OVER 2 YOU, 106 (12/11/02)

LONG  S

In transcribing the wording of old documents and church monuments some words that contain the letter s are depicted with an s similar to an italic f but with a cross bar that does not go right across the upright.  I think it is known as a ‘long S’. I am unable to find a font that will reproduce this character. Can anyone help?

Martin Roberts, via email

There are versions of Caslon and other fonts used in old documents that are available for the PC. These are either free (although often incomplete) and those you pay for. For a free version of a font "based on typefaces of an 18th century printer" try: http://desktoppub.about.com/library/fonts/dd/uc_jslancient.htm.

Graham Read

Martin Roberts will find very nice 17th century fonts (including the "long s" and ligatures etc) at: www.crazydiamond.co.uk
A. J. B

To produce a long, or more correctly a cursive ‘s’ in the Math C fount, select that fount, hold the Alt key and press 0176 on the right and number pad. I think it is actually the calculus integration symbol but I find it good enough.

Dick Harrison, rharrison@eggconnect.net

The Long S font can be found at www.waldenfont.com
Andrew Hawkes

The 'long s' is assigned position 017F in Unicode, so Unicode fonts should include it. However, to cut down on searching and testing time, the following web page may be useful:http://www.orbitals.com/self/ligature/

ligature.htm
Andrew Benham

The package 'Your Handwriting' produced by Data Becker (www.databecker.com) is very reasonably priced (about £10 to £20) and will enable Martin Roberts to modify with ease any letter of any font already on his computer.  The package is really designed for creating new fonts and for that purpose a good printer and scanner are needed. However for the purpose that Martin needs it he would not require a scanner.
David Jupe  

FAMILY TREE

I am trying to design a simple family tree - going back only four or five generations for my Grandma's 80th birthday. I already have the information on the people and relationships involved, but do not have any suitable software that would allow me to display it quickly and easily and be accessible to a non-PC literate octogenarian. Can anyone recommend a simple to use and highly visual family tree program, preferably low-cost (or free) as I’m trying to keep costs to a minimum?

Matthew Hunt, via email

I would recommend Great Family 1.1, which is a free graphical family tree designer from www.greatprogs.com.

Daniel Bringloe, Pembury, Kent

There are several genealogy software packages available but perhaps Matthew Hunt's grandmother may prefer a hand-written hard copy of her family tree. A kit called Family History offers alternative printed templates, details of which are on: http://twistedfish.com/ainwhel/

Tony Ainscough

During the last couple of months I have been researching suitable family tree software by sifting through some of the colossal genealogical resources available on the Internet. Whilst there are many applications, each with ardent followings, I would recommend Matthew Hunt try Personal Ancestral File 5 (PAF5) for his project. This application is able to be downloaded free from http://www.familysearch.org/ and will easily cope with the requirements stipulated. It is very user friendly and the inbuilt reports should be sufficient although a companion program can be purchased for a few pounds, which produces many custom reports.

Jef Barrett

I undertook exactly the same project for my uncle's 90th birthday -- he has no computer or computer knowledge, so for him it had to be printed, while for many other reasonably computer literate members of the family it could be e-mailed corrected etc on line.

After looking at a couple of different types of family tree software, which seemed to have altogether too many bells and whistles, I produced the whole thing on Microsoft Excel. After deciding on a few basic conventions to produce a few "master elements", it mainly boiled down to "copy and paste and change the names".

It was so easy that it is not worthy of any claim to fame, and I am no expert, but everyone in the family was delighted with the result (particularly the nonagenarian) and I would be happy to share the process with Mr Hunt if he wished to do so.  As a side benefit it also means that anyone with the smallest amount of know-how can contribute and develop it as time passes, without specialist software.
Mike King

The DBtoGO website http://www.dbtogo.co.uk has a database called Family
Tree. This allows you to set up relationships Mother, Father, Children,
Spouses, Siblings all on a single control screen. You can also add pictures and notes if you wish. A standard looking family tree can be produced on a printer. This is available as a free download to allow 'try before you buy'.
David Hodge

The simplest and a very effective way to produce simple family trees is to use MSWorks Spreadsheet with cell borders. I can get 19 generations vertically and 13 siblings horizontally in 6 pt Arial on an A4 sheet.
Tony Philpott, via e-mail

CGT CALCULATOR

Is there any software that can calculate Capital Gains Tax since Mr Brown has changed the rules from complicated to very complicated?

Alan Graham, via email

Your correspondent should go to www.meridian.-software.co.uk and look up their "Investor 3" software. It will do Index calculations plus Taper calculations. I have used it, and its predecessors, for years with complete success. The CGT printouts are very detailed and also Inland Revenue acceptable.

Len Dowsett

PICTURE CATALOGUE

I am searching for a suitable database that would enable the cataloguing of ca. 20,000 slides (traditional card/plastic mounts). Each slide needs to be catalogued according to geographic location, subject matter, date plus reference number. A search mechanism is required in order to identify any single image. The database will form the basis to a web-based picture library and therefore would need to be compatible with Internet technology.
Tim Labrum, via email

Philip Edwards (Over 2 You October 22nd) is quite correct in suggesting the adequate and easy to use Microsoft Works Database for 20,000 slides but anyone with a bigger collection should be aware that the maximum number of records in this programme is 32,000. I checked this before I typed my 24,000 music titles!

John Smith

CAN YOU HELP?

My 85 year-old neighbour has lost the sense of touch in his fingertips and finds it impossible to use a mouse.  He also has difficulties when using the keyboard. He has heard of a 'glove mouse', which sounds useful, but there does not seem to be in production any more. He is now confined to a wheelchair and would find the use of his computer now more valuable than ever. Has anyone any suggestions or experience of using a PC with this kind of disability?

Dougie Morrison, via email

I would like to know more about the makers of a grandfather clock I own with the name Agar & Sons, Bury. I have looked on the Internet but without success, can anyone recommend any comprehensive horological resources?

Ben McDermott, via email

Apart from ebay does anybody know a source of old (probably out of publication) song sheet music?        

David Minor