Minimum requirements to deploy FireMonkey on Windows

Question

What are the minimum requirements for a Windows machine to run an application developed in FireMonkey? Can it run any machine that can run a VCL applications? Specifically can it run on XP?

Answer 1

From the documentation

Windows Requirements

The GPU must support Pixel Shader 2.0, part of DirectX 9.0, which first appeared from various vendors in these products:

ATI (now AMD) Radeon 9500-X600 series, introduced in 2002. Intel GMA 900, introduced in 2004. NVIDIA GeForce FX (or GeForce 5) series, introduced in 2003. When run in a virtual machine, the host's GPU must be accessible. Such support is found in the following virtualization products:

VMware Workstation 7 VMware Player 3 VMware Fusion 3

Windows XP (with SP2 or SP3) or later is required, either 32-bit or 64-bit. 64-bit applications require 64-bit Windows. When run through Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Windows Vista or later is required; XP does not have complete support for the GPU over RDP.

(In the local help file for XE5, see RAD Studio->RAD Studio Topics->FireMonkey Application Platform->FireMonkey Platform Prerequisites)

Answer 2

As a supplement to the other answers, some other things to consider:

• If you are making significant use of controls like TLabel, TEdit and TMemo, be warned that on Windows XP, FMX will use GDI+ and not draw text very well.

• Even when FMX uses Direct2D to draw controls be warned that the quality of text rendering in particular may vary between hardware. I'm not saying you are likely to have issues... just that it's possible. E.g. on one machine I get text that is drawn overly 'sharpened' to my eyes... though that may not be problematic for others. The point is that you can't just assume the old GDI's level of consistency when rendering text (the GDI - not GDI+, or for that matter Direct2D - being what the VCL uses).

• Different parts of FMX have different requirements. In particular, it's the 3D part that requires Pixel Shader 2.0. While this requirement isn't particularly problematic on a non-virtualised desktop (an old netbook won't work... but then you may not have expected it to), it can be in a virtualised environment, e.g. if you're using VirtualBox.

That said, these issues are all Windows-specific - the other platform FMX supports where it also has system requirements to take a note of is Android, but there the issues are completely different.

Answer 3

The system requirements for Windows for Firemonkey are:

• Intel® x86-compatible, Pentium® 4 or later

• Basic GPU - Any vendor DirectX 9.0 class or better (Pixel Shader Level 2)

• 32-bit or 64-bit Windows

• Microsoft® Windows 7

• Microsoft® Windows Vista™ SP2

• Microsoft® Windows XP Home or Professional, SP2 or SP3

• Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003 SP1, 2008, or 2008 R2

from http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/41688

In terms of other requirements:

• Intel Pentium or compatible, 1.6GHz minimum (2GHz+ recommended)

• 1GB RAM (2 GB+ recommended) · 3-9 GB (or more) of free disk space

• 0.5-1.5 GB additional temporary free space for use by the installer

• Mouse or other pointing device · DVD-ROM drive (if installing from a Media Kit DVD)

• 1024x768 or higher resolution monitor

• Color quality above 256 colors (32-bit or 16-bit is sufficient)

from http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/XE2/en/Installation_Notes_for_XE2