The How-to-Get Up-and-Running Page


(C) 1980-2002 A.L.Spek, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Reference: A.L.Spek (2002) PLATON, A Multipurpose Crystallographic Tool, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.


PLATON HOMEPAGE

HOW TO OBTAIN A COPY OF PLATON


PLATON is free of charge for Academics (as all Academic scientific software should be).

For-profit organisations should contact (E-mail address below) or forward a filled out application form before copying the programs.

Note: All FTP traffic is logged!


PLATON/UNIX Sources (f77 & C), executables and test data can be found on the:
PLATON ANONYMOUS FTP-SERVER SITE (xraysoft.chem.uu.nl).

and Windows95/98 & Windows-NT executables (Thanks to Dr. Louis Farrugia!) on:
PLATON MS-WINDOWS WEB-SITE (Dr. L. Farrugia, Glasgow, Scotland)

In order to get a copy of the program source you will have to copy (and uncompress) the two files

  1. platon.f.Z (Complete Fortran source of PLATON - over 94000 lines of code)
  2. xdrvr.c.gz (C-interface to X-window library Xlib)
and compile and link them into an executable with the name 'platon' (see example file with the name compile) and when desirable, a soft link of pluton to platon.

A compiled version - not always up-to-date - may be extracted by copying and uncompress platon.Z from the appropriate platform directory i.e.

Alternatively, copy platon.tar.gz which contains all files in the generic 'unix' directory (will compile without any change on DEC, SGI, SUN and LINUX platforms).

For the Validation feature, a copy of the file check.def will be needed. (Also included in 'platon.tar.gz).


HOW TO COMPILE

On most UNIX implementations a compile line like the one given below should be sufficient:

f77 -o platon platon.f xdrvr.c -lX11

Some compilers need additional options (e.g. -Nl250).

Sometimes additional directions should be added on the compile line to indicate the location of libraries such us X11: -L /usr/X11/lib or -L /usr/X11R6/lib.

Some compilations crash when there is no sufficient space in /tmp. Use a cshell command such as

setenv TMPDIR .

instead (or any other directory with enough scratch space).

Some compilers only function when the source code platon.f has been split in smaller pieces (try parts of 10000 lines each) to be compiled separately.


INSTALLATION

The platon executable is best moved to a globally accessible directory

e.g. mv platon /usr/local/bin

In addition a link ln -s pluton platon in the same directory will give a direct path to PLUTON.

Some environment variables can be set (for programs etc. that are not in standard locations)

Finally, check whether things work with sucrose.spf (on the ftp server). with:

platon sucrose.spf

which should bring up the PLATON Main Selections Menu.

Click on CALC ALL

Two listing files are produced: 'sucrose.lis' (lineprinter format) and a postscipt version in A4-format sucrose.lps.


WHAT DOES IT COST?

PLATON may be downloaded and used free of charge by the academic community under the condition that it is not redistributed (just give a pointer to this PLATON HOMEPAGE at http://www.cryst.chem.uu.nl/platon/ or the anonymous ftp server xraysoft.chem.uu.nl for a current & fresh copy.

The author is interested in reports of misbehaviour and suggestions for additional features.

There is a charge of 5000 Euro or US$ 5000 for commercial users (as a contribution to our continuing research efforts).

application form


PLATON HOMEPAGE
Note: and denote hard references that may cause Netscape hangup's when not connected to the Internet.


Last change 11-Oct-2002. e-mail to Ton Spek