data bases

[homega@vlc.servicom.es]

Hi there,

I'll try to expose this matter as concisely as possible:

I'm rather new to the world of Linux, and am currently using Debian 2.0.
I'm trying to take a 100% advantage on the system, so that I can finally
give up using other "OS's".  So far so good on my home computer.  But my
current needs at work, on the short to medium term, are for a system with
some special charcteristics:

- a network made up of some low budget machines (a couple of 386's, two more
486's (one of them 486SX), and one Pentium 120mHz.  I'm willing to upgrade
the machines, though I'm working on a low budget.  I've also thought of
getting a 2nd hand unix machine (such as a sun sparc, digital,...) to make
it serve as a main terminal.

- a data base which allows me the following:

  - to store data on a personalized way, and to easily being able to
retrieve it from any other connected computer, and according to a given
criteria.

  - to link, add,... pictures (.jpg) to any given data.

  - to get the data, if possible, in a windowing environment (not
necessarily x-windows, a set of "frames" called from the command prompt
might be good enough), so that the different data can be viewed at one time,
and linked info to parts of that data viewed in different windows (frames).

In the medium to long run, I might need to remotely access to that data, be
it via the internet or else (eg. with a laptop), and hopefully put it (part
of it) available on the web.

I've been hearing on this and other lists about SQL, mySQL, PostgreSQL...,
Informix, Oracle,... and recent developments about it, but so far my
knowledge is limited to the use of dbase and access to a low ground, and
have never used, not even seen the above mentioned.

So, I'll be grateful for any advice you may be willing to give to me, as to
the use of one or another data base application, the features of them, ease
of use, etc.
On the how to network issue, well, I guess that's a completely different
matter for now.

Many thanks in advance.


-- 
Un saludo,

Horacio
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homega@vlc.servicom.es
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