What is Reddit's opinion of
LibreOffice - Base?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
5 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
Check out https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/base/. I've never used Base before, but I've used other programs in the LibreOffice suite.
>Base is a full-featured desktop database front end, designed to meet the needs of a broad array of users. Base caters to power users and enterprise requirements, providing native-support drivers for some of the most widely employed multi-user database engines: MySQL/MariaDB, Adabas D, MS Access and PostgreSQL.
Sadly, there are no viable ways to use Access locally on a Chromebook. In a business environment, you can subscribe to Parallels, which will let you run Windows applications on a Chromebook, but it is expensive and not available for unmanaged devices.
I developed and supported many complex Access applications for decades. Some of my systems are still in daily use. But if I need to do any maintenance, I have to visit their offices, or use a remote connection to one of their Windows computers.
Chrome Remote Desktop works very well if there is a Windows computer available somewhere. I used that approach for years. Any Chromebook will work in that environment. I have an old 15.6" Chromebook that I keep around for when I need it. The big screen helps my eyes.
Without knowing the details of her application, I cannot advise if some other Chromebook or Linux application would be a replacement. The actual application would have to be completely rewritten. There are no automated conversion utilities. This is the closest thing to Access that I have found:
https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/base/
For simple 'database' applications, many people use a spreadsheet instead. Google Sheets has many powerful data analysis functions, but none of the "pretty" reporting features of Access. And for full blown relational database structures, it would be quite difficult.
If you can get more details about what she does, I would be happy to provide more advice.
You could check out LibreOffice Base. It's like Microsoft Access, but free. It lets you design the data tables, then make a few forms to manage and display the data.
Yeah, I'd probably use a database for something like this.
If you've got the basics of SQL down, I think you'll find that for your use case, converting your spreadsheets into database tables won't be so bad.
Making an application around the database with nice forms and reports, however, is another story. I suffered through a lot of MSAccess when I was learning. With Access, step 1 was "Make some tables", and step 2 was "Learn VBA". I still don't think it's terrible for what it is, in that it's an off-the-shelf suite that provides enough tools so that you're not directly editing rows and columns in manner similar to a spreadsheet...but it wouldn't be my first choice these days.
LibreOffice Base (which I tried several years ago) and KEXI (which I haven't tried) are some free/open-source alternatives. They may help get you started in what you're looking to build.
If you're coming from Access, LibreOffice Base is probably the nearest cousin in the FOSS world.
Unless you expect an enormous transaction volume, 60K records really doesn't need anything "industrial strength" on today's hardware.