Blankbaby

Could this be the geekiest question ever?

I just took a look at my Oracle magazine, and I came across this question in an interview:

If you were going to the space station for six months, which Oracle reference books would you take?

That question could only have been geekier if it was:

If you were going to Deep Space Nine for six months to fill in for Commander Sisko, which Oracle reference books would you take for some light reading in Quark's bar?

Installing Oracle 9i on a Windows 2000 machine and ODBC isn't working?

Check out this article: How To Troubleshoot an ASP-to-Oracle Connectivity Problem.

My application wasn't an ASP app, but it does require the use of the Microsoft Oracle Driver's.  However whenever I tried to access the Oracle DB using said drivers I would get this message on the server:

The Oracle(tm) client and networking   components were not found. These components are supplied by Oracle Corporation   and are part of the Oracle Version 7.3 (or greater) client software   installation.

You will be unable to use this driver until these   components have been installed.

Most irksome, but the tips in the article cleared the problem up, and now I get to leave the office!  Hurrah!

Orablogs, It was a wild ride

Well, just about as soon I was added to Orablogs, I have been taken off of Orablogs.

You see, Blankbaby has very little overall Oracle content so it wasn't a perfect fit and it seems several people were 'miffed' about my non-technical ramblings intermixed with Jive portlets for OracleAS Portal and Tip : Improving Performance By Using IPC Connections To Local Databases.

At least Brian Duff still likes me, and really isn't that all that matters?

Considering I am on orablogs now, an Oracle post

RocketBoots chronicles the steps it takes to install Oracle 9i on a Powerbook:

It seems that on every big project I've worked on over the years, the geek held in highest reverence by the project has been the Big Iron DBA - we're talking CICS-IMS, DB2, Informix, and Oracle here, not your wussy-point-and-click SQL Server, nested-selects-still-alpha mySQL or (gasp) Access. There's something about that "I know where your data lives and I can toast the lot in a single line of PL/SQL" look that simultaneously evokes an impression of raw power and unconcerned laziness in the awestruck observer.

Most of the post consists of 'follow the directions,' but it is interesting to read nonetheless.

So you like MySQL? You'll love Oracle!

InfoWorld: Oracle attracting MySQL users:

"MySQL is a very rudimentary database. It’s missing many of the basic technologies that you need like triggers, and so on," Shimp said. MySQL plans to add triggers, stored procedures, and database views to its product in early 2005, according to MySQL.

MySQL CEO Marten Mickos acknowledged on Thursday that Oracle is more feature-rich than the MySQL database, but said migration happens in both directions. Oracle, he said, is a great product for anybody who has plenty of money.

A little Oracle History for you geeks out there

25 Years of technology innovation:

In the late 1970s, following Oracle Corporation's initial release of the world's first commercially available relational database management system (RDBMS), hundreds of vendors appeared with products related to relational databases. Many promoted highly specialized applications for reporting, working with unique data, or processing transactions. New companies such as Informix, Ingres, and Sybase sprang up, and established giants such as IBM entered the relational database market.

The article has some interesting tidbits about Oracle as a company, and that shy and retiring fellow Larry Ellison.

Olympic Oracle

Eating sausages writes:

Yikes! Got called out this weekend to help out on an Oracle problem down in Athens. Apparently theres some sort of sporting event going on...

I hope it isn't the database that tracks the gold medal winners.

Job Scheduling

AskTom on "Job Scheduling" answers one of the questions that I haven't had time to investigate.

I think that DBMS_JOB can really streamline a lot of what we do at work, it will at least let me schedule database backups without having to run a batch script.

Database geeks will get a chuckle from this

Everyone else, not so much: Separated at Birth: Database Icons and Redwood Shores

SQLpal, an usable SQL*Plus?

I often say that Microsoft has Oracle beat by a mile in terms of the tools that ship with their database.

SQLpal is a free, that's right free, alternative to SQL*Plus. I am going to download it tomorrow.

Found via Mark Rittman.