Consistently rated among the top database management systems (DBMSs) for any platform, Oracle 8i for Linux brings Oracle's renowned capacity for speedy queries to the free and flexible Linux environment. Though it's not as easy to learn and maintain as other DBMSs, Oracle will reward its devotees with solid performance and reliability. This package includes all you need to get Oracle 8i going under any version of Linux (as long as the OS is running on a machine with a chip that uses Intel's machine language). You'll be pleased with the DBMS, particularly if you plan to work with large databases and do a lot of customization with Java; the level of Java integration in Oracle 8i is fantastic. This edition of Oracle 8i for Linux also includes William G. Page's Special Edition: Using Oracle 8/8i, which focuses more on Oracle 8 than on the Internet-centric capabilities of Oracle 8i. Still, it's a fine introduction to the Oracle way of accumulating, maintaining, and exposing data, with lots of conceptual diagrams that help clarify what goes on inside big data stores. Page's book doesn't cover installing Oracle 8i under Linux, but a separate booklet in this package provides stepwise instructions on installing, configuring, and beginning to use Oracle 8i under Linux. Another booklet offers some advice on tuning the I/O and memory-management behaviors of the DBMS in Linux. --David Wall
