New with version 11: Your GPU (if you want to use it in Puppy Ray, and who doesn't?) needs to support Shader level 6.
If you run Direct X 11 you're probably fine, but it is best to check it. If you have doubts or run on an old PC, with old graphics card, try the demo version first.



We recommend running on 64-bit versions of Windows. We recommend Windows 10. Or Windows 7, or 8.

Project Dogwaffle is essentially a Windows app. It is a 32-bit application, but runs well on 64-bit systems because there's more memory, and better graphics drivers. The new versions of Dogwaffle use the GPU too. For proper support of the GPU, you'll need DIrectX 11.

It may still run on Windows XP and Vista but the latest versions of Dogwaffle are not tested on those old Windows platforms. Also, some tools such as Puppy Ray needs the raytracing library, dr_raytrace or similar made for XP. If you are on Windows XP or Vista, and want to run PuppyRay (CPU version - the GPU version won't run on XP anyway and very doubtful it will run well on Vista) -  see the Download section for details.

A CPU with many cores is better than with just one core or a few. Core 2 or Duo is just so pre-Y2K... Your computer's CPU chip should have 4 or more cores if you want to have a really pleasant experience with anything, including Dogwaffle. Some modules are multi-threaded. So it runs faster. If you're a professional, you'll want a Xeon with 12 cores, even 16. Or two Xeons, or AMD Opterons. Even the latest (June 2016) generation of Intel i7 can go as high as 10 cores, and with HT (Hyperthreading), that's 20 very hungry logical cores. Dogwaffle can feed that hunger. We can currently multithread up to 64 cores!

But it's also possible to run it on a Mac within the right VM or Bootcamp, or perhaps some day in a Linux box with emulation, and some other Virtual Machines. It's not all smooth sailing yet for those other operating systems though, so stick with the Windows platform for now if you can.  We have in fact seen some users on Linux lately, with PlayOnLinux/WineHQ. It may well be possible that it also has the ability to run on a Mac under MacOS. We just don't know. And being the starving artists that we are, we're not going to be able to justify and buy a Mac for a while, so please tell us your findings if you manage to run it on your Mac. Or if you want to donate a Mac to us, even just for a few weeks/months testing, let's talk!

For many years, we've developed Dogwaffle on a Netbook. We've learned to make it fit onto low resolution screens.

To be comfortable, you'll need about 768 pixels vertically, give or take a few, to see everything. It may vary with your font size settings in Windows. It may also vary with whether you enable or disable extra display items such as a border around the icons. Or if you use a non-standard dpi setting on the Windows desktop settings. If you have higher resolution, all should work better. A good starting point is around 900 pixels vertical clearance. Professionals will of course be at 1920x1280 and even higher.

The toolbar can be in single-column or dual-column mode. Use the mode that fits for your config.

If you have a very low resolution, some items in the top permanent bar might not be visible. However, there are other ways to access those features. The mini icons in the right part of the permanent top bar are merely shortcuts: You can access their functions elsewhere. For example, to store an image, look for the same feature from the Image menu. Or to store a selection, or a brush, look for the corresponding item in the Selection menu and Brush menu, respectively.

You'll need some initial space on the hard drive, probably around 60 -100 MB (who's counting?). But as soon as you use the installed program, additional space will be needed for caching temporary files, undo memory and more. So we recommend that you have a few hundred MB free.

The bigger your images, or the longer your animations,
the more you need RAM.

Project Dogwaffle is a 32-bit application. It can use as much as 4 GB of RAM. In theory.

The system processor needs to support MMX, SSE2, and GDI+. Most of the recent processors do support GDI+. If you're not sure if yours will run it, try the free demo. If it doesn't work, you'll need a different computer, a newer or better chip. It's not a matter of which version of Windows you use. It's whether the chip as the guts and glory needed to run it properly.

Do some testing with the demos if you plan on running it on Windows within a virtual environment (such as Parallels Desktop for Mac or VmWare Fusion, of VirtualBox, the free Virtual Machine), since some older versions of these VMs didn't support such accelerations as MMX, SSE or SSE2 even when the host processor did - just try the demo to find out if your VM support PD Howler (don't forget to install the .Net Framework 4!) 

If you don't have a Windows installation CD, you could also try the emulator, such as Wine or CrossOver for Mac - did it work for you? Please tell us.

Here is information (July 2016)  for Dogwaffle onCrossOver for Mac:
https://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/crossover/project-dogwaffle-howler


Read also below for how to run it on Linux with Play on Linux and WineHQ. Perhaps the same is available for MacOS?

We're just starting to learn and find out if it runs, under Wine or CrossOver. See this page for more details. As of this writing, it's still not sure, as we use some very Window-specific features. (OLE, ActiveX server...)

We recently heard of Play on Linux - also based on Wine(?) and have heard that Dogwaffle may run in Linux that way. (to be verified)

If you successfully (or not) installed and/or managed to run any prior versions too, including the free version 1.2, please contact  us  and let us know the details: which Wine/CrossOver version? Which Linux distro? Which processor hardware? etc etc... the good stuff we nerds understand :-) Screenshots are especially prized!