On moving from Delphi/BDE through to Firebird (1.5), is it advisable to
first start with the packaged Interbase (I use D5 Pro) which has good
accompanying (or otherwise available) documentation?
Are they sufficiently comparable or will it confuse the issue (and me)?
The reason I ask is that there is no manual (other than IBPheonix and I
don't see the reasoning behind using an opensource product but having to
purchase a manual for it - seems a bit paradoxical) for Firebird and
the IBP "Getting Started Guide" is very much tailored towards there on
product (as expected - no complaints).
Secondly, where can I find any information on the Firebird "Embedded"
server - which is my primary development target at this stage?

Lastly, can anyone suggest a good book to take one from beginner to
intermediate status for multitier systems - e.g. server setup-up,
nomenclature etc.

Thanks in anticipation