OVER 2 YOU, 042 (09/09/01)

FUN RUN

I organise our annual village fun run which now attracts over 500 runners. I record the runner's number and details on an Excel spreadsheet. Does anybody know of a way of capturing the time each runner takes by entering the runner's
number as they cross the finish line and then producing a results table for different ages/genders?
Steve Spillane, via email

Assuming that Steve Spillane is running Excel 97 or 2000, there is a way to get it to capture each runner's finishing time by entering their number as they cross the finish line. What he needs to do is to open his Excel file, then open up the Visual Basic Editor (Alt-F11), look in the project window for his open file and double-click on the worksheet (shown under the folder 'Microsoft Excel Objects') where he wants to enter the numbers. This should bring up a blank code window in which he should enter the following:

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
    If Target.Column = 1 Then
        Target.Cells(1, 2).Value = Time()
    End If

End Sub

After he has done this, he should find that if he enters a number in column A then Excel will automatically capture the time it was entered in column B on the same row.
Hugh Rutherford, HWRuther@aol.com

I have been dealing with similar jobs for our local yacht club for 10 years, using Ability Plus, then Supercalc 3.1, to 123 release2.2, and now 123 for Windows release 5. I have used Excel for other jobs, but wouldn't dream of using it for this, as 123 macros are simple to write. I have knocked up a quick spreadsheet in Lotus, which runs from a floppy. The spreadsheet will cope with 600 runners, occupies 43k and would run on an antediluvian 8088 machine. Beat that, Gates! If Steve would like to get in touch I would be happy to send him a copy.

Derek Burgoyne,

PARISH RECORDS

All of our early Parish Council records were compiled on an Amstrad 9512 plus and saved to 5¼-inch floppies.  Being a very small council, we cannot afford the cost of having the hundreds of disks transcribed professionally but could do this ourselves if we could get hold of the appropriate software.  We are fortunate in that the Amstrad disks are 5¼ inch and will thus fit into the floppy drive on our PC 
John Stevenson, via e-mail

The Amstrad PCW 9512plus came with a 3½" CF2DD disc drive as standard. If the PCW were still working it would be sensible to copy the council's data onto 3½" CF2DD CP/M discs, formatted on the PCW. I imagine the 5¼" discs would be formatted as 360k and the 3½" disc should be 720k (nominal) so the data from two 5¼" discs should fit on one 3½" disc.

There are a number of PC programs, which will permit a standard PC 1.44Mb disc drive to read Amstrad 3½" PCW discs. LocoScript Professional on a PC will import any version of LocoScript written on a PCW up to LS3 and there
is a PC program Loco4to3, which will convert LS4 back to LS3 for import into LocoPro.

I recommend the parish council contacts SD MicroSystems & LocoScript Software, PO Box 99, Thetford IP24 1NA, phone 98700 736427 for more details. Email: sales@locoscript.com. Web site: www.locoscript.com.
Mike Elliston, British Amstrad PCW Club,

John Stevenson should try Moonstone's 2 in 1 file transfer software available from Locomotive Software www.locomotive.com. This will transfer data from Amstrad 3.5 or 5.25 inch discs to a standard PC.

John Dean,

The only package I know of which explicitly claims to read 5.25" Amstrad PCW floppies is 22DISK (http://www.z80.de/22dsk144.zip). Other programs
which are known to work on 3.5" discs and which may work on 5.25" discs include my own programs: "MSODBALL" which runs under DOS and Windows: (ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/cpm/

amstrad/mso210cm.arc) and "PCW Explorer" for
Linux and Windows (http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/

Cpm/software/linux.html).

Once the files have been recovered from the 5.25" discs, they can be imported into LocoScript or LocoLink on the PC and then exported in formats usable by a modern word processor.
John Elliott,

SURVEYS

Do you know of a simple program that I can use to coordinate my PC (Office 2000) and scanner so that I can collate the feedback from surveys that I send out? The questions I pose are followed by 3 boxes into which the recipient is asked to place a tick in his/her preferred choice. How can my machine count how many said A, B or C, and how many of each?

Simon Stewart, via e-mail

Forget your scanner. It would be immensely time and memory consuming to scan each sheet of paper returned to you and would almost certainly require a special program to be written. Open up a blank Excel worksheet. Using columns A, B, & C, simply type a figure 1 (instead of a tick mark) in the appropriate A,B or C column in respect of each reply you have received. You don't have to be much of a typist to do that. Pressing return after each entry will automatically move the cursor to the next row.

When you have recorded all the entries, sum each column by entering the formulae

 =Sum(A1:A100) , =Sum(B1:B100), =Sum(C1:C100) where A1:A100, B1:B100 etc are the first and last entries in each column and will therefore have to be modified to suit the actual number of entries you have received.

In its simplest form, the job is now done but you could improve the presentation by entering column headings etc. and having another column for people's names.

