Personal Oracle 7 FAQ

From febbo_at_njackn.com *******this is the only email address for febbo***

Personal Oracle 7 How To -- Question and Answer.

Contents:

1. What is Personal Oracle 7?
2. What do I need to use it?
3. How do I get it?
4. What are the procedures to download?
5. What do I do with it?
6. What is Personal Oracle 7?

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   Personal Oracle 7 is the version of Oracle 7 that runs on a PC Windows system. The components that it includes are the Oracle RDBMS, the Data Base Administration Tools, the SQL*PLUS language, the SQL*DBA language, Objects for Windows OLE, and Oracle ODBC drivers for Windows.

   This is a very neatly packaged set of 12 self-extracting compressed    files that you can download from the internet location ftp.oracle.com.    The names of the files are: PO7WIN1.EXE, PO7WIN2.EXE, PO7WIN3.EXE ...    through PO7WIN11.EXE and PO7WIN12.EXE.    You need these 12 files. Average size is about 1.5 MB.

   There is a 'runme.bat' file to extract the 12.    There is a 'license' file of text regarding your 90-day agreement.    There is an 'index' file of text listing the preceding file names.

   Additionally, unless you happen to have WIN32S already installed    in your Windows, you need WIN32S.EXE, about 1.2 MB.    Unless you know otherwise, you do not have WIN32S installed and    you do need this product. It is included with Personal Oracle 7.    It is also a neat self-extracting file. And there is a WIN32S.BAT    to help you extract.

   Thus, in total there are 12 plus 3 plus 2 = 17 files.

   Do not be put off. Except for the volume, this is identical to    downloading a quick utility from your local bbs.

   With this package you can develop SQL*PLUS on your PC by setting up    dummy (prototype) tables, learn ORACLE, and even put a fullblown    database into use on your PC. The included ODBC drivers    even suggest that you can connect to other DBMS's on your    system and allow connections from them to Oracle.

2) What do I need to use it?

   Personal Oracle 7 runs on a PC Windows computer. Windows must be    Version 3.1 or more advanced. This is the standard Windows and    unless you know otherwise, your Windows is version 3.1. More advanced    Windows would be WFW 3.11 or the NT or new 1995 Windows.

   You also need free disk space and a minimum of 8 MB of memory    on your PC. Without elaborating, 8 MB is minimum and slow, and    you need to allocate a large (20 MB) swap file on the disk for    Windows. But it will run. The steps for allocating the swapfile    are briefly described below.

3) How do I get it?

   You can acquire this set of files by downloading it (called ftp, 'file    transfer protocol') from the internet site ftp.oracle.com.

   This could be easy -- or it could be impossible.

   Ask yourself these questions: Do I have access to the internet?    Does my access let me perform ftp operations? Can I call a    computer that has ftp operations and then download by telephone    from there? Could someone else acquire the files for me by ftp?    Most business, university, and government computers can perform ftp.    Also, for the cost of media and shipping, I will send you the floppies    by mail or UPS, if you wish. If you are able to ftp, the    following procedure may be helpful.

4) What are the procedures to download Personal Oracle 7?

   Generally, if you have access to or can connect to a Unix machine,    and you can get to a unix prompt, bearing in mind that Unix    is case-sensitive to your typing, give this command:

   ftp

   You will get an ftp prompt of this form:

   ftp>

   Give this command:

   ftp>open ftp.oracle.com

   your unix ftp program will attempt to connect, and if the    indicated operation can be completed will give you a Username: logon    prompt from the oracle computer, to which you should respond:

   Username:ftp

   ie. your username is 'ftp'. This means that the oracle computer is    prepared to let you connect under the name 'ftp'. It will ask you    for a password, to which you should respond with    your return email address. You will be allowed entry    and placed in a unix root directory. Change to the directory    that contains the Personal Oracle 7 files this way:

   cd pub/www/po7Windows/small   

   You can list the files in the directory with an ls command.    Download with this command:

   bget PO7WIN1.EXE

   Then get the rest of them with similar bget commands (binary 'get').    It took me from 3 to 5 minutes to transfer each file this way.    These files occupy about 18 MB in all, including WIN32S.    The text files: license, index, runme.bat, and win32s.bat,    should be downloaded with a command of the form:

   get runme.bat

   This command retrieves ascii text.

5) What do I do with it?

   The 17 files comprising PO7 are the following:

   PO7WIN1.EXE, PO7WIN2.EXE, PO7WIN3.EXE, PO7WIN4.EXE PO7WIN5.EXE,    PO7WIN6.EXE, PO7WIN7.EXE, PO7WIN8.EXE, PO7WIN9.EXE, PO7WIN10.EXE,    PO7WIN11.EXE, PO7WIN12.EXE, INDEX, LICENSE, RUNME.BAT, WIN32S.EXE,    WIN32S.BAT    Put WIN32S.EXE and WIN32S.BAT in a directory c:\WINDOWS\WIN32S    on your PC.

