Re: free software alternative to Access
Bill Sconce wrote: To which I'd add something (something which I'd have overlooked had not Guy Pardoe and Ted Roche just made it the subject of last week's excellent MonadLUG meeting): phpMyAdmin http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/ It is billed as an administration tool (which is what it is, of course), but admin could mean prototyping or rapid app development. If you already know what you want to do phpMyAdmin provides data entry forms, SQL query construction, and a whole lot more, all right out of the box. Certainly not a replacement for Access, but a valuable tool - and for some (knowledgeable) folks it could do the job of getting a new app rolling. I second this. I had a project a couple of years back for a heavily data-driven web site. The client was very anxious to get started entering data long before I had the user interface done. So, I provided them access via phpMyAdmin to their database. They have been happily using it since then. I never even needed to create the user interface. It works quite well. It's not a finely polished front end, but perfectly adequate for data entry and browsing the data. -- Dan Jenkins ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Rastech Inc., Bedford, NH, USA --- 1-603-206-9951 *** Technical Support for over a Quarter Century ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Walmart-Xandors
--- Bill McGonigle [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 18, 2005, at 17:45, Randy Edwards wrote: IMHO, the worst aspect of them is the fact that they're from Wal-Mart (insert disclaimer about union-busting, hyper-exploitation of workers, etc., here). snip I'm somewhat surprised they're selling non-windows machines. At their volumes they ought to be able to get XPHome for $14. I know they're big into cutting out as much cost as possible, but I wonder if there isn't more here to this story. From what I understand, they have the volume to dictate terms (i.e. for some of their products, they represent as much as 20% of the sales). And they are agressive on lowest cost. And willing to NOT sell a product. Remember they don't sell Windows, they sell someone else's PC. Result: They will tell HP, etc, sell for my price or else - and do it. What can MS, HP, IBM, etc do to them? Tell them we won't sell to you? OK, so they sell someone else's product. Which they do. If they _can_ cut Microsoft out of the loop, WalMart might be planning on owning the home market, or a least one strata of it. Once you have that there are all sorts of potentials. It's not cutting MS out of the loop. Walmart doesn't care about MS, they care about selling home PC's. MS happens to be one piece of it. Just like they don't care what pieces are in a bike they sell, or who's name is on it. They care is it a bike that our customers will buy? Is it the cheapest possible? If yes to both, sell. If not, find the one that is. MS's problem is they're trying to make money selling name brand wood screws. To people who want to buy a house. Do you know the manufacturer of the wood screws that are in your house? Do you care? Does anybody know if WalMart is FLOSS on the inside? Not a clue, but given thir costing, wouldn't be surprised. jeff ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Access to PostgreSQL conversion
--- David J Berube [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hey all, While I'm thinking of Access and PostgreSQL, a quick note. I recently released one of my inhouse Access-to-PostgreSQL conversion tools under the GPL. Note, however, that Access and PostgreSQL have very different design methodologies, and a complex database will require reanalysis. This project will take you much of the way, however, and it includes source, so it's easy to make incremental modifications to fit your project.. It can import basic table information and data - it does not, however, import VIEWs or indices. Both of those should be created by hand - most complex Access queries will have to be rewritten for PostgreSQL in any case, since Microsoft-specific functions are not present in PostgreSQL. Anyway, here's the URL: http://sourceforge.net/projects/access2psql/ I've had great success with it so far. Take it easy, I'll look at it, how does it compare to mdbtools (https://mdbtools.sf.net)? Had you heard of that, looked at it, etc/ jeff -- David Berube Berube Consulting [EMAIL PROTECTED] (603)-485-9622 http://www.berubeconsulting.com/ ___ gnhlug-announce mailing list gnhlug-announce@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-announce ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Database design question [was: free software alternative to Access]
All this talk about databases reminded me of a project I was working on a while back in which I had some fundamental database design questions, but not the time to properly research the answers. (of course, like all great projects driven by marketing, the immediate crisis which prompted the project was quickly solved by changing direction and subsequently resulted in them forgetting I was even doing anything to help them :( At any rate, I found myself trying to set up several tables for a database, but realized, that in general, other than gluing the tables together with basic SQL queries wrapped up in a spiffy perl CGI, I know next to nothing about proper database design. So, does anyone have any decent references or pointers to basic relational database design? I'm looking for something generic to SQL, and not tied to any specific implementation. Thanks. -- Seeya, Paul ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: DNS misc
