At 01:35 PM 16-10-02 +1000, you wrote:

>I have just got Firbird 1.0 working, and talking to an IB6 Dialect 3
>database.
>IBConsole crashes on View/Indexes.

Borland-controlled Delphi application, built with IBX. maintained "in camera".

>IBAccess seems to work OK.

Open source Delphi application, built with IBX, publicly maintained.

>IBAdmin seems to work OK.
>
>I am still using Delphi 5 for most of my applications. Do the components
>on the Interbase tab work correctly with Firebird 1 / Dialect 3.?

No. Those components were very early beta when distributed with Delphi
5. They don't work properly with InterBase either.

>Will Delphi 6 Do the components on the Interbase tab work correctly with
>Firebird 1 / Dialect 3?

No evidence so far that they won't but no assurance that they will. Up
until D6 was released they were being developed in a (sort of) open source
environment. By policy (whose? is not clear) outsiders have not been
permitted access to the project in order to provide support for bugfixes
and enhancements done to Firebird.

It's no big deal really that Borland has closed off its out-of-the-box
support to Firebird since there is (and has been for years) better Delphi
component support for IB and Firebird in the third-party domain. See IB
Objects (www.ibobjects.com) and FIBPlus (www.fibplus.net). A team
currently has a DBXpress driver for Firebird in beta (see www.upscene.com )
and there is a significant collection of other component alternatives out
there pledged to support Firebird (SQLDirect, Zeos, etc. )

>Will Jbuilder 7 DataExpress components work correctly with Firebird 1 /
>Dialect 3 and Interclient 2.01?

Probably not. Firebird abandoned InterClient at a very early stage and
developed its own Java driver, known as Jaybird. For more info, see the
FAQ at www.ibphoenix.com and/or join the support list at
http://www.yahoogroups.com/community/firebird-java

>I am moving apps from Flashfiler databases, so I have been using tables.
>I am undecided weather to stick with IB 6.0.2 or to go to Firbird.

Either way, you need to get away from TTables (if that is what you meant by
your statement above).

>I would prefer to use Firebird, the attitude seems a little more
>supportive and positive.

...than what? <g>

>I just don't want to start out with a combination of
>Delphi/server/controls that will bring me undone while I am on the bottom
>of the learning curve.

If you want "out of the box" Delphi/BCPPB or Java support from Borland from
here on, you have one and only one option: their commercial InterBase
product. They are not going to fix IB 6.0.x and they are not even willing
to acknowledge the existence of Firebird. But if you want excellent
component support for InterBase and Firebird in the third-party domain,
then it is there in abundance.

If you are unconvinced about third-party support, go to the IB Phoenix site
(www.ibphoenix.com), browse the Download>Contributed pages and get hold of
some of the free and trial offerings there.

heLen