OVER 2 YOU, 086 (25/06/02)

DOCWARE

A group of doctors meet every week to discuss a clinical case or a published article or other topic. We would like to keep a record of the meetings, allowing people to incorporate their PowerPoint presentations perhaps but mostly just a record of who attended and what topics were discussed. The tricky bit would be to use a program that enabled us to search by topic or keyword for a case we remembered. We would also like to produce a written summary of the meetings each year. I'm not sure whether to use Access, which is very cumbersome, or another program. Is there a suitable program for recording minutes etc perhaps?

Michael Johnson, Dept of Neurology, St. James's Hospital, Leeds

Good old MS Word to the rescue! It's an amazingly flexible program. Create a table with four columns and as many rows as you deem necessary,
more rows can be added later.

Column 1 - Name of speaker
Column 2 - Subject or title of paper
Column 3 - Notes/minutes of item
Column 4 - Hyperlink to PowerPoint presentation
Manually adjust the width of the columns as appropriate.

The beauty of using a table is that text will wrap within the cell. So, the cell in column 3 will expand according to the amount of notes, whilst the Name of the speaker and the Subject or Title of the paper in columns 1 and 2 will automatically stay aligned. If the text is too big to comfortably fit into the cells try reducing the point size - say down to 10pt. Each row of the table becomes in effect a single record of each speaker/item. For the hyperlink to work obviously the PowerPoint presentation will need to be accessible to the Word Document (ideally on the same hard disk, 'Insert' - 'Hyperlink' in the menu bar). Clicking on the hyperlink will start the PowerPoint presentation within from Word. Exiting PowerPoint will return you to the Word document. The 'Find' facility within Word with search for any word or part word within the document. ('Edit' - 'Find' from the menu bar)
Malcolm Farrar,

Not the most high-tech solution but an easy one to implement - try PC data Finder from www.silvelaketech.com. This creates an index of words on selected folders/drives and then allows a web-like search for matching terms. It has a quick-view facility from the result page so you don't have to open the application to check a particular entry. It means you can just save your information without the bother of a formal database and it works well even across a network.  It can be set to update regularly by Windows task scheduler too. Free trial copies available from the site

Geoff Ormrod,

AskSam will do the job, go to: www.askSam.com for details; you can buy on line. Searching by topic or keyword is very simple. It claims to be fully web integrated - though I haven't tried that personally, and it ought to handle presentations with ease.
Alan Shepley, Kendal

We have a product called an "Electronic Transaction Bible" (www.thinkingvirtual.com/etb/) that was developed for legal firms in the UK. We take lawyers' documents, usually a mixture of paper and electronic documents, and compile them onto a CD, which acts like a mini database. The CD has a powerful search tool which would enable you to search
by topic, keyword or through every page on the CD for the searched word.The Kennedy Space Centre used the same software to put 5 million pages of spare parts onto 310 CDs for use on the Space Station. The software keeps all the electronic documents in their original format so you and your associates will be able to view and re-use the PowerPoint presentations as originally made. Finally, the CD can be up-dated on a weekly basis. In the long term you will be able to build a large database from your weekly meetings, as it is very easy to download the CD contents onto your computer or hospital server.
William Jeffcock,

MS Office has a ‘binders’ function that groups together Word, Excel and PowerPoint presentations in one bundle. I have never used it but this may be what the questioner is looking for.

Alan A Armstrong,

PET THEORY

I have a number of discs of personal letters on 5.25-inch disks created on a Commodore PET, with an 8250 double disc-drive.  The disks are dual-sided, quad density (96 tpi), soft sectored. I would like to transfer them as text to a PC.  I still have an ancient Brother BCN 5000 with a 5.25 disc drive and would like to transfer them if possible, before it gives up the ghost.  Is there a PC program, which would help?
Alan Carcas, via email

The Pet uses the same CP/M disc operating system as that other classic computer, the Commodore 62 and there’s plenty of information on the web about how to copy files and diskettes to a PC. One of the best places to start would be http://www.hut.fi/Misc/cbm/xfer/, which has links for utilities using wireless (disc swapping) and cable based solution

Ray Garrard, Exeter, Devon

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 used a Tiny Media Notebook in desert conditions for 3 months in temperatures from -2 to plus 40 degrees that also included dust storms and some rain! I used compressed air and anti static wipes to keep it clean and when it was not in use I sealed the laptop in a re-sealable plastic bag. I also constructed a cover out of a cardboard box to shelter the computer from the worst of the elements whilst it was in use. Additionally I kept some silicon gel bags with the system to absorb the condensation that was produced due to the range of temperatures. I was living under canvas most of the time. I never once had a problem with the computer, nor have I since with the exception of the battery that I had to charge from a generator. I used the battery all the time, as there was no reliable mains power. The battery has since died on me and no amount of coaxing will kick it back into life. I am now having great difficulty in getting hold of a replacement battery; can anyone help?

Barry Sexton,

I have been sailing for many years and have some thoughts on using a notebook PC at sea. I think you will find that almost all notebooks now are quite robust enough to be used on a boat. The only thing I would say is that while I have nothing against Apples, most of the navigation software is initially aimed at Pentium machines. One thing I would suggest you do, is to make a small cradle that the notebook can be strapped or tied to and the cradle can be fastened down to something secure.

I have been using an ordinary notebook on a sailing boat for some time now and it has never given any problems through damp or being knocked etc. I have also used it with a dedicated car battery adaptor, rather than an inverter, as without getting too technical, some of the cheaper inverters do not give a very good supply as well as being inefficient.

Jack Griffiths, Bristol

MEMBERSHIP LISTS

I have a membership list in Excel. It has Mr and Mrs Bloggs with their details in one row and Mrs Bloggs of the same details in the next row. This is when they are both members but have individual membership numbers. The problem is how to ensure we send mailings only to Mr and Mrs Bloggs. Presently, the address gets two mailings as a second goes to Mrs Bloggs.

Robin Tucker, via email

Presumably Robin Tucker merges his membership list using Word or a similar program to print his newsletter/mailing labels. By adding a column called Mail he should be able to set the merge criteria to exclude all those with a 'No' in this column
John Paterson,

CAN YOU HELP?

Can anyone recommend an up to date guide to email etiquette? I am never quite sure how people should be addressed; so many emails seem to begin with just ‘Hi’, which I do not feel comfortable with. Also, how quickly should one respond to a personal email? To do so immediately often prompts the sender to write back just as quickly and the correspondence quickly runs out of steam.

Jean Copeman, via email

I am shortly going on holiday to Florida (Orlando area) and my rented villa has a telephone. I’m taking my laptop and would like to be able to access the web and pick up my emails. Can any suggest a local ISP? I know AOL and CompuServe have local dial-up numbers in the US but these are subscriptions services, I’m looking for something cheaper, preferably free, that would be available to a non-resident!

Mike Brenner, via email

I have received a manuscript and large index for a technical book which has been produced using Word Perfect 6 for DOS, and a font, CG Times. I have Word Perfect 9 for Windows, which does not have this font.  Changing the manuscript to Times New Roman alters the number of words on a page, so that the index is no longer correct. Does anyone know of a font available in WP9 which is similar to CG Times which, when used, would not change the composition of a page?  Alternatively, how can I introduce CG Times into WP9?
J. D. Ellinghouse, via email