Required and Recommended Hardware and Software

Hardware:

Required:
pc laptop, two or more USB ports, 100 or more gigabytes hard drive, XP or higher operating system

4 gigabyte or higher usb flash drive

internet access (wired or wireless)

Recommended:

flatbed USB scanner

digital camera with image stabilizer that  provides legible images of documents

Software (copies of all programs will be included in the software subdirectory on the usb flash drive, but you should also check the web for the most recent versions/updates):

Required (Download and Install in the sequence listed below, following the instructions on the hyperlinked html):

Firefox2 browser (most recent version) 

Zotero note taking software (works only with Firefox2-free)-note:  be sure to set the option for storage of files to a subdirectory under htdocs created and called: zotero_database.  Never use dashes or hyphens in a directory name or in a file name (except for sequentially numbered file names, then the dash or hyphen appears before the number).

Adobe Acrobat viewer  (Acrobat viewer 8 or higher as they are released and tested)

Irfan software for scanning and managing images (free)- note: be sure to download and install plug ins
NVU html editing software (free) (Firefox must be modified to accept NVU as the html editor, utilizing software program called Launchy  (free)

ABYSS personal server software

Google's package of free software, especially its word processing, desktop search,  and Google Earth

two useful file management programs, one for multiple renaming of files (mrsetup.exe) and  the other for  global searching and replacing text (sr.exe).  Both programs are located in the software directory. Note that both programs when downloaded were free, but now have a fee associated with them.

Copernic desktop indexing software (free and can be set to index any attached drives including the USB flash drive