At 09:47 PM 6/02/2003 +1000, you wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I am brand new to all this.
>I have just finished a university degree (in computer science) which
>included a unit of databases, but I am still so lost with it all.
>
>I am writing a small application (and some DLLs) that work with a database,
>so I have spent the last few days trying to determine the difference between
>all the different RDMSs and which one would most suit my needs.
>
>I have been best adviced to use Firebird, and have downloaded the following
>files:
>fbmgr_english.zip
>Firebird_v1_releaseNotes.pdf
>Firebird-1.0.2.908-Win32.exe
>ibadmin3.zip
>
>I also am using Borland CBuilder6.
>I am also running all of this on a win98 standalone machine.

Win98 is OK for development, no good as a server. It works, but...

>I have nothing else. I have installed the Firebird-1.0.2.908-Win32.exe, and
>the server is now running.
>I was asked whether I wanted to use guardian (and said yes), I have also
>unzipped the fbmgr to c:\windows\system. And installed ibadmin3.
>
>Yet I still have no idea what to do.
>I played a little with ibadmin3 but it kept wanting database
>username/passwords, which I don't have, I don't have any databases,

Yes you do, in the ../Examples/ directory you have one called
Employee.gdb. You will also find a couple in the C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Borland Shared\data folder if you have CPPB installed (look for
suffix .gdb).

>and I do
>not know how to create them.
>I also am unsure about ibadmin as it is a 30 day trial, and I am only
>starting out at this game (ie no $$ as of yet).
>
>I am sure this type of questions are posed every other week on this support
>list, I tried looking in the FAQ, to no avail.

Go to www.ibphoenix.com and get the following:

From Downloads > Main Downloads get the Firebird Quickstart Guide.

From Downloads > InterBase get the IB 6 beta manuals, especially the
Operations Guide, the Language Reference and the Data Definition Guide.

From Downloads > Contributed, find a free Admin tool so you don't have to
worry about expiry of a a trial version, e.g. the IBExpert free version,
IB_SQL, IBOConsole (NOTE the 'O') or IBAccess.

Also put the Firebird 1 release notes near to hand, so you can catch up on
changes since the IB 6 beta manuals were written. You can get these from
the Downloads page on the Firebird site itself.

I recommend beginning with the database, rather than application
programming. When you're feeling sorta comfortable with the DB and how
things are done, you will probably want to get looking for connectivity
components, such as IB Objects (www.ibobjects.com) or FIBPlus
(www.devrace.com).

heLen