title: Raspberry Pi / MS SQL Server interaction
body: <p>I'm in the middle of a project that I can't test, so before I get too terribly entrenched in programming everything a certain way, I want to know if anyone is aware of compatibility issues I need to keep an eye out for.<P>
  These are the things I've been given, and can't be changed:<BR>
  - A Windows XP machine (for now; they <em>promise</em> we'll upgrade to Windows 7 "soon") running MS SQL Server 2008<BR>
  - A Raspberry Pi on the same network as the aforementioned computer, hooked up to a monitor<P>
  My task is to build a web page that will display realtime information based on the contents of the database.  The best way I've come up with to do this is to make a web page using PHP that uses SQL statements to analyze the data in the database, format it so it makes sense, and then display it in a relatively minimalistic format.  I never got a good answer about what browser it'll be displayed in, but I know they're leaving some newer build of Debian on the Pi, so I'm assuming it'll end up being something Chromium-based.<P>
  I've downloaded MS SQL Server, XAMPP, and the Microsoft SQL Server PHP drivers (not the MSSQL drivers that come with PHP).  I've managed to make something that's successfully pulling information off the server and updating it as necessary, but I'm starting to worry about the drivers, and any other configuration that might have to take place.  Should I be considering just scrapping the Microsoft functions and trying to make it work with the usual MSSQL stuff instead, or building something with PDO?  Is there anything special about running in a linux environment I should be aware of?  I won't really get the chance to test this on anything other than my windows laptop until "go time," so I want to be as prepared as possible.  I'd appreciate advice from anybody with any experience in this sort of project</p>