by On Fri, 25 Sep 1998 15:22:46 -0700, Russell Morris
>We have outgrown DOS,dbase, and paradox -
>our 60K-line app/database(one file has 2500+ fields) must move to either
>M$ or Linux.
>Cost/reliability makes Linux more attractive.
>Is there an affordable development tool that runs on Linux to convert a
>major dos/xbase-like program to make Linux a complete option for this
>conversion? One that might compare to Delphi or Visual DBase for coding
>efficiency. We have NO interest in GUI, we are interested in data-entry
>efficiency, i.e. an app that needs only a keyboard (no mouse).
>Any of the DBMSs now available for Linux - Interbase, Oracle, Informix -
>provide the
>database tool needed. We may use Linux, even if we have to use a
>Delphi/Visual DBase
>front-end application running on M$ 95/NT getting data from a networked
>Linux DBMS server.
>I would prefer to keep costs down and reliability up by running the
>front end app
>and the DBMS on Linux and just skip M$.
changing things would be to consider FlagShip, which is a compiler for a
"Clipper clone."
This would most nearly replicate what you have now, adding, of course,
the reliability that results from running on a more robust OS, but *not*
adding much reliability (or, on the downside, performance "hits") from
the additional logging that takes place with an SQL database system.
Note that you could get *substantial* application speedups if users
"telnet" into the Linux box and run the application there; this has the
likely result of your system being able to make major use of disk
caching so as to speed up reads. (Note that this means *NOT* accessing
the DB over NFS... This "simulates" the "database manager engine"
approach that SQL DBs provide...)
If, for instance, there's 100MB of data in the DB, I'd suggest having
128MB of RAM. The database would migrate into memory, thus allowing
*real* fast reads.
You're still left with .DBF/.NDX file structures, which might prove
troublesome, but I'd suggest this as an option...
There are, at this point, a *LOT* of SQL databases out there available
for Linux. User interface is, at this point, a common weakness. Many
of the systems provide interfaces that look like APIs; many do *not*
provide the equivalents to Oracle SQL*FORMs or other such schemes used
to construct the user interface. (Milage of course varies
extensively...)
This issue is one of the reasons that I suggested considering FlagShip;
FlagShip obviously could make some use of your existing UI code.
--
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