Hello,

I write to you because we have a kinda special problem.
My company is reseller of a software that is quite established in its
area and many people use it.
The software is a set of 16bit applications, and per default it uses a
paradox 5 database.
The database access is done through the (16bit) bde.

As the application uses a quite simple database structure, it runs out
of the box
with Interbase6 as well.
The main application does many calulations, and then updates and inserts
to a large counter table.
With paradox, the speed of the application is very good. But we look for
a stabler solution, as with
paradox we regulary have trouble with broken indexes.

When we use Interbase, the application runs approx. 10-20 times
slower.
The application can also run with MSSQL7, also through the bde, using
the sybase driver.
With msssql7 the speed is also much slower, about the same than with
IB.

I have tried playing with the cache in IB, with different page sizes,
write_async and with the parameters
that can be set in the bdeconfig. (sqlquerymode, sqlpassthrumode, driver
flags).
I also read "10 things you can do to make IB scream" and tried what they
said. But this document
seems to be more developer-related.

I've also tried out Firebird 1.0, but saw no difference compared to
IB6.

Somehow I suspect the 16 bit bde being uneffective with real (not
paradox) databases.
The application is written in Delphi and Pascal, and uses a lot of
TTables I think.


Well, we are kinda desperate as we want to use Interbase/Firebird, and
get rid of paradox
and its problems.
We passed one customer from paradox to IB, but we had to go back to
paradox one week later because the
speed difference was too big :-(

I know we can not do much, as the application is not developed by us.
But maybe someone on the list has some more ideas where and what we
could try to tweak...