General Requirements
These requirements are common to all platforms:
- A CD-ROM or DVD drive for installation
- TCP/IP on all platforms when using a license server
- Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 or greater to view and print the COMSOL documentation in PDF format
The actual disk space needed varies with the size of the partition and the optional installation of online help files. The COMSOL installer informs you of hard-disk space requirements for a particular installation.
General System Recommendations
We recommend at least 1 GB of memory. The solutions of a few examples in the Model Library require substantially more than 1 GB of memory and some even a 64-bit platform.
Floating Network Licenses
Floating network licenses are supported on heterogeneous networks of Windows, Linux, Sun, and Mac computers. Both the license manager and the COMSOL application can run on either Windows, Linux, Sun, or Mac, and a single computer can run both of them.
COMSOL Multiphysics System Requirements for Microsoft Windows
System Requirements - 32-bit Windows Version
- The following 32-bit Windows operating systems are supported:
- Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 or later
- Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or later
- Windows Vista
- Pentium III or later
- OpenGL 1.1 from Microsoft or an accelerator that supports OpenGL 1.1, or DirectX version 8.0 or later. The graphics card should have at least 32 MB of memory.
System Requirements - 64-bit Windows Version
- The following 64-bit Windows operating systems are supported:
- Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with Service Pack 2 or later
- Windows Vista
- A PC with one of these processors: AMD with AMD64 or Intel with EM64T.
- A graphics card with at least 32 MB of memory
Windows System Recommendations
We recommend that you use Automatic Updates to keep your Windows system up-to-date. You can access it and turn it on from the Control Panel.
COMSOL Multiphysics System Requirements for Linux and Sun
System Requirements
Standalone COMSOL Multiphysics, the COMSOL Multiphysics client, and the COMSOL Multiphysics server are available in 32- and 64-bit versions as indicated in the table:
| Platform | Operating System | Processor |
|---|---|---|
| 32-bit Linux | Linux 2.4.x kernel, glibc-2.2.5 or later | Pentium III or later |
| 64-bit Linux | Linux 2.4.x kernel, glibc-2.3.2 or later | AMD with AMD64 or Intel with EM64T |
| Itanium | Linux 2.4.x kernel, glibc-2.3.2 or later | Itanium 2 |
| Sun | Solaris 8, 9, 10 | UltraSPARC II or later |
Note: On the Itanium 2 only the 64-bit COMSOL Multiphysics server is available. Here you must run the COMSOL Multiphysics client on a COMSOL Multiphysics platform other than Itanium using a floating network license to access the COMSOL Multiphysics server.
The following Linux distributions are officially supported by COMSOL.
| Platform | Distribution |
|---|---|
| 32-bit Linux | Debian 3.0, 3.1, RedHat Enterprise 4, Fedora Core 5, SUSE 10.1 |
| 64-bit Linux | SUSE 9.0, 9.3, and 10.1, RedHat Enterprise 4 (AMD64/Intel EM64T), Fedora Core 5 |
| Itanium | Debian 3.1 (IA-64), RedHat Enterprise 4 (Itanium) |
In addition, see the graphics requirements in the following sections.
Linux Graphics Requirements
You can use any of the following XFree86 and graphics driver configurations:
- XFree86 4.1 or later with XFree86’s Mesa library and DRI (Direct Rendering Infrastructure)
- XFree86 4.1 with NVIDIA driver 1.0-2880 or later
- XFree86 4.1 with ATI Fire GL2/3/4 drivers X4.1.0-1.9.16 or later. In order to get hardware acceleration with the Fire GL2/3/4 driver, set the environment variable LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libGL.so before starting COMSOL (for example, LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libGL.so comsol). According to ATI, this step is not necessary starting with the 1.9.19 driver.
- XFree86 4.1 with an official Mesa library (not XFree86’s library). You can obtain it at www.mesa3d.org. Use this configuration if you cannot or do not want to use DRI.
- XFree86 3.3.6 with Mesa 3.1 or later
Sun Graphics Requirements
Frame Buffer with OpenGL support (XVR-500, XVR-1000, XVR1200, XVR-4000, Expert3D, Elite3D, Creator3D, or PGX).
OpenGL 1.2.2 for Solaris or later. Depending on the type of frame buffer, a higher OpenGL version might be needed; for instance, XVR-1000 requires OpenGL 1.2.3.
COMSOL Multiphysics System Requirements for Mac
System Requirements - Intel Processor
- Mac OS X 10.4.8, 10.5
- Java 1.5 or later (part of the Mac OS X installation)
System Requirements - PowerPC Processor
- Mac OS X 10.3.1, 10.4, 10.5
- Java 1.4 or later (part of the Mac OS X installation)
- Java 3D and Java Advanced Imaging
- BSD Subsystem (part of the Mac OS X installation)
System Requirements for COMSOL Desktop - PowerPC Processor
- Mac OS X 10.4.5
- Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Release 4.
Optional MATLAB Add-On Requirements
The following chart indicates available MATLAB interfaces in COMSOL 3.4.
| Platform | 7.0 | 7.0.1 | 7.0.4 | 7.1 | 2006A/B | 2007A/B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows, 32 bit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows, 64 bit | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Linux, 32 bit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Linux, 64 bit | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Linux, Itanium | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Sun, 32 bit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Sun, 64 bit | No | No | No | No | No | Yes¹ |
| Mac, Power PC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mac, Intel | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
¹ The CAD Import Module is not compatible with use of the interface to MATLAB 2007a/b on Sun.
CAD Import Modules Platform Support
Find the platform support for products in the CAD Import Module family in the following table:
| Product | Required Products | Platform Support |
|---|---|---|
| CAD Import Module | COMSOL Multiphysics | Windows, Linux¹, Sun² |
| CATIA V4 Import Module | CAD Import Module | Windows, Linux¹, Sun² |
| CATIA V5 Import Module | CAD Import Module | Windows |
| Inventor Import Module | CAD Import Module | Windows |
| Pro/E Import Module | CAD Import Module | Windows, Linux¹, Sun² |
| VDA-FS Import Module | CAD Import Module | Windows, Linux¹, Sun² |
¹ Only 32-bit Linux and 64-bit Linux are supported. The Itanium platform is not supported.
² On Sun, the CAD Import Module is not compatible with use of the interface to MATLAB 2007a/b (64 bit only).
The SolidWorks Live Connection has been tested with SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0, SolidWorks 2006 SP0 and SP5.1, SolidWorks 2007 SP0 and SP4.0, and SolidWorks 2008 SP0. It is available on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows XP x64, Windows Vista Business and Ultimate (32 bit only). Supported on the Windows XP x64 platform are connections between SolidWorks 64 bit and COMSOL Multiphysics 64 bit, as well as between SolidWorks 32 bit and COMSOL Multiphysics 32 bit.
COMSOL Script System Requirements
The system requirements of COMSOL Script are similar to those for COMSOL Multiphysics except that COMSOL Script is not available on the Itanium platform.