Software for Writers and Researchers about Zorbasoft
 
Plato Support
The pages of this website contain all the available information about Plato. Complete technical documentation is contained in the documentation section. The old help file will no longer be used and is far out of date in any case.
 
What Does Plato Need to Run?
A half-gigabyte (512 MB) of main memory should be enough unless you run several memory-hogging applications concurrently. Large databases and concordances will like as much memory as you can give them. With less than half a gigabyte your mileage will vary, but at the worst performance may falter and creep painfully and that can be frustrating. The base installation will consume less than 5 megabytes of disk space. The disk space your databases will consume will vary--I use Plato for research and I currently have 15 database files ranging in size from 100 kilobytes to 18 megabytes. Plato is a 32 bit application and will run under Windows XP, Vista, 7, or 8. It will not run on Windows 95 and 98. It might run on a Mac (using one of the Windows XP emulators), but I haven't tried it.
 
What Are Plato's Limitations?
Database size will be limited by your computer's memory and performance. Plato's databases are loaded entirely into main memory (although for databases with a lot of text there is a paging option that may reduce memory requirements considerably in some cases). Setting aside the issue of available memory and acceptable performance, you may put up to 2 billion objects in a single database. I can't really imagine how Plato would perform stuffed with 2 billion objects, though. For reference, I am currently using databases with over 31,000 objects with no noticeable performance problems. Objects may have no more that 30 field attributes. Text in the note field is limited to 2 billion characters but don't try to test this limit unless you have a lot of patience. Performance will once again dictate practical limits. Performance should not degrade significantly with object text of up to 1,000,000 characters. If you are using a concordance set for real time updating, saving changed records will result in a slight processing delay, which may increase as the amount of text in an object increases. I say 'may' because the increase will be less noticeable on faster computers with more memory. There is no limit to the number of folders you can create beyond the object limit of 2 billion. Your practical limit will again be based on performance and convenience. Folders can be nested to any depth, but Plato's scripting engine will only descend to ten levels of nesting. Folders nested more deeply than this can still be accessed manually however.
 
Bug and Issue Reports
Plato reports on bugs and other issues are found here. If you're having a problem and wonder if it is a bug, check out the bug list.
 
Other Support
Free technical support is available to all Plato users via email. We will also be hosting a blog on this website in the near future, and perhaps an email forum after the official release. If you do not get a quick response please be patient--it may take a few days to get back to you. ZorbaSoft is a one-person shop and, for the near future at least, email responses are likely to be a weekend activity. Use the following form to send queries, or send an email to support@zorbasoft.com.
 
Plato: Support Form

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All material copyright 2015 by Edward W. Farrell
this page last updated on 2015.01.18