Benjamin Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: The real down side of forwarding is that DNS search order breaks (this might be fixed in BIND 9, but was definitely broken with BIND 4.x -- I haven't tried it since then). This has always worked for me just fine with BIND 8.x. I'm even kinda surprised this would ever care about forwarding, as the domain search list is implemented by the resolver library, not named. But BIND 4.x did a lot of funky shit, so I'm not *totally* surprised. :) IIRC, the problem was actually the listing of multiple search lines in /etc/resolv.conf. The first search line was referenced, possibly the second, but I believe the tertiary was ignored. FWIW, MS had a similar problem too. Windows would allow you enter primary and secondary name server, but then would ignore all subsequently listed servers. Hmmm, I wonder if they just ripped the BIND resolver library code and ported it bug-for-bug ;) -- Seeya, Paul ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Walmart-Xandors
Jeff Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Do you know the manufacturer of the wood screws that are in your house? Do you care? I don't thin I have any wood screws at the moment, but I have a bunch of sheetrock screws. I don't know the name of the brand, but I know their in a red box which came from The Home Depot, were priced very reasonably and do a remarkably decent job of holding not only sheetrock to the wall, but also the pine boards together which comprise my daughter's bookcase :) -- Seeya, Paul ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Walmart-Xandors
Is the summary that no one has any experience with Xandros, but the Microtel PC is probably suitable for an inexpensive desktop? Sounds like it. Karl ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Walmart-Xandors
While I haven't purchased a Microtel PC, I do have experience with Xandros and I can tell you it's an excellent all-around distribution. In complete frustration supporting Windows, I converted my wife and father about 2 years ago to Lindows. It seemed a great distro for newbies (at the time). In hindsight, it wasn't such a great choice. With Lin(dows|spire), there are WAY too many user friendly ways of doing things, each being slightly different. And when I wanted to drop to a shell to do stuff, there were none of the standard tools I expected to be there. The Click-N-Run method of adding software worked reasonably well but it wasn't easy to add a different software repository (to get the tools I needed). The Linspire support web site is NOT intuitive; navigating to the user forums always seems to be a happy accident when you arrive. About 4 months ago, I converted my wife and father from Lindows/Linspire to Xandros 3.0. Xandros really is an excellent distribution for both newbies and experienced Linux users. Just about everything can be accessed via the Xandros file manager (a souped up KDE Konqueror). When dropping to a shell to do work on their machines, most of the tools I want are already there. It was extremely easy to add the Debian unstable software repository so I could get access to tools other than those in the Xandros maintained repository. Most of all, I liked the fact that the Xandros desktop icons and application menus are sparse with a single option for most common tasks. Surprisingly (or maybe not so in hindsight), this seeming limitation on application choice made things easier for my wife and father by removing the so which one do I use? question. And even better is that all roads lead to the Xandros file manager so the constant use of this application becomes second nature. Mix Xandros with a reasonably priced PC and it sounds like a pretty good deal. -- Tom On 4/19/05, Karl Hergenrother [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Is the summary that no one has any experience with Xandros, but the Microtel PC is probably suitable for an inexpensive desktop? Sounds like it. Karl ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Walmart-Xandors
Is the summary that no one has any experience with Xandros, but the Microtel PC is probably suitable for an inexpensive desktop? Sounds like it. Well, I've got experience with Xandros, but not on Walmart PCs. It's a good distro in general - makes lots of things nice and easy. My biggest qualm with it was that it had it's own peculiar method of automagically setting up devices that was hard to interfere with. For the most part of course, it just works, but I had some odd hardware that didn't play nice at first, and it took a lot of tooling around to figure out how to work around it. On the plus side, there's a strong community of people trying to help out in the Xandros support forums and they were watched by Xandros support people chiming in to help often. I haven't had to reinstall my desktop in years, but were I to try, I'd at least consider Xandros. I think I'm more likely to get along with Kubuntu or Mepis, but they're all good-looking, simple-to-setup, Debian-ish desktops that seem well supported. -N ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: DNS misc
