Relational Databases for Microport Unix V/386 3.0e

[SE Sun/PDX]

In article <763 at radig.UUCP> peter at radig.UUCP (Peter Radig) writes:

>I'm searching for a relational database which runs under uports
>Unix V/386 3.0. (Not necessarily a PD program but also any commercial
>product)
>If you know about one, please write name, features, availability, prize,
>etc.

my mail bounced the first time, so here's a followup:

I did a project on uport Unix using Unify's Unify/Accell package. The DB
and application system lists (at the time, about 18 months ago) for
$4500. This was a project for a medical school, so they received a 50%
discount.

At that time (and this has certainly changed) Unify was the only
database that worked on V/386. No Informix, No Oracle, No Ingres,
and only run-time DataFlex (you could develop on the 286, but that
was unacceptable).

I was put in the unenviable position of using the first V/386 port of Accell,
and it showed. I dealt with numerous unexplainable, untraceable, fixed-by-
phase-of-moon core dumps, statements that simply did not work, printer
support problems, and numerous other gotchas. The school did not have
the funds at that time for the $1500 (no discount) support/upgrade
offer, so they are still running the first release on the 80386 (also
called Accell 4.0)

In the end, and with the help of some very nice local support people, I
got the project done. Accell has a pretty nice curses-based applications
development and run-time environment, complete with a paint program,
windows, auto-menus, and so on.

I would recommend Unify/Accell for Microport *IF AND ONLY IF* they got
lots of those nasty bugs fixed. If you are going to generate your
application in C and use their applications library, you will get
around many of the problems in the applications generator itself. Their
C-attachments are plentiful and in my experience seem to work pretty
well. I lost count of how many times the apps generator simply locked
up, and I had to go to a virtual console and kill several processes.

Unify's (at least the group in Lake Oswego, Oregon) people were as
helpful as they can be (especially Mike Barton). The manuals contain
plenty of information (although it is all over the place). Their
demo application is not trivial, but the more your application is
like theirs the more you will learn from it (kinda like math books,
if you know what I mean :-)).

Good luck in your quest...

-- 
Steven C. Neighorn           !tektronix!{psu-cs,nosun,ogccse}!qiclab!neighorn
Sun Microsystems, Inc.      "Where we DESIGN the Star Fighters that defend the
9900 SW Greenburg Road #240     frontier against Xur and the Ko-dan Armada"
Portland, Oregon 97223          work: (503) 684-9001 / home: (503) 641-3469