NIS on a school network - need some clarifications

[Andrew L. Gould]

On Wednesday 25 August 2004 09:36 am, Hugo Silva wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm working on a project to change the network on my school to open
> source software only (FreeBSD/Linux workstations only).
<snip>
>
> Since I plan to switch the whole network from windows to FreeBSD /
> Linux (only adding linux because other people want it :-P), I'll need
> to substitute the following applications:
>
> - Visual C++ (anjuta)
> - MS Access  (?)
>
> I don't know much about access, but I believe it's possible to have a
> ms-access database server.. if that's the case, is there a open
> source client with a similiar GUI to ms access available ? (note:
> mysql/etc won't do, the school program says ms access, so we need
> something similiar)
>
>
> Any insight on these issues is most welcome
>
> Regards,
>
> Hugo

Hugo,

You're out of luck where MS Access is concerned.  FreeBSD comes with 
several outstanding database servers; but nothing that matches MS 
Access as a RAD for database clients or a tool for complex, ad hoc 
analysis.  Access makes for a lousy server; but excels as a GUI client.

You can install MS Access on Linux using Codeweaver's Crossover Office 
(a WINE thing); but it seems to have memory limitations, and crashes 
under moderate workloads.

MS Access (Win2K or XP Pro) + PostgreSQL (FreeBSD) is a very powerful 
combination.  

Best of luck,

Andrew Gould