OVER 2 YOU, 075 (09/04/02)

PIPEWARE

A friend of mine is a pipe fitter.  At the moment he has to do all his draught work by hand, on graph paper. He was wondering if there was a program that would help him make it look more professional.  He needs a program for routing pipes, with pipe lengths, arrows, angles, etc.  Does such a program exist?

Thomas Smith, via email

You might like to try Visio (R) Version 5. This is an excellent all-round diagram creator program.
Anthony Coles,

There’s a demo version of Ezpipe (American I suppose, pronounced ee-zee..), which has templates and patterns for planning pipe work and layouts. You can find it at: http://www.ezpipe.com

Doug Lassiter, via email

You will find a useful article about the use of computer aided design (CAD) software for plumbing at the following web site:

http://www.elitesoft.com/web/

newsroom/plumb.htm

T. Sargent,

DRIVE PROTECTION

Our 8-month-old twins find the CD drives on our computer endlessly fascinating. It's only a matter of time before the drive gets broken by clumsy little hands. Does anyone know of a contraption or way to prevent them playing with it?

Steve Waller, via email

Babies and toddlers are fascinated with buttons. They learn very quickly that pushing buttons produces a reaction and so the solution is to hide the button. This can be done simply by putting a cover over the button and securing it in place with Velcro.  My 18-month old granddaughter discovered that she could set off the alarm and call the Police by pushing the panic button until a two-inch long piece of aluminium angle was fitted over the buttons and secured in place with Velcro. Simple, effective, easy to fit and remove.
David Froud,

…get a play-pen.

G. W. Eastwood, Highworth, Wilts

There are many makes of locks for a floppy disc drives, have a look at this one from Simply Computers for £15.26: http://www.simply.co.uk/shop/ productinfo.asp?sku=SDV002
It seals off the disc slot so that jam, ice-cream etc. cannot be inserted!

Roy Venkatesh,

A couple of suggestions… The first, a rather high-tech approach, try switching the PC off! The second, although a lot less technical may prove to be a lot more effective, try a little parental control! Is he having a laugh or what?

Rob Bridson,

EROTIC BUT NICE

Recently I have been investigating some of the erotic sites on the net and they are unsatisfactory. As an elderly and housebound widower in need of entertainment I would like to find something gentler, in the way, perhaps, I might visit the Follies Bergere or similar if in Paris, but going to Google on such a search gives reams of crudity. Can anyone recommend anything, which has class and style?  The cost of entry is of little importance.

Richard W., via email

For less seedy erotica try these three web sites:
www.nude-in-public.com

www.flash-in-public.com

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/kimlyle

The first two (sister sites) are both Prague-based. There is an air of delightful and mind-boggling innocence about the content. They are straightforward and honest - "Just what it says on the tin", amazing free samples and cheap if you want to sign up. All the photo-shoot documentation is free. The third one is all lingerie and coyness - perhaps just what Richard W. wants!
Roger C, via email

For those of us of an age that remember the naughty and largely innocent erotic pleasures of the 1950s (and earlier) I heartily commend the following vintage ‘pin-up’ sites. It’s also a useful reminder of the smutty beginnings of a lot of ‘new inventions’ and the fact that there’s nothing new under the sun!

http://www.french-nudes.com/

http://eroticpast.com/

http://www.intherain.com/vintage/

Jim L, Wanstead, London

DYSLEXIA HELP

Can anyone recommend a computer program, which would assist my 23-year-old son who has dyslexia, to learn or improve his spelling?

Alan Locke, Lower Earley, Berkshire

Try Read and Write from textHELP (www.texthelp.com). It works with any text window i.e. email or Word, checking spelling as you type and reading it back to you.
Andrew Wright,

GETTING A BEARING

It should be possible to compute bearings and distances on Ordnance Survey maps by just entering the six figure map references of start and finish points.  Does anyone know how?  Do I need a program or just a formula?
Cliff Mallinson, North Somerset

There is a great book, 'Astro-Navigation by calculator' written by Henry Levison, that provides the answer to Cliff Mallinson’s problem. It is published by David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8553-4 and is a marvellous read for navigators.

Jim Concannon,

Cliff Mallinson could try using a layout I developed with MS Works: consecutively select and type in on row A1 to G1:   

from co-ordinate, to co-ordinate,  (leave blank), bearing (degrees), distance and similarly along row A2 to G2:  Ea, Na,  E2, N2, 

=ATAN((C2-A2)/D2-B2))*180/PI()  =IF((D2<B2,E2+180,IF((E2<0),E2+360,E2)) 

=SQRT((C2-A2)*(C2-A2)+(D2-B2)*(D2-B2)) 

Next, select and highlight box E2, click "copy" on the top toolbar, then click and hold around the right-hand bottom corner of box E2 until "FILL" appears and drag down the column to select the required number of rows for the number of calculations.

Repeat this operation with boxes F2 and G2.

Columns E, F, and G will be filled with "ERR" until co-ordinates are entered in columns A, B, C, and D, when hopefully the required bearings and distances will be displayed! This may look a bit complicated, but it is only basic trigonometry.

George Reade,

EDUCATIONAL SCREENSAVER

My seven-month old son loves watching my screensaver. Is it possible to get one that would be educational, like a set of flash cards etc?

Rob Kent, via email

Have a look at the freeware program My Album at: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/myalbum. It can be use to build an album of images or pictures to use as a screensaver.

Julian Moore,

SAILING LAPTOP

Later this year I will be off on a sailing adventure lasting approximately five months. The accommodation on board will be fairly rough and ready, with a damp salty atmosphere. Can anyone recommend a laptop or portable PC that will be able to endure this kind of hostile environment?

Janet Leslie, via email

I use laptops in a variety of applications on all sizes of vessel and find the best, in terms of durability and reliability, is the Panasonic Tough Book. They are more expensive than normal laptops of similar power but they are able to cope with severe conditions and can withstand being thrown around and sprayed with water. They can also be wired up very easily to the 12V DC battery supply found on most boats.

For smaller (dingy) type vessel have a look at Saturn Technologies, (http://www.saturn-technologies.com/) who develop totally waterproof PC's they only use 486 processors but are very durable and have an integrated screen and waterproof keyboard.

If the aim is to use the laptop as a plotting display and it can be protected against getting wet or knocked on the floor (the most common cause of damage) then almost any laptop will do but Toshiba and Acer laptops and notebooks are both very common in the marine survey industry
Stephen Redford, Swindon, Wiltshire

CAN YOU HELP?

I would like to be able to scan questionnaires, received through the post, into my computer and then use this to write the answers so that they will print correctly into the boxes on the original questionnaire.  This is possible with an ordinary typewriter but I have been quite unable to achieve this with MS Word.  As soon as I try to make the scanned in questions hidden or deleted, all the answers that I want to print loose their position and spacing.  Surely there must be a program for printing to spaces on a form, which will solve my frustration and save my ballpoint?

Peter Stovin, via email

My 10-year old son is disabled and cannot hold a pen but he goes to a mainstream school. I would like to scan his class work and homework, mostly text on A4 paper, so that he can use either his laptop or the PC at home to complete his work. I have used the software that came with the scanner but I seem to spend more time correcting it than if I had typed it in. Can anyone recommend any other software or is scanning really only for photographs?
Mike Roe, via email

I have compiled a family tree going back to around 1650. I now want to write up the history of my family, but associate people from each period of time with a well-known historical event in English history. Say, for example, Joe Bloggs from my tree was born in 1650, lived in London, so must have been around for the Great Fire of 1666. Can anyone suggest a program or website whereby I can type in a year date, and it will come up with such historical events?
David Mayo, via email