OVER 2 YOU, 142 (12/08/03)

ARTHRITIS MONITOR

I have just contracted rheumatoid arthritis.  Is there software I can use to chart symptoms, pain levels, dosage rates etc against a calendar? I have a weather forecast radio controlled clock.  Is there software to record data from it?

Charles Carmichael, via email

There may well be software specifically written for Rheumatoid Arthritis sufferers but I doubt it as this is a highly complex disorder with many degrees of severity and a great many treatments and therapies. Nevertheless, there are software packages that you can use to log symptoms and medications, which may prove useful when meeting with your consultant or GP. One such is Health Empowerment, which also has a large medical database. You can find more information and links to a free trial at: http://www.biof.com/healthware.html

David Clarke, via email

I have also been recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and one program that I have found useful, for monitoring my exercise regime, is Arthritis Training. It’s only for Palm pocket PCs but if you’ve got one of these little gadgets, and Arthritis, it’s well worth trying. The program can be obtained from:

http://www.palmblvd.com/software/pc/

Arthritis-Training-Log-2002-11-23-palm-pc.html

Betty Hamilton, via email

MAKING LIGHT WORK

I am involved with an amateur dramatics group in my local village and we are struggling to find a computer software program, which will drive our lighting rig. It is a very simple rig of 3 fixed spots, three or four floods, four sets of footlights and two rows of fixed coloured backlights. We would like something that we can run on a PC, which would give us on-screen sliders and switches that could be operated with a mouse. Preferably low cost or no cost.

Can anyone help?

Andy Grout, via email

I'd suggest that he looks at WinLite from Pulsar, which is available as a free download. More details at:
www.pulsarlight.com.

Paul Ganney

Lighting desks, PC interfaces, disk storage and everything else he needs is available from LSC Lighting in Australia (www.lsclighting.com.au), and though its UK agent, Stagetec which is based in Slough and can be found at: www.stagetec.co.uk.
Bernadette Rogers, Eydon Players, Northants.

Free software to run stage lighting is available but he will need to pay for a 'dongle' to make it work. He will also need dimmer racks that will run from industry standard 'DMX' signal, or a digital to analogue 'demux'. There is basic information about the different stage lighting control conventions (and much else) on the 'beginners' page at our site www.phosphene.co.uk and we offer a completely free advice service on all aspects of stage lighting and sound, and will be happy to discuss his particular requirements.

Cliff Dix

STAMP MATCHING

I am a Philatelist and wonder if anybody knows of a software package that would enable me to compare two stamps of the same design by overlaying one on top of the other and hence 'spot the difference'.
Ian Pooley, via email

Two stamps can be compared by scanning each of them into Paint Shop Pro. Display both images then go to Arithmetic on the Image menu and select the Difference function, which creates a new image window showing both images superimposed, highlighting any differences between the two.

Anthony Isaacs

Mr Pooley does not need a computer to compare two postage stamps. All that is required is a pocket stereoscope, which will enable him to merge two magnified images and any differences will show up immediately. He can obtain a good selection of these by typing "pocket stereoscope" into Google UK.

Buddy Moon

If a reasonably high resolution scanner is used to allow some magnification, using the 'Layers' 

facility in PhotoShop Elements, together with the 'Opacity' and 'move' controls, it may be possible to 'ghost' one  stamp over the other.

T. D. Hollis

DISTINCTIVE NUMBER

Since I can’t afford to pay BT for a distinctive phone number I was wondering if I could make my existing number more memorable by concocting a word from the number/letter associations on a telephone keypad (i.e. 2 = ABC, 3 = DEF and so on), so my first name Dave, would be represented as 3283. To save me the effort of churning through the permutations with pen and paper I wonder if anyone has devised a program that will let me enter my phone number and generate a list of words or phrases?

Dave D., via email

The trouble with the letters on the telephone keypad is that they don't account for 0 and 1. I devised a code whereby the letters 'OITERSCLAG' relate to the digits 0-9 respectively: 0 looks like O, 1 looks like I, 2 begins with a T, 3 is a backwards E, 4 ends with R, 5 looks like S, 6 sounds and looks a bit like C, 7 is an upside-down L, 8 sounds like A, 9 looks like a lower case g. Hence 399 becomes 'egg' and 400 becomes 'roo'. 399400 could be remembered by
imagining a kangaroo hatching out of an egg - next to the phone if that's your number. It isn't perfect; but you can always chuck in the odd 'redundant' letter - like u or n - to make a pronounceable word.
Andi Bell, (World Memory Champion)

CAR RENTAL

We own a small car rental firm – about a dozen cars -- and we are looking for software that will tell us what cars is available and when. All of the
systems we’ve looked at are far too sophisticated for our purposes.  Can anyone suggest a simple program that will tell us who has our cars and on what dates?
Keith Chapman, via email

Smartmoves (http://www.smartmoves.co.uk/) may be suitable for your purposes and provides software for the growing number of car clubs in the UK. It’s used by the Bristol City Car Club, to which I belong, and bookings may be made on line using the Smartmoves software.

Philip Jardine, via email

SAILING SOFTWARE

For sailing races, and maybe other events, finishers are awarded points in ascending order. In a series of races, not all entrants take part in all races, so I need to compare the list of finishers with the list of entrants, so that those who did not start or finish are awarded maximum marks. Is there a way in Excel, or other spreadsheet, to compare the two lists of
entrants and finishers so that these can be identified. Boat sail numbers do not follow any sequence.
Stephen Green, via email

Early last year I spent some time evaluating race results programs with a view to replacing an ancient DOS system used at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club, which runs some 60 races a year, some with over 100 entrants.  I found nothing entirely satisfactory and decided to produce something myself, being both a software designer and an RYA qualified race officer.

The program was developed in Visual Basic and connects to an Access database. It is possible to define handicap, scoring and discard systems as required.  It produces series and series-within-series results as well as results for a single race, as well as entry lists for use by race officers. As standard, output may be in CSV, XML or HTML format and the XSL style sheets may be customised.  Above all it is designed to be easy to use.

The race results in the Results & Reports section of the RSYC racing website www.rsyc.org.uk/racing have been produced by the program for the last 12 months.  If Stephen Green or anyone else would like a copy, I would be happy to let them have it if they contact me

David Giddings

I'm not sure about Excel, but our sailing club uses a software package for its race results, called Race Management System, which they are very happy with. As well as automatically calculating race and event results, along with tie-break mechanisms, it also allocates points to entrants who did not compete, amongst other features. For further details, see www.racemanagementsystem.co.uk
Leslie Gibson

CAN YOU HELP?

I have been attempting to put various dog ancestry details on to a computer. I have tried several family tree programs without success.  The nearest was the PAF but even this one insists on altering the dogs' names to turn them into surnames and forenames. My original written tree is now getting rather battered, any suggestions?
K. Woodward, via email

I am the administrator of a 26-mile walk involving 300 entrants. Every entrant has his/her own unique number and I am using a multi-sheet Excel program to record registrations, retirees, finishers etc. Does anyone know a formula (or macro) to prevent duplicating a number twice in the same column?  With a slip of the finger etc., it is possible to enter the same number twice.

Peter Skinner, via email

I have recently been given an HP DraftPro DXL plotter; probably about 10-15 years old but still working as it produces test plots perfectly. However I can’t get it to work with my Windows ME PC. The Hewlett Packard website lists the plotter but does not give any information on it and I cannot find anything that might relate to this particular piece of hardware. I have been told that plotters can sometimes be difficult to set up. This one is!  Does anyone have any ideas?

Alan Haddington, via email