On 4/19/05, Paul Lussier [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: IIRC, the problem was actually the listing of multiple search lines in /etc/resolv.conf. The first search line was referenced, possibly the second, but I believe the tertiary was ignored. FWIW, MS had a similar problem too. Windows would allow you enter primary and secondary name server, but then would ignore all subsequently listed servers. Are you talking search lines or nameserver lines? It sounds like you're talking about nameserver lines, but it sounded like Derek was talking about search lines. As far as nameserver lines go, I remember the two nameserver limit from BIND 4 for sure. It's long gone on modern Linux. Windows 95/98/ME have a two nameserver limit built-in to the configuration UI, let alone the resolver implementation. Win 2000 and later are okay. NT4 had enough trouble with one nameserver, so any such limitation wouldn't surprise me. I've never setup named under BIND 4.x (only the resolver), but BIND 8's named does not use resolv.conf for config, so nameserver lines don't enter into the picture. Forwarding is controlled in named.conf (which uses a different syntax). Hmmm, I wonder if they just ripped the BIND resolver library code and ported it bug-for-bug ;) No, they added new ones as well. Ha ha, only serious. Like most everybody else, Microsoft based their initial IP stack on BSD. I dunno how much of the BSD code survives in current stuff. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Database design question [was: free software alternative to Access]
Paul, You could try: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/1558606726/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/103-8170352-9419859?%5Fencoding=UTF8customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDaten=283155 Not sure about the above, but it seems highly rated (even though there are only 9 ratings). All the books that I've liked over the years have been Oracle specific like this one: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0072121203/qid=1113922379/sr=1-10/ref=sr_1_10/103-8170352-9419859?v=glances=books WARNING!!! Discussion of software that costs money to use for business purposes follows!!! At Oracle we've been working on a tool to 'replace access' (it's not really there yet, it's more powerful in many ways and less user friendly in some ways) for a number of years. I think I even showed a version of it years ago (8 years ago?) at UNH to the group once. We now call the tool HTMLDB. It allows the development of applications with a web based front end against an Oracle database. It has some pretty nice features including the ability to copy a spreadsheet/access database into a form and have the tool automatically create tables (and lookup tables) for you. I'm guessing that this is kind of similar to the PHP web admin tools that others were talking about before, but hopefully it is a bit more powerful. HTMLDB on OTN: http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/htmldb/index.html Viewlet (flash) of HTMLDB in action: http://otn.oracle.com/products/database/htmldb/viewlets/htmldb_quicktour_viewlet.html As always you can download all Oracle software from http://otn.oralce.com for personal use without sending Oracle any money. (Here is the 'big daddy' of database design tools: http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/designer/index.html) We've also come up with a very low price point for Oracle Standard Edition One: $750 for 5 users (5 user minimum, each additional user would be $150) or $5,000/cpu for unlimited users with a limit of 2 cpus to compete with other companies that offer low cost 'databases'. And of course databases from Oracle really are ANSI SQL compliant. :) Rich Paul Lussier wrote: All this talk about databases reminded me of a project I was working on a while back in which I had some fundamental database design questions, but not the time to properly research the answers. (of course, like all great projects driven by marketing, the immediate crisis which prompted the project was quickly solved by changing direction and subsequently resulted in them forgetting I was even doing anything to help them :( At any rate, I found myself trying to set up several tables for a database, but realized, that in general, other than gluing the tables together with basic SQL queries wrapped up in a spiffy perl CGI, I know next to nothing about proper database design. So, does anyone have any decent references or pointers to basic relational database design? I'm looking for something generic to SQL, and not tied to any specific implementation. Thanks. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Database design question [was: free software alternative to Access]
