Dear user,

Thanks for your interest in MaxBase!

MaxBase is a fairly big suite of tools that
deal with databases, completely written in 
Java (whose installation gotchas are not 
yet widely known to most end users) and
thus requires your attention at least for
installation and to check system requirements. 
Please take the time to read this document
before installing, or at least read the
updated sections before upgrading.

----------------======**======-----------------
NOTE: Please see the HTML documentation for
license information (the "license info" link
from the main index page). The start page
for HTML documentation is in the 
docs\index.htm file. 
----------------======**======-----------------


Index:

* INSTALLATION AND FIRST STEPS       
* HOW TO GET 'LATEST AND GREATEST'   
* DIFFERENCES FROM PREVIOUS RELEASES 
* PLATFORM CONSIDERATIONS            
  (The above includes release notes -> important!)


INSTALLATION AND FIRST STEPS
"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'

MaxBase only runs under Java 1.1.x and above.

PLEASE READ THIS IF YOU ALREADY 
HAVE INSTALLED AN OLDER VERSION
OF MAXBASE:

2.00: If you have a MaxBase version earlier than
2.00, remove it from your hard disk (after having
stored in a safe place your databases, of course!)
and then replace it with this one. Registrations
for 1.x are still valid with 2.x, therefore you
can copy your reg.zip file in the main MaxBase
directory as you did with older versions.

Warning: this program heavily depends on the 
quality of your Java Virtual Machine.
Please get and install the latest release of 
the Java VM for your computer/Operating System 
before running MaxBase.

Installation under OS/2 Warp
----------------------------
Type os2setup.cmd from the directory that
the program has been unzipped in. Note: the
directory where you unzipped MaxBase in will
be considered the one where you want to keep
MaxBase; the setup batch file is only used to
create WPS objects and add some lines to
config.sys (if they are needed).


Installation under Windows 95/NT
--------------------------------
If you have downloaded the auto-installing
Win32-specific distribution of MaxBase,
then the product should be already installed
and running. Otherwise, please use the
.bat batch files provided with the standard
distribution to execute the various MaxBase
components.

Note: The programs of this package are launched
by a .pif file. If the PIF files signal errors
to you when executed, please create a shortcut
of the .bat files (to be found in the main MaxBase
directory) on your desktop.
In order to see the icons associated with the
PIF files, restart windows.

Installation under Unix
-----------------------
You can use the included shell scripts (runme,
MERGe, cnvrt, runsrvr) to run MaxBase, MERGe,
the file converter and RXDBServer. X-Windows
icons are included in the res/xwin directory.


Don't forget also about the comprehensive HTML 
manual, whose main page is the docs\index.htm
file. It is a guide, reference and FAQ both for
end users and developers.

NOTE: If you find errors in any of the 
applications of this package, please report them 
to maxbase@bmtmicro.com, along with the error dump 
(you can find that in the shell where you have 
launched the program) and an explanation of what 
you were doing.


HOW TO GET 'LATEST AND GREATEST'
"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'

The web page for maxbase can be found at:

-------------------======**======--------------------
 http://www.flsystem.it/eng/Software/MaxBase/MaxBase.html
-------------------======**======--------------------

Shortcut for registering MaxBase:

-----------------------======**======------------------------
 https://secure.falcon-net.net/BMT/RIP/Max/MaxBase/Extended/
 allows your copy of MaxBase to be registered via credit card.
-----------------------======**======------------------------


DIFFERENCES FROM 1.X
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.) License has been revised, since now MaxBase is produced by
EffeElle System s.r.l. (http://www.flsystem.it) and not by Max
Marsiglietti alone as it was in the past. Two notes: First, it's
always me, Max, working on it, don't worry :-). Second, licenses
for MaxBase 1.1x are still valid with v.2.

.) Added a new application: VFD (Visual Form Designer), used
to create database forms. Forms, in turn, can be used both for
data input / form view and for form view reports. Note that the
old and ugly 5-lines-at-a-time way of inputting data has been
removed from MaxBase. More information on the Html docs.

.) Added a new client/server pair of applications: NetAdmin and
RemoteAdmin. The first is a text only application that controls
multiple local instances of RXDBServer, while the second is its
client-side counterpart. More information on the Html docs.

.) Manuals have been completely redone.

.) Form view reports have been added.

.) MaxBase user interface has been completely redone from scratch.

.) Plugin support for MaxBase has been redone from scratch. Your
code will continue to work, though, with a few adjustments. Please
see the plugins directory and the Html docs.

.) MaxBase can now accept an url as a command line parameter, in the
mbase://host:port(password) form (where both port and password
are optional).

.) Several bug fixes have been applied.


PLATFORM CONSIDERATIONS
"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"

I tested this program personally on OS/2 Warp 4,
Windows 95, Linux Red Hat 5.1, and did some tests
on Warp 3 and Solaris (the latter two thanks to
MaxBase users).

Release notes:

Common to all platforms:
Please note that in order to fully enjoy the reporting
application, MERGe, you really need a JDK at 1.1.5 level
(or better), because in 1.1.5 the following bug was
corrected:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
AWT PRINTJOB BUG - In earlier JDKs, java.awt.PrintJob.getPageResolution 
and java.awt.PrintJob.GetPageDimension would return incorrect values in 
some circumstances. This bug has been fixed in JDK 1.1.5. [Bug 4049865]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

This doesn't mean that you can't print if you don't have a
1.1.5 JVM, but only that page dimensions will, most likely,
not be correctly reported on screen. YMMV.


Linux: The 1.1.6 v2 release of the JVM seems to consistently
lock up when loading a second database in local mode.
Workaround: each time you logoff from a db, restart MaxBase.

Os/2: JDK level 1.1.6 is great and presents no known side
effects except for a harmless exception when using MERGe.

Windows 95: Everything seems to work fine under JDK 1.1.6
from Sun, provided that you get the latest update for the
JIT. From time to time, the JVM will exit with an error,
though.

Other platforms:
If you're using MaxBase under other platforms, please 
drop us a note on your results with it, we'd be
really pleased.


Ciao and thanks for your time 
evaluating and using MaxBase!

EffeElle Systems s.r.l.
