EVERHART%ARISIA.decnet@crdgw1.ge.com (06/24/89)
Re the request about any relational DBMSs for Amiga: I ported RIM to Amiga some time back. RIM is NOT amiga-ized (in fact, it was not really VAX-inated...) but is relational and should be OK for large DBMSs that need to be accessed relationally. Its' most useful attribute is that it IS programmable, and the documentation on how to write a program interface FOR it is all there. The interactive part (which is QUITE crufty) is just a simple application that calls the database engine. On a multitasking machine like Amiga, the right way to deal with RIM would be to make a self-contained engine out of the back-end and turn it into a server running in its own process to handle requests. Then build a frontend in whatever language you like and send intertask messages to the server. This would allow the backend to be working on a database for more than one user at a time (important for possible future Amigas...not so now) and would make it much more feasible to have a decent front end. The current state of the thing is that it's one huge program. You can use it, and even drive it from command files (or pipes, most likely). As far as I can tell it's "fully" relational, too. Just unlovely. All the source code, and all the documentation, is there though. I also have an example frontend for vax for it which could be posted somewhere (I suppose: it's a bit long for a newsgroup) and which has been on vax sig tapes. Another DBMS port project might be to take DBAG off the Spring 1989 VAX SIG tapes and port it. DBAG is a dBase III clone for VMS written in VAX Fortran, but with some hope of moving it to other OSs. It currently uses some VAX ISAM file access, so you'd need a btree package or the like to port it. I've done some preliminary work along these lines, but am making little progress with it. DBAG has a nicer front-end than RIM and is fullscreen oriented, and ought to be easier to Amiga-ize...once it is made to work at all. Glenn Everhart Everhart%Arisia.decnet@crd.ge.com
sdl@linus.UUCP (Steven D. Litvintchouk) (06/27/89)
In article <18379@louie.udel.EDU> EVERHART%ARISIA.decnet@crdgw1.ge.com writes: > Re the request about any relational DBMSs for Amiga: > I ported RIM to Amiga some time back. RIM is NOT amiga-ized > (in fact, it was not really VAX-inated...) but is relational and > should be OK for large DBMSs that need to be accessed relationally. > Its' most useful attribute is that it IS programmable, and the > documentation on how to write a program interface FOR it is all > there. The interactive part (which is QUITE crufty) is just a > simple application that calls the database engine. > On a multitasking machine like Amiga, the right way to deal with > RIM would be to make a self-contained engine out of the back-end and > turn it into a server running in its own process to handle requests. Even simpler: have you or anyone else tried to add an ARexx port to RIM? That would enable it to be integrated with many Workbench-based applications.... Steven Litvintchouk MITRE Corporation Burlington Road Bedford, MA 01730 Fone: (617)271-7753 ARPA: sdl@mitre-bedford.arpa UUCP: ...{att,decvax,genrad,ll-xn,philabs,utzoo}!linus!sdl "Those who will be able to conquer software will be able to conquer the world." -- Tadahiro Sekimoto, president, NEC Corp.
UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (06/30/89)
I agree. A good AREXX port for a relational backend would be great. Since MicroFiche Filer has an AREXX port, maybe one could then use it as the front end.