🚀 go-pugleaf

Alex Samad wrote:

> I am thinking of learning to use SQL on Linux, either PostGreSQL or MySQL.
> The main thing I want to be able to do is to point MS Access 2000 to it.
> 
> 1) can it be done, with out paying for connectors
> 2) which would be better
> 3) what is more widely used in the real world
> 
> Thanxs
> Alex

Hi, 
I've set up postgres on my machine and connect to it from Access (97) using 
ODBC from windows 98 (running under vmware express on the same machine) .  
The ODBC drivers I found after a search on google - they're not big, but 
work well.  I also grab data from postgres & stick it into Excel using 
Microsoft query - all works well.


At work I use Access & sql server, so its not much different.  You can send 
raw SQL though as pass through queries. For building tables quickly I use 
pgaccess - an access-like program that comes with Suse

As someone who uses SQL quite a bit on a regular basis, postgres strikes me 
as a very good learning tool (and production tool too - i've not used it 
that way - so no comment there :)

If you're interested in DBA type roles, then playing with a system like 
postgres will also given you insights into backup/restores, db management, 
user permissions etc.

(For learning SQL access is good too - using the query builder & seeing how 
queries are created can be instructive (this isn't flame bait - but if 
you're an occasional user or need things very quickly it's a good tool).)

I'm using SuSE 7.2
512 MB mem
Athlon
about 9GB disk, 
VMwate express (bought from Suse too)

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