If I have information in a legacy database will I be losing anything by using RoR. Can I store configuration information in mysql but display data from my legacy database?
That really depends on what database it is. However, there's absolutely not requirement for you to use MySQL; ActiveRecord provides adaptors that will work with MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle, DB2 or SQL Server, and there are also adaptors available for other databases.
While there are a few DB-specific issues to bear in mind, you should be fine using any of these databases.
-Matt
