====== ThinkGeo Desktop for .NET Core Installation Guide ======

Welcome to ThinkGeo! In this article, we will talk about how to install ThinkGeo products on your computer and prepare your development environment for creating Map Suite-powered projects.

===== System Requirements =====
  * Microsoft Windows 7 or newer, or Microsoft Windows Server 2012 or newer
  * .NET Core SDK 3.0 or higher
  * 1.2 GHz Intel® Core™ processor or better
  * 2 GB RAM or more
  * (recommended) Visual Studio 2017 or newer, or Visual Studio Code
 
===== Environment Preparation =====

=== Install .NET Core 3.0 SDK ===
The free .NET Core 3.0 SDK is required to develop applications that use ThinkGeo UI 12.0 or higher.

  * [[https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-core/3.0|Microsoft .NET Core 3.0 SDK - Free Installer]]

=== Install Visual Studio or VS Code ===
For the best development experience, we recommend one of the following IDEs:

  * [[https://code.visualstudio.com/download|Microsoft VS Code]] - free and open source.
  * [[https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/|Microsoft Visual Studio]] - free Community Edition works with ThinkGeo UI.
  * [[https://www.jetbrains.com/rider/|JetBrains Rider]] - commercially licensed, cross-platform .NET IDE.

===== Install ThinkGeo Product Center =====
The Product Center desktop application is how you start an evaluation of any ThinkGeo UI component. It also provides easy access to sample projects to get you started.

  * [[https://cdn.thinkgeo.com/downloads/ThinkGeoProductCenter12.zip|Download ThinkGeo Product Center for .NET Core 3.0]]

We invite you to check out our esay-to-follow video guide to starting an evaluation of ThinkGeo UI:

{{youtube>r8OGFhW5uQg?size=560x315}}

You are now ready to go! The easiest way to start is either from [[https://github.com/ThinkGeo/HowDoISamples-ForWPF.NETCore|GitHub Samples]] or [[https://wiki.thinkgeo.com/wiki/thinkgeo_desktop_for_.net_core_quick_start_guide|Quick Start Guide]].

For full details on everything you can do with Product Center, see our [[thinkgeo_product_center|ThinkGeo Product Center Guide]].