tomc7777777 [08-12-30 16.11] :

> The original post asked 3 questions. The second, which you kindly
> responded to, was: "2. (Pre-FB 2.5) Any character set/collations
> combinations that can ***easily*** be set to get over this need?"
>
> The answer appears to be No.

IMHO you are wrong

>
> '... easily be set' doesn't entail column by column declarations and
> computed by indexes with collate keywords.

????
I always choose a charset and a defaut collation for all my column
so really it is ***easy***
for all column that I know that the prefered search is case insensitive, I choose case
insensitive collation
and it is a Pre-FB 2.5 solution
2.0 have ES_ES_CI_AI for ISO8859_1 Character Set and computed index too
taht you can use in your case

and for :

> what to do with
> existing data/FB1.5 database.
>
> 1. Can we drop all upper_x columns and now use expressions indices?"

move to 2.x and yes drop upper_x columns and now use expressions indices