Is it possible to retrieve computer information (RAM, hard drive size, cpu speed, etc.) using Adobe Flash? If so, can someone point me to a web site showing me how?
I don't think you can get RAM, hard disk size, or clock speed — Flash runs in a virtual machine, and it's probably set up to only give you information that pertains to its little world.
You can get a lot of other client information, such as how much RAM Flash is using, screen resolution, and whether the client has audio support. Check out the System
and Capabilities
classes.
If you want some idea of the client running this, you could also try to develop your own kinda "benchmark algorthme" and run it for a second or two.
My idea for this would be to do some "hidden rendering" in a loop or something combined with a timer and a "onFrame" counter. This way I could have a rough estimate on how many loops my algorithme would run thru.
It's not perfect I know, but I believe this approach would give a rough result which could help you decide what detail level your application should provide as default and then perhaps let the user decide in a preference/settings style too.