I found this to be a perfect alternative to the MaxDB special drivers of version 7.5.00. Just weren't that easy to install on *nix. Windows seems fine. Anyway The ODBC is a perfect alternative for connecting the SAPDB/MaxDB towards PHP.

Installation guide for the odbc alternative (instead of the MAXDB-php driver) can be found here:

http://maxdb.yapabout.com/viewtopic.php?t=21