looking for db recommendation

[Bishmer Sekaran]

Bryan O'Neal wrote:
> I don't think any one doubts postgresqls ability to run his db effectively,
> instead we doubt its ease of use.  MS Access it is not ;) 
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: plug-discuss-bounces at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> [mailto:plug-discuss-bounces at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On Behalf Of Bishmer
> Sekaran
> Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 1:12 PM
> To: Main PLUG discussion list
> Subject: Re: looking for db recommendation
>
> mz wrote:
>   
>> I'm migrating from M$ WinXP to openSUSE 11.0. At the moment I'm 
>> looking for a db for simple personal use.
>>
>> I have a music collection db in M$ Access. There are about 1900 
>> records w/ six variables. The collection is mostly vinyl LPs (i.e., 
>> entered by
>> hand) with another 2000 LPs not yet in the db. If possible, I'd like 
>> to do a simple import w/ minimal clean up to avoid re-entering the 
>> existing records.
>>
>> What are the recommendations for a db and how best to accomplish the 
>> migration?
>>
>> TIA,
>> Mark Z.
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>>     
> It won't be a popular answer, but Postgres! Stable and rock-solid means
> you'll never lose data, and the documentation and community are pretty
> top-notch IMHO. For such a small number of records, it will also be more
> than speed-competitive with the lighter DBs.
>
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>   
Postgres' difficulty is somewhat overstated. IMO it's easier to get 
started with postgres than to say, learn mod_perl on Apache or configure 
sendmail. Steps for Mark to switch to postgres:

1) Acquire and start postgres - Easy in SUSE, they even have a page for 
it: http://en.opensuse.org/Postgresql

2) Export data from Access (Access->Excel->csv is easiest? Seems like 
it's more convoluted, ie would be faster than Access-> csv since this is 
M$ we're talking about)

3) Create his new db - Copy the same format as previously, just in ANSI 
SQL. Probably something like

CREATE TABLE Records (
Artist text,
Album text,
Year integer,
Genre text,
Rating integer,
Lastquality datatype
);

4) COPY Records FROM filename WITH CSV;
See also: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/sql-copy.html

Not so bad at all!