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Free Oracle 8i CDs 35

Vic Metcalfe writes "Oracle is giving away free Oracle 8i CDs for Sparc Solaris and some obscure OS from Redmond. You have to be a Oracle Technology Network member, but membership is free. Now I wonder if this will run on my old SparcStation 2... "
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Free Oracle 8i CDs

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  • Good, I'm running 2.6. Its a slow machine, but it gets the job done.

    Heh heh, I wonder how many Linux users will be forced to request the NT version because of the relatively small number of Sparc boxes out there. I was dissapointed they didn't offer a Linux version. Maybe they thought that they'd get /.'d if they did.

  • I got the CD and have it installed on my Red Hat 5.2 box. It works super, once you understand the installation process ;) Our Oracle DBA at work swears that on the same hardware, Oracle 8 on Linux is 2 to 4 times faster than the same setup on NT. Not have an NT box myself I can't verify this however.

    And unless you have WebDB (or is DBWeb?) you have to run the gnu client utilities off a Windows box. SQL*Plus is more than good enough for me however.

  • Well, SQL*Plus sucks compared to the MySQL interactive tool, dealing with CLOBs is a nightmare, and basically anything like an update needs to work on a single field (when using DBI) to be processed (never mind their ANSI "compliance"). The JDBC drivers work okay, although the fast (OCI) one apparently is fuct.

    But it works well enough for my employers to use it as the underlying engine for a document tracking application, and it comes with support when you buy a license. I call in TARs all the time out of pure laziness -- Oracle tech support is actually pretty good. Either that or they're very masochistic, because I make a point of only calling in really nasty problems. ;-)

    All in all it isn't bad -- you can't beat Oracle for scalability, although I miss the creature comforts of MySQL (readline, for starters).

    Postgres is supposed to have readline in the most recent CVS version (thanks Ari!) so I'm probably going to try that out at home.

  • I'm glad I got up early enough to claim my copy when I got the email from The OTN...BEFORE everyone /.'ed it...;)
    Has anyone done much with Oracle 8 for Linux? I've got the CD, but haven't had a chance to dick with it yet...
  • I wonder if I can get the NT version to work with wine...Never thought I'd ever opt for the NT version of anything...
  • This ain't no steenkin' Windoze.
  • Syntax Error at Line 10: Sentance Incomplete.

    What did the comment enter? :) :) :)

  • I swear that when I read about Oracle 8i a few months back it was a self contained product that needed no OS. Ran off a Mach Microkernel. If so, then why does it need NT or solaris? does it need Sparc or Intel perhaps?
  • Shame they couldn't Gzip the files though.
  • The OTN registration appears to be /.ed. At least this will drive up their membership :-)
    ----------------------
  • I have been to oracle's site and all of their products seem to be NT/UNIX only. Anyone have a pointer for info on getting oracle for linux ?

    -- Donovan
  • Any time something is being given away for free and it is mentioned on /., the site to register on always gets /.'ed within seconds. Guess we all just want free shit. ;-)

    Arg, I can't seem to get through from anywhere.
  • Meaawhile I've got my DB2 CD.
    But I have no clue how to work with this beast.

    At least the example-sources are cool :-)
  • Does any one know if Oracle 8i is compatible with DBD::Oracle?
  • I am happy not to have to try and get into the locked up site and add my name to Oracles list.
    A coworker handed me a nice shrink-wrapped 8i CD.

    Unfortunately, if we want to test their Spatial Cartridge, we need 8 seats of Enterprise Oracle, and 8 seats of SC....now if they were giving _that_ away, I'd spend the rest of the day hitting their site to sign up.

    Can't I have absolutely everything for free? *blink*
  • Great News!

    I was hoping someone would be working on something like this. Hook it up to GRASS 5.0 and things are lookging good.

    We can't do it here for political reasons, but this is something I am personally very interested in. If you want the assistance of a GIS programmer (but not much else yet), drop me an email. marcus.cole@nospam.noaa.gov
  • For a schoolproject I made a Java applet talk to the Oracle 8 dbms for Linux. It worked like a charm. The Oracle dbms was on a 486dx2 66 Linux RH 5.1 box. It took a while to boot, but it worked fine.
  • This is one of Larry Ellison's (CEO of Oracle) dreams. It's still in the planning stages. Ora8i is the latest database server with more Java and web integration. Larry also wants an NC on every desktop. I just don't see IS departments going back to dumb terminals after the emergence of client-side horsepower. A server without an OS and NCs would thumbscrew a monopolistic OS maker.
  • You're right. I believe it does have a processor. It's just useless without a network connection. That's something the work environment loses often as they're 'upgrading' to the latest M$ server technology. I like feeling secure enough that when I log in, the network doesn't have to be there so I can work.
  • No... You're thinking of the Oracle Appliance that comes with its own operating system built into Oracle 8i. This is a complete unit that has everything bundled. Oracle 8i is the actual database engine. In response to the Anon Coward that replied to the parent of this Oracle 8i is NOT the new name for Oracle 8. 8i uses a completely different architecture to Oracle 8 and is bundled with the ability to use Java within the database.
  • Yes, this will should run, if you have Solaris
    >= 2.5.1, i think...

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