll mouse (eg. Kensington "Studio Mouse" or "The Mouse" from www.macmice.com).
• Misc: A USB 7 port hub, a 6-in-1 USB flash memory reader for digital camera media.