Paul Lussier [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: So, does anyone have any decent references or pointers to basic relational database design? I'm looking for something generic to SQL, and not tied to any specific implementation. The O'Reilly mSQL and MySQL book has a chapter or two that discusses this subject (in general, like you asked for) Regards, --kevin -- GnuPG ID: B280F24E And the madness of the crowd alumni.unh.edu!kdc Is an epileptic fit -- Tom Waits ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Walmart-Xandors
I was just curious, so I checked Walmart's web site. They had the same system with Windows XP Home ($298), Linspire ($298), Xandros ($200) and no operating system ($248). I guess I'd go with Xandros. (LOL) Regards, . Randy -- Americans went to their deaths in Iraq thinking that they were avenging September 11th when Iraq had nothing to do with September 11th. -- George Bush's former head of counter-terrorism Richard Clarke ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Database design question
Richard Soule [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Paul, You could try: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/1558606726/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/103-8170352-9419859?%5Fencoding=UTF8customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDaten=283155 Thanks, I'll check it out. At Oracle we've been working on a tool to 'replace access' (it's not really there yet, it's more powerful in many ways and less user friendly in some ways) for a number of years. It seems that Oracle has been working on a tool to replace every offering from MS for some time now, but as always, it's not really there yet... ;) Gotta love that Larry vs. BillG rivalry :) -- Seeya, Paul ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: DNS misc
Ben Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: On 4/19/05, Paul Lussier [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: IIRC, the problem was actually the listing of multiple search lines in /etc/resolv.conf. The first search line was referenced, possibly the second, but I believe the tertiary was ignored. FWIW, MS had a similar problem too. Windows would allow you enter primary and secondary name server, but then would ignore all subsequently listed servers. Are you talking search lines or nameserver lines? It sounds like you're talking about nameserver lines, but it sounded like Derek was talking about search lines. For bind, it was search lines, for Windows it was nameserver lines. No, they added new ones as well. Ha ha, only serious. Like most everybody else, Microsoft based their initial IP stack on BSD. I dunno how much of the BSD code survives in current stuff. Was it BSD? I couldn't remember. They seem to have hosed it up pretty well over the years :) -- Seeya, Paul ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Speaking of DNS.... (spammish but on topic)
How's this for good timing? My employer rolled out recursive DNS service today. Yeah, most of us here could just run our own servers, but if you don't want to... http://www.dyndns.org/news/releases/archives/2005/04/587.html Brian ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Database design question [was: free software alternative to Access]
On Apr 19, 2005, at 9:01 AM, Paul Lussier wrote: So, does anyone have any decent references or pointers to basic relational database design? I'm looking for something generic to SQL, and not tied to any specific implementation. That's what I do for a living, design database applications, and teach, mentor and develop the software that runs them. There's a 524Kb PDF white paper at my site at: http://www.tedroche.com/Present/2004/RocheDataDesign.pdf Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: DNS misc
On 4/19/05, Paul Lussier [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Ben Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: everybody else, Microsoft based their initial IP stack on BSD. I dunno how much of the BSD code survives in current stuff. Was it BSD? I couldn't remember. They seem to have hosed it up pretty well over the years :) Just about everyone based their TCP stack on BSD. It was the 1st, the license was liberal, it worked and it was lean enough. OBLinux: Linux has a BSD based stack too. I wonder if there are any TCP stacks that are not derived from BSD. (SCO maybe??? ;-) ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Walmart-Xandors
Randy Edwards wrote: I was just curious, so I checked Walmart's web site. They had the same system with Windows XP Home ($298), Linspire ($298), Xandros ($200) and no operating system ($248). I guess I'd go with Xandros. (LOL) Regards, . Randy I will too. I don't need a floppy drive or modem (I have several spares). I also have DSL and a wireless network. But seriously, why would a no OS/software system cost more than the Xandros system with OpenOffice and other software loaded. Marketing I guess. Thanks for all the advice. Karl ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: DNS misc
On Tue, Apr 19, 2005 at 05:51:11PM -0400, Tom Buskey wrote: I wonder if there are any TCP stacks that are not derived from BSD. (SCO maybe??? ;-) The Mentat TCP/IP stack (which is STREAMS-focused) is used in a number of different environments, including HP-UX 11i, and a version is in Sun. It's a complete rewrite from scratch, without any BSD code. -- Bob ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
