This page provides some brief information about choosing a system for ArcaOS. In general, any modern system is okay, provided it’s not the cheapest low-end system you can find. The only issues likely to occur are related to the NIC and Audio. More specific technical information is available on the Technical Specifications page.
CPU
Intel Pentium Pro or higher, or an AMD K6 or higher. In other words, any modern PC. 64 Bit CPUs are supported (however ArcaOS will run in 32-bit mode). Computers with ARM CPUs are not supported. The Vortex86 CPU is not sufficiently compatible to run ArcaOS and is not supported.
BIOS / ACPI
The BIOS in any modern PC is okay. Defects in modern BIOS are handled by the PSD. Modern ACPI is handled by the PSD. UEFI or not, CSM or not, doesn’t matter. ArcaOS can handle them all.
RAM
The RAM in any modern PC is okay. ArcaOS can only use up to 4 GB, so any additional RAM can be used as a RAM disk.
Storage
Any standard IDE, AHCI, or NVME storage is okay. RAID, SCSI, eMMC storage will have problems. Any size of storage is okay. GPT storage larger than 2 TB is okay.
Video
Normally not an issue. Almost all video chipsets will work with the Panorama driver.
USB
Normally not an issue. USB 1.x, 2, and 3 are supported.
Ethernet
Most 10, 100, and gigabit Ethernet chips are supported. Visit the MultiMac wiki to see which NIC chipsets are supported. The System Evaluation Tool checks for supported NICs. Choose Intel or Realtek if you can.
Audio
Most audio is supported by Uniaud, but you won’t know for sure until you try it.
Hardware to Avoid
- Cheap low-end systems in general.
- Dell systems always seem to have problems. Usually they can be worked around but it might take some effort.
- Broadcom NICs frequently have problems.
- Systems from Acer are known to have serious compatibility problems and may not work properly.
- Some motherboards that use an Nvidia chipset have serious compatibility problems and usually will not work properly.
- Systems from Packard Bell have been reported to not work properly.
- The Intel Sunrise Point chipset has been reported to have problems booting and to have USB problems.
You may also find the tested hardware wiki page useful, listing some hardware known to work (and not work) with ArcaOS
System Evaluation Tool
For systems with a UEFI BIOS, you can boot the install medium, press Alt-F1 at the first menu, then select “Diagnostics…”, and select “System Evaluation” to see if the system is compatible with ArcaOS. If you don’t already have ArcaOS, there is also a stand alone tool. See the UEFI Diagnostics page for more information.
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