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Elphick Bretagne Products and Services We specialise in business solutions using free and open source software. |
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PostgreSQL database A database is an organised collection of information. Almost every business needs some kind of database, even if it's just a handwritten list of addresses in a book. However, computers are ideal tools for managing such information, and from many excellent pieces of free software we have selected PostgreSQL to do the job for you. The PostgreSQL database began as a research project at the University of California at Berkeley, in 1986. Since then it has become the most advanced open source database, rivalling the largest commercial databases, such as Oracle. PostgreSQL is suitable both for running websites and for managing your business data. As a website database, PostgreSQL handles increasing loads gracefully. While, of course, it will perform better with more powerful hardware, heavy loads will merely slow it down rather than bring it to a grinding halt. As a business database, its reliability and its close adherence to the SQL standards mean that it can be trusted to keep data secure and free from corruption. Proper use of SQL constraints mean that much invalid data can be trapped before it ever gets into the database. Reliability is far and away the chief requirement of any business database. While it may be acceptable for a webserver to produce dodgy data, if the primary requirement is that it be fast, business data must be reliable. It is simply unacceptable for a database silently to accept invalid data, as the most popular web database does. PostgreSQL is in use in a large number of sites across the world. There are some case studies on the PostgreSQL Advocacy website, but there are many other sites. Some university projects use PostgreSQL to manage databases that are terabytes in size. (A terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes.) As an open source project, PostgreSQL has an active community of users and developers, and its completely free licence ( the BSD licence) means that it can never be made non-free; such a move would require the consent of every contributor, and even if that could somehow be obtained, the software could simply be taken over by someone else from the last free release. The involvement of a large community in the software's testing and development make for great reliability, so much so that when we were asked about tools for repairing the database, we had to reply that none existed because there was no demand for or need of them. |
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Debian GNU/Linux We supply and install Linux operating systems. An operating system is the software that controls the basic functions of your computer. It manages the keyboard, screen and disks and makes sure that other programs are able to run and get hte resources they need. Though the majority of PCs in the world run some form of Microsoft Windows, that operating system is extremely insecure, and, being the product of a monopolistic corporation, expensive both to buy and to maintain. Linux, on the other hand, is free and easier to maintain. A trained administrator can manage 50 to 100 Linux machines more easily than a Microsoft administrator can manage 20 Windows PCs. There are many distributions of Linux. The best known are those promoted by commercial organisations, such as Red Hat and Suse (now owned by Novell). Elphick Bretagne, however, offer the Debian distribution. Debian is put together by a completely volunteer project, made up of nearly 1,000 maintainers, each of whom manage one or more of the 11,000+ software packages that make Debian the most comprehensive Linux distribution in the world. All Debian's packages are stored in its central repository and its worldwide mirrors. The centralisation ensures that all packages work together; the very fact that they are in the repository means that their dependencies are correct and that a package will not unexpectedly cause problems for other packages. The widely acclaimed and copied apt software automatically downloads and installs any packages that a package that you choose to install needs in order to operate. Apt also makes upgrading your software an almost painless experience. Our principal consultant, Oliver Elphick, has been a member of the Debian project and maintainer of the PostgreSQL package since 1997. Therefore we are most comfortable with recommending Debian as our Linux distribution of choice. We can install it for you on an existing PC or on a new machine built to your specification. |
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Applications Many applications are available bundled with Linux distributions. You can get high quality software that would cost thousands of pounds if it were being sold as separate commercial packages. Almost every Linux distribution includes email servers and readers, web servers, image processing, games and much more. State of the art office applications are also available for free download. Debian GNU/Linux contains more than 11,000 packages of various kinds of software, all of it completely free apart from the cost of downloading it or getting it onto a CD. We can help you select appropriate software for your needs and install it for you, if you do not wish to do taht for yourself. |
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Support and installation Many users are not comfortable with the idea of managing a computer system and dealing with the inevitable problems. While a Linux system will not be subject to the constant invasion of viruses to which Microsoft Windows users are inured, it is still just as complex as Windows and will need maintenance from time to time. Database users too, whether on Linux or Windows, will need to have the assurance of someone to call if they hit any problems. Elphick Bretagne provide installation services and offer support packages for both Debian GNU/Linux and for the PostgreSQL database. Please call or email with your requirements. |
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Consultancy and training Elphick Bretagne offer consultancy and training assistance with GNU/Debian Linux and with PostgreSQL. Consultancy is charged at differing levels, according to the kind of work. Please call or email with your requirements. |
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