At 05:55 PM 28/09/2005 -0700, you wrote:

>dancooperstock wrote:
>
> > I'm considering converting a free app I wrote, used by churches and
> > charities, to use Firebird. However, unfortunately small churches and
> > charities often have very old computers, so that some of my users are
> > probably still on Windows 95.
> >
> > Does Firebird run on all versions of Windows?
>
>Gee! I know the answer to that!
>YES! There a few considerations.
>FAT32 OD's limit individual Firebird database files to 4GB (or is it 4
>billion bytes?).

2 Gb

>Of course, you can link FB DB's, so the final limitation is free space
>on your server's hard drive.

? You can access multiple DB's from a single transaction. You can't
"link" databases otherwise. Are you perhaps talking about splitting a
database into multiple files? (Yes, you can do this; and you must, on Win
9x, if there is any chance that the primary DB file will approach the 2 Gb
limit.

>Super Server runs on everything, but Classic only runs on Win 9x.

Simply wrong. Both SS and Classic run on everything. The recommendation,
though, is not to run the Guardian with Classic. The other thing is that
Classic needs to have TCP/IP installed and running, even for a single
user. The earliest distros of Win95 didn't have it - one had to buy the
"Plus" disk.

Neither SS nor Classic will run as services on Win9x (nor WinME), since
these versions of the OS do not support services.

>If your app is strictly single-user, be sure to look into the embedded
>FB server.

But definitely consider Classic if you are planning to link 2 computers via
a crossover cable, or set up a small LAN with a cheap switch.

>I develop on SS, so my app will run on all Win OS's.
>Of course, I haven't listed everything, but this'll get you going.
>If you are serious about using FB, you MUST buy Helen Borrie's Firebird
>book.
>As far as I know, it's the only book written in English for Firebird.
>(I haven't chkd in a few months.)

It still is.

The main gotchas with very old, unloved machines will be small, slow disks
and low RAM. Also, considering age, disks that are ready to
self-destruct. And remember that, on a stand-alone setup, the database
server will be competing for resources with whatever application you throw
into the mix.

Unfortunately, many of these old boxes are limited in the max. RAM they can
accommodate. This might be the showstopper, in the end. If it were my
project, I'd be looking for someone to donate a reasonably decent machine -
many moderately affluent households have such machines hanging about in
cupboards these days, looking for a home to go to; or a donor could easily
pick up a highly suitable model on eBay for peanuts (and get a tax break
for it many places!!)

./heLen