Richard Collins,

A fast and simple solution would be to get a C-Pen (www.cpen.com), which photographs text and quickly converts it into editable text (.txt file), which can be transmitted to your PC. The C-Pen allows printed information to be accessible digitally faster than ever before. It's a handheld scanner and don't worry if you're left-handed, you can change the orientation as well!

Fliss Buckles,

WRINKLIES

Forty of us 'wrinklies' are in a Lottery Syndicate. We have each selected an unvaried line of 6 numbers. Is there a program which would enable lines that come up with 3 (or more) winning numbers to be identified on input of the weekly draw results?

Richard Hind, via e-mail

I use a program called Smart Lottery, which is available free from www.smartcode.com; it is very easy to use. Just enter your Lottery Numbers, specify if they are for Saturday, Wednesday or both. After each draw enter the winning line and the program checks all your entries. You can also download a small file with every winning line since the Lottery began.
Paul Barzda, Wolverhampton

We have been checking our winnings for two years through the excellent freeware program called 'Riktor' from www.blitzer.demon.co.uk .

Phillip Gibbs,

The Official National Lottery website has software available to download which not only checks the drawn numbers against inputted lines, but also allows you to view different statistics on the numbers drawn or on your numbers.  It also allows you to keep track of syndicate members, and if they have paid!  Essential for every syndicate manager!   It is available to
download from:http://www.nationallottery.co.uk/

game/software.html
Sarah Gjertsen,

There is no need to spend money on this. Most word processors should be able to cope. This is how it could be done very simply using MS Word.

1 Create a document with the forty sets of the selected lottery numbers each on a separate line and with the selected numbers entered in numerical sequence as two-digit numbers and separated by a comma.
2 Use the "find" feature if MS Word to locate lines with the first winning number.
3 Check visually the lines highlighted to see if the they contain other winning numbers. Delete the line if it has less than three winning numbers.
4 Repeat the process for all six winning numbers.
George Kramer, Oxford

For a simple lottery checker try this link: www.longship.demon.co.uk/lotchk.htm
Stephen Worth,

SOLAR POWER

I am very interested in installing solar powered heating and possibly electrical systems in my home. Can it be done in our climate? Are there any web sites that can help me to figure out the cost and practicalities?

Norman Stevens, via email

Solar technology has advanced significantly over the past ten years. Whereas in the past solar was used to generate heat, today's solar photovoltaic (PV) technology generates clean electricity directly from light, regardless of the weather. It is therefore a viable solution for UK homes and businesses. A good example of solar pv at work is this summer's Big Brother house. 137 square metres of solar panels provide the house's electricity needs and since in the 60 days it has been up and running has saved just under 3 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Because of its electricity needs the Big Brother house required 141 solar pv panels.  An average 3-bedroom house in the UK requires approximately 16 panels.  In addition, Laing Homes has recently installed solar pv on nine houses in Edmonton, North London. These are the first of hopefully many new builds that will be powered almost entirely by solar. A good website for more information is www.solarcentury.co.uk. The company has recently completed its 50th installation on properties in the UK.
Deborah Watson,

CRYSTAL RADIOS

I recall as a child seeing plans in one of those 'Boys Book of Knowledge' type books for a 'Crystal Radio' set that didn't need any batteries and used a piece of coal for the crystal. Does anyone know where I could find that book, or the plans, perhaps via a specialist Internet bookshop or web site? Would a crystal radio work on today's radio transmissions?

Chris Sutton, via email

Crystal radio paradise can be found at www.midnightscience.com a site lovingly devoted to building them and much else.

Murray Wren,

CAN YOU HELP?

MS Publisher 98 can help produce decent looking brochures and ads, but trying to convert the latter into files and formats that can be used by the production departments of the various magazines I advertise in, is a total nightmare. For a start most ad-departments use Macs and programs such as Freehand, Page Maker etc. Mention Publisher, and there's audible groans and barely concealed mad laughter on the other end of the line. Does anyone know of a program, shareware, or set of 'tweaks' that will convert Publisher files into useable formats that other computers can open and read?

Richard Hoppé, via e-mail

Does anyone know of any decent World War 2 Games for use with my iMac computer with OS 8.5.1? All of the ones I have seen are all for the PC.

Garrick Bowyer, via email

I have scoured the net for free software and advice for writing scripts for TV drama. Does anyone know of such a thing?
Spencer May, via email

My father, age 83, has started to write his memoirs. He has acquired a Brother LW 100 dedicated word processor, which he has been using as a typewriter. I've persuaded him to let me help to check spelling and grammar using the check facility on Word  -- but the only way I can do it is to scan his printed sheets!  Tedious!! When I save his work to a disc on the Brother my PC tells me that the disc needs formatting. When I put a formatted disc into the Brother it tells me that the disc needs initialising. Brother tell me that it is impossible to get these machines to talk to each other via floppy but I feel sure that Dotcom readers can come up with a solution.

Steve Flegg, via email