Overview

Following document outlines the hardware and software requirement for PDA (Plato Data Analyzer) Standard Edition. All the programs and supporting dlls are installed on the client workstation and shared databases are installed on the server. Note that the server is used just as a file server hence no programming components are installed on the server, but server is used just for storing files so that they can be accessed by more than one workstation. Thus following are the requirements for a client workstation.

A network share is required on the server whose hard disk space requirements will depend on the amount of data that will be enterd in the system and can be estimated by the formula in the hard disk section.

Hardware

Intel Pentium or equivalent processor, 400+ MHz, 64MB of RAM if PC is for data entry only, 128MB if PC will utilize Reporting and Analyzer functions.

Operating System

Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0 (SP4 or above), 2000, XP, 2003.

Video

VGA display adapter with 256 colors. For data entry only functions, recommended minimum resolution is 600x800. For Reporting and Analyzer functions, recommended minimum resolution is 1024x768.

Hard Disk

• Program Installation: 30MB
• With Plato Data Analyzer Tutorial Sample Databases: Additional 40 MB
• Additional hard drive space needed after installation will depend on the number of studies created and the volume of data expected to be entered. Studies may be located on the same computer the program was installed to, or relocated to another computer's hard drive, such as a file server. An extremely rough formula for estimating the size of a single study would be the following:
• NumBytes for Study = (250 * Num of Charts) + (200 * Number of Study Criterion)
• Example: A study with 20 criterion having 5000 worksheets would be approximately.
• (250*5000 ) + (200*20) = 1,254,000 Bytes or 1.25MB.
• Example: A study with 200 criterion having 3000 worksheets would be approximately.
• (250*3000) + (200*200) = 790,000 Bytes or 790K.

Other Required Software

• Internet Explorer: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 (6.0 recommended) is required for reports. A minimal install is sufficient, and Internet Explorer is not required to be the default browser.
• DCOM support must be present on Windows systems running the Plato Data Analyzer. This is only an issue with older Windows 95 computers. DCOM can be downloaded from the internet. Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0 are already DCOM enabled.
• ADO (Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects) version 2.1 or greater. It can be downloaded from the internet. Search for ADO or MDAC.