Unibase Technical Specifications

Microsoft Client and Server Systems

Unibase by DMAC runs on all Microsoft Products. Some of these products are no longer supported by Microsoft -- for instance MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows 95. Unibase by DMAC features which were available at the time of these products still work on these products in recent Unibase by DMAC versions.

Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98 have issues. Many of the newer features of Unibase by DMAC and Unibase Imaging work well on Windows NT 4.0 ( not 3.2) servers and Windows 98 workstations. Some new features, such as the picklist verb, encounter known Microsoft product weaknesses (bugs) on these two operating systems.

Windows NT2000 Professional and Windows NT2000 Servers work well. Starting with the Windows 2000 operating systems, most Unibase by DMAC users experienced reliable computer operation. Of course cpu speed and ram size greatly affect performance.

Windows XP Home is not for networks. Windows XP Home works very well with Unibase by DMAC -- but only as a standalone computer. XP Home has issues in a network in DMAC's opinion. Again, cpu speed and ram size are important here. Any new computer will have plenty of both.

Windows 2003 Server Family is today's workhorse. The server of choice today is the Windows 2003 server product family (Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter Edition). This family supports remote terminal services which DMAC sees as the best way to provide web based data entry at this time. This server family is reliable and totally scalable. DMAC has run Windows 2003 servers on under $500 computer hardware systems with no problems.

Windows XP Professional makes a good workstation. Windows XP Professional purchased newly installed on a computer or installed as an upgrade to Windows Home makes an excellent network workstation. With new hardware costs down to under $500, this software / inexpensive hardware configuration cannot be beat. But, upgrading to Windows XP Professional from Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional prior to service pack 2 can be a nightmare. If you doubt, see the web for comments about what is needed in the next major release, if any, of Windows XP Professional. DMAC's guess, and other's guess too, is that the upgrade process is not perfect ---yet.

Novell Server Systems

Novell Servers Remain Reliable and Competitive For those who have remained with Novell Servers, they will find that Unibase by DMAC runs well on them. DMAC has clients using everything from Novell 3.12 to Novell 6.5 with no Unibase by DMAC or Unibase Imaging problems or issues on them. Two limitations in using Novell servers occur. One is sometimes finding a local group skilled in supporting Novell products. The second is the lack of server support for Microsoft Terminal Services. Since DMAC uses Microsoft Terminal Services for WebBase 2, this lack means that at least one Windows 2003 server must be added to a network to support WebBase 2. An organization having to support two different server operating systems has a very difficult time compared to an organization only supporting one server operating system.

UNIX/LINUX Systems

Unibase by DMAC ANSI C version can run on UNIX and LINUX. DMAC can and does port its menu based version of Unibase by DMAC to UNIX and LINUX systems at a fee for clients. The graphical user interface version and features which use the graphical interface cannot be ported. Microsoft's Remote Desktop Services used by WebBase 2 runs on many UNIX and LINUX workstations. This means a Windows 2003 server could support UNIX or LINUX workstations for WebBase 2, Unibase Imaging and Unibase by DMAC.

Summary of Specifications

Modern computer hardware does not limit Unibase by DMAC. Almost any new hardware which will run Microsoft Windows XP is fine for running Unibase by DMAC. DMAC tries to make sure that the older operating systems can still run the features which they ran when they were new.