Minimum System Requirements

What you need to Connect:

• A computer conforming to the minimum requirements below.
• A network interface card. (commonly called a NIC or ethernet card)
• A wireless adapter.
• An ethernet cable. (not a phone cord - they are very different) Network adapters and ethernet cables can be purchased at the campus bookstore, any computer store, and many other retail establishments.

Software:

The only software needed is a browser, which is usually included with any operating system. ResNET highly recommends the use of Google Chrome. Google Chrome can be downloaded if you do not already have it. Software for E-mail is not necessary for accessing your UW-Whitewater E-mail. It can be accessed with any browser.

Acceptable Operating Systems:

For the following operating systems, "unsupported" means that the system will be allowed to connect to ResNET, but we cannot offer any help to get the system configured, nor will we fix it if something goes wrong. "Partially supported" means that we will try to make it work, but we cannot guarantee that it will work.

Fully Supported Operating Systems:

• Windows 8.1
• Mac OS 10.10 and higher
• Windows 10

Partially Supported Operating Systems:

• Various Linux

Note that ANY operating system must use DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) to obtain IP, gateway, and DNS information. Hard-coded IP addresses are not allowed and will result in disconnection. All of the above systems are capable of DHCP, but it is the responsibility of the user to configure unsupported or not fully supported systems properly.

Unacceptable Operating Systems:
The following operating systems will NOT be allowed to connect to ResNET. Servers are listed here because we have many production servers on our network, and installation of student-run and operated networks could severely impact the administrative use of the network.

• Any beta version of an operating system
• Any Windows server
• Any Other server OS

Please note: Only computers meeting or exceeding the minimum configuration will be allowed to connect to the Residential Network. We will attempt to connect all qualified machines, but please note that all machines may not be able to successfully connect. University Housing makes no guarantee that your machine will work on our network. We will provide a working network port; configuring the machine is up to the student. Be aware that some older models have presented major difficulties in getting connected. For any machine, there is no guarantee of successful connection.

We have no minimum hardware requirements. Older systems will perform slower and may have inferior connectivity to wireless due to older wireless hardware.