My column on finding alternatives for the low-end database Microsoft
Access struck a nerve. I continue to get great ideas from readers on
ways to replace Access on Linux. Last week, I covered the most common
suggestion, using the OpenOffice.org suite as a front end to a variety
of databases. This week, I cover even more suggestions from readers.
Quite a few readers mentioned Rekall from TheKompany.com. Rekall
(http://www.thekompany.com/products/recall) provides a front end to
MySQL, PostgreSQL, and xBase databases (the latter through the XBSQL
library). Rekall allows you to make forms for data entry, reports,
design tables, import and export data, and even script database access
using Python. Rekall costs $69.95 US if you download the software, more
if you want packaged media. TheKompany.com also makes a version for the
excellent Sharp Zaurus PDA.
Rekall isn't the only tool around that acts as a front-end to databases.
Readers suggested quite a few others that also provide front-ends to the
popular MySQL or PostgreSQL databases, which both MySQL and PostgreSQL
come with most Linux distributions. MySQL Navigator
(http://sql.kldp.org/mySQL), for example, acts as a front-end to the
MySQL database while PgAccess (http://www.flex.ro/pgaccess/index.html)
provides a front-end to PostgreSQL.
Written in Tcl/Tk, PgAccess allows you to create tables, manage user
permissions, design data-entry forms, and helps create queries. You can
find out more on PgAccess from http://www.pgaccess.org/wiki/, a Wiki
site.
Here are some other options available just off the beaten path:
- MyPHPAdmin (http://www.watchmefreak.com) is a PHP (and, therefore,
Web-based) database front-end.
- DBMan SQL
(http://www.gossamer-threads.com/scripts/dbman-sql/index.htm) from
Gossamer Threads is a commercial database front end written in
Perl and available for $350 US.
- MyDB from SQLFusion (http://www.sqlfusion.org/mydb) is an
open-source, Web-based database front-end that is part of an
overall architecture for more quickly delivering Web applications.
- InterBase
(http://info.borland.com/devsupport/interbase/opensource) and
Firebird (http://firebird.sourceforge.net) -- an incarnation of
InterBase that sports a long and tortured history of InterBase and
its variants -- are both viable front-end alternatives.
A few readers also mentioned IBM/Lotus Approach, much preferring
Approach to MS Access, but wanted to encourage IBM to port Approach to
Linux.
None of these suggestions seemed to cover all the aspects users want
(and that they think they get from Microsoft Access), such as the ease
of creating database-backed applications. However, all of these packages
are worth looking into since they may solve your particular needs.