   Put the rest in a directory C:\ORACLE on your PC.

Prepare your Disk:

   Review your free disk space. Make space. SCANDISK your disk. DEFRAG    your disk, including 'full optimization' from the 'options'    menu of DEFRAG. Be sure DEFRAG groups the used space    at the beginning of the disk.

(If your computer is taking advantage of a modern compression regime
   like dblspace, stacker, or super-stor, then your disk preparation    procedures are quite
   different and you need to contact someone like me.)

   Now open Windows, open the control panel, open '386 enhanced', open    'Virtual Memory', and open the 'Change' request. In the displayed box,    change 'Temporary' to 'Permanent', if necessary. Change 'Size' to    20000 KB. This number will only be accepted by Windows if at least    this much (20 MB) space is available on the disk. And the space must    be contiguous. You can determine this by the visible display of the    MS-DOS 'DEFRAG' command you used above. When the number is accepted,    Windows will give an erroneous message that it only uses the    recommended size swap file. This message is false.    This message is a well documented bug    in Windows, and Windows will use any size. Ignore the message,    click 'OK' and allow Windows to restart with the new size swapfile.    Confirm the change by opening 'Virtual Memory' again.

Decompress your Installation Files:

   From the DOS prompt, change to the C:\WINDOWS\WIN32S directory.    Enter the following command:

   WIN32S.EXE -d -n

   This command will cause the self-extracting win32s.exe module to    execute, expanding compressed directories (-d) and new files only (-n).    The result will be the creation of new directories (\DISK1, and \DISK2)    containing the installation package for WIN32S.

   From the DOS prompt change to the c:\ORACLE directory.    Enter the following command:

   RUNME    This command will cause the runme.bat file to be executed, performing    the self-extraction procedure for PO7WIN files. This procedure    will result in the creation of directories and files that comprise    the installation package for Personal Oracle 7.

   Assure that 50 MB remain free on your disk. You may find that    you can squeeze some of Oracle into slightly less space,    but I was unable to install anything with less than this amount.

Install WIN32S:

   From the Windows File Manager, start C:\WINDOWS\WIN32S\SETUP.EXE.    This procedure will install the WIN32S package.    Upon completion, a test program, FREECELL, will be    installed in a new window to test WIN32S. You can locate this program    icon in the window titled 'WIN32S APPLICATIONS'.

Install Oracle:

   From the Windows File Manager, start    C:\ORACLE\PO7_WIN\INSTALL\SETUP.EXE.     

• Choose 'custom installation'
• Select Oracle RDBMS from the list of products
• Select 'Install'.

   This procedure is quite lengthy but will inform you of 'Installation    Completed' when properly terminated. Any other termination is abnormal,    and Oracle will not run.

(I found that disk space was the main problem in installing Oracle.
   Yes, the Full Installation option is there, but I was unable to    get it to work. You can try it.)

   Run SETUP.EXE again and select 'Database Management Tools'.

   Upon completion and return to Windows, open the Personal Oracle 7    window. Click the Database Manager icon. The 'ORACLE7' database    window will be displayed. Select 'STARTUP', and enter the    password you chose during installation. Oracle will attempt    to startup and mount the sample database. If Oracle is able    to start the database, the green indicator will become illuminated,    and you will be free to work with the database from the Oracle    languages and tools.

   If Oracle is unable to start the database, you can conclude that    the installation process has not been successful or that    sufficient memory is not available. If the Oracle message    indicates that SGA (System Global Area) cannot be located,    suspect memory or swapfile too small.    

• Confirm that WIN32S is installed by running the FREECELL test-game.
• Check free disk space. The most likely cause for failed installation of Oracle is disk space.
• Use the Oracle Installer (SETUP.EXE or ORAINST.EXE) to remove (uninstall) the partial installation, if necessary, before restarting the installation.
• You may safely remove the PO7WIN??.EXE compressed files to free-up disk space, as they are not needed for Oracle installation. WIN32S.EXE may also be deleted, if desired.
• Confirm that 8 MB of memory (ram) are available on the PC.
• Confirm that a large (20 MB) swapfile is available for Windows.

There is a good set of online documentation in the package.

I hope this guide helps answer some questions. I will be glad to help answer other questions if you call evenings before 10pm central time or (preferably) send email.

James Febbo email: febbo_at_njackn.com (608) 831-7915

I have 4 years of Oracle experience, 2 years with version 6 and 2 years with version 7 on Unix and VMS machines (.15 years with PO7) and a long programming resume which is readable on misc.jobs.resumes of the Usenet.                                 

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