On Tue, 19 Nov 2002, Chris Devers wrote: > I've put copies of Pg on pretty old equipment & it ran tolerably well -- > good enough to put sample databases in, write code against it, etc. > > I've tried putting the demo version of Oracle on somewhat better hardware > (sorry, it's been a while & I forget all specs) and, aside from the fact > that setting everything up was much more of a pain, the strain on the > machine was much more noticeable than when running Pg, subjectively > speaking, to the extent that I never bothered using it much.
Sounds like pretty much all 'big' software. You need a certain level of power before it's worth using the heavyweight solution. One example that springs to mind of solaris x86. In the early days of linux, if you had more than 4MB and less than 64MB (and most peoples toyboxes) then linux ran like a dream, but there was no point trying to run solaris. These days, where you'd be pushed to find a machine with less than 128MB, either runs fine on a toybox for testing things. But if your app is likely to be running for real on a huge sun box, you'd maybe be better to go with solaris x86, to make scaling it a bit easier. Similarly, the mSQL->MySQL->PG progression. mSQL came along and at last it was possible to run a fairly reasonable SQL database on tiny hardware, and lots of things where built on it. Slowly people started playing with mysql, as it matured along with average hardware specs, and any new projects were built on that, msql was depreciated, and apps moved across. These days, I work with dozens of mysql-based systems. But if I was starting a project from scratch, I'd much rather use pg. > Then again, working past that ramp-up may be the whole point... I can certainly see the value of at least having seen the installer to any product you use, or claim to be able to use professionally. Just like reading manuals thoroughly (no, I don't expect anyone to have read all the docs you get with an oracle distribution) you gain an understanding of how things work and interrelate. It also makes you aware of what settings can be fiddled with, to optimise performance, when otherwise your application might be thrashing a lot more than necessary. Most importantly, it means that if some new employers 'expert sysadmin' who installs oracle is actually a rather vision-impaired monarch, you'll not be intimidated by the dozens of CDs, kilos of manuals, hours of install screens, and system boot-strapping necessary to at least get yourself a reasonable base install. the hatter
