Minimum System Requirements

Owned by Jessica Sokol
Last updated: Sept 11, 2024
3 min read

The following tables provide specifications that apply to all assessments administered online during the 2024–2025 school year for the Texas Assessment Program.

District testing personnel who are experiencing technology issues should refer to the Troubleshooting Guide.

Operating Systems and Devices

Minimum Supported Operating Systems

Supported Devices

ChromeOS

120 LTC

120 LTS

123 Stable

For a full list of supported Chromebooks, see https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366 .

Chromebooks must have an Enterprise or Education license and be attached to a management domain. The devices are required to be attached to the management console to run in kiosk mode, which is required to run the Secure Browser for testing.

In 2022, Google introduced the Long-Term Support Candidate (LTC) and Long-Term Support (LTS) channels for ChromeOS. CAI strongly recommends the use of these channels. For more information, see https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/11333726 .

Windows
10 22H2

10 in S Mode 22H2

11 22H2

12a

Server 2016 R2

Desktops/laptops with the following minimum hardware specifications:

  • 1.4 GHZ 64-bit Intel/AMD/ARMb Processor

  • 2 or more GB RAM

  • 20 or more GB hard drive space

CAI supports any tablet running Windows 10 but has done extensive testing only on Surface Pro, Surface Pro 3, Asus Transformer, and Dell Venue.

macOS

12.6

13.6

14

15a

Desktops/laptops with the following minimum hardware specifications:

  • 1.4 GHZ 64-bit Intel/Apple Siliconc

  • 2 or more GB RAM

20 or more GB hard drive space

iPadOS

16

17

18a

All 9.7" or larger iPads running a supported version of iPadOS.

Linuxd

Fedora 36-37 LTS (Gnome)

Ubuntu 20, 22 LTS (Gnome)

Desktops/laptops with the following minimum hardware specifications:

  • 1.4 GHZ 64-bit Intel/AMD processor

  • 2 or more GB RAM

  • 20 or more GB hard drive space

Required libraries/packages:

  • GTK+ 3.14 or higher

  • http://x.org/ 1.0 or higher (1.7+ recommended)

  • libstdc++ 4.8.1 or higher

  • glibc 2.17 or higher

Recommended libraries/packages:

  • NetworkManager 0.7 or higher

  • DBus 1.0 or higher

  • GNOME 2.16 or higher

PulseAudio

a Support for this version is anticipated upon the completion of testing following its release.
b ARM devices require x64 emulation.
c Apple silicon devices require Rosetta 2.
d Raspberry Pi and other similar single-board computers are not supported for testing.

The Texas Assessment Program system supports thin clients, including any that support Windows 2016 terminal servers; NComputing vSpace Pro 10 with L300, L350, and firmware version 1.13.xx terminal clients; and CloudReady Neverware.

The following table provides a list of supported NComputing solutions for Windows.

Minimum Supported Server Host

Supported Server Software

Supported Terminal

Windows Server 2016 R2
Windows 10

vSpace PRO 10

L350, firmware version 1.13.xx

Windows 11

vSpace PRO 12

L350, firmware version 1.13.xx

The following table provides a list of supported terminal servers for Windows.

Supported Terminal Server

Supported Thin Client

Windows Server 2016 R2

Any thin client that supports a Windows server is supported. Thin clients allow access only to the program running on the host machine. Zero clients, which allow access to other programs on the client machine, are not supported.

Please note that a terminal services or remote desktop connection used to access a Windows Server or workstation that has the Secure Browser installed is typically not a secure test environment.

Note: Devices running CloudReady NeverWare and ChromeOS Flex are also supported. For information on supported devices and installation instructions, please visit https://www.neverware.com.

All supported computers, laptops, tablets, and other approved testing devices must meet the requirements in the following table. It is always recommended to test any new device on a practice assessment before using it for operational assessments.

Testing Device

Requirement

Screen Dimensions

Screen dimensions must be 10" or larger (iPads with a 9.7" display are included).

Monitors and Displays

 

All devices must meet the minimum resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. Larger resolutions can be applied as appropriate for the monitor or screen being used.

For the best experience, your device’s display scale should be set to 100% to keep the amount of usable screen area within the 1024 x 768 minimum resolution for TDS.

A secure testing environment can only be guaranteed when students test using a single display. A multiple monitor configuration is not supported.

Keyboards

The use of external keyboards is highly recommended when tablets are used for testing. On-screen keyboards use valuable screen area and may make typing responses more difficult.

The following are examples of external keyboards that pair with iPads:

  • iPad Eighth Generation: Logitech Rugged Combo or Logitech Combo Touch

  • iPad Air Third Generation: Apple Magic Keyboard or Apple Smart Folio Keyboard

  • iPad Pro: Air Keyboard

Mice

Wired two- or three-button mice can be used on desktops or laptops. Mice with browser-back buttons should not be used.

Headphones and Headsets

Wired headphones or headsets with a 3.5 mm or USB connector and Bluetooth devices are supported.

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