Messages

26

Post New Requests Here / IDEA - Macro to Convert OneNote Output to Word Headings (Styles)

« on: November 14, 2008, 07:32 PM »

I'm a devoted OneNote user and a Word (2007) user because both do outlines very well.  Unfortunately OneNote's outlines do NOT transfer to Word's outlines - a known issue that eventually the OneNote people plan to address.  In the meantime I'd love to have a way to convert OneNote output to Word headings (styles).

If one exports from OneNote to Word you get tab-indented text - one tab for each heading level.  There ought to be a way to write a word macro (I assume) to count the indents and convert them to a heading (which has a style).  That's what I need, but am not knowledgeable enough to create.

If this is the wrong place to suggest this I'd appreciate suggestions on where I should - in DC or elsewhere.  It matters enough that I'm willing to pay a small amount, though obviously I hope the challenge intrigues people enough to get it done without cash.

27

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Direct Access - text expander and application launcher (and much more)

« on: August 31, 2008, 08:06 PM »

Just a quick reminder of another free program (now apparently no longer developed according to posts elsewhere in DC) that does some of what's discussed here - PowerPro.  It's free and quite amazing in what it does.  I'd be vastly less productive in my day job without its easy-to-create-and-modify text macros.  And that's only a small portion of what it does.

e.g, the following code typed in any windows document pulls in a text file containing my ten-line email signature that I can update as things change. I have about a dozen of these that get used every day.
,sd

28

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Year Calendar on a Single Page - Excel-2007 Template

« on: August 31, 2008, 07:29 PM »

Folks:

I'll write up a mini-review with pictures and explanation, but it seems like cheating to review your submission.  That's why I put it here.

Jim Mitchell

29

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Year Calendar on a Single Page - Excel-2007 Template

« on: August 30, 2008, 03:21 PM »

David Seah produced a very nice Excel template that allows one to print out a year's worth of calendar on a single piece of paper that will fold to fit with 3x5 cards.  It's great for planning because it's continuous, not starting a new line for each month.
http://davidseah.com...og/compact-calendar/
(Images of my version at the bottom of this post 9/1/2008)

I took that idea, with his blessing, and gussied it up to be more automatic and to allow the user to pick any start date.  It uses Excel-2007 conditional formatting so wouldn't work very well with Excel-2003.

Here's a link to my blog where I posted it.
http://aedesigndu.bl...-calendar-excel.html

There's no money involved, I just got a kick out of generalizing it.  I hope it's useful to others.

Jim Mitchell


9/1/2008 At the request of others I've added the following information and pictures of how the end product and the data entry portion of the sheet look - there's also a sheet of instructions.

What I did:
David Seah's version had to be manually updated whenever you changed the starting date of the calendar, picked a different starting day of the week, or decided to insert a holiday.

Month Labels:
If the end of the week is in a different month than the prior week then display the month for that line.
To get the banner effect I had to develop conditional formatting.  Since this was the first time I used it the "rules" that I used are a bit clunky, but they work.

Start of Year:
Make it a single named entry that is used in the first cell of the calendar.  All the other cells flow from that one (and did in David's).

Holidays:
Make a lookup based on the week of the year calculated as a simple  sequence starting on the first week of the calendar (the lookup is hidden in a grouped column).  This got a bit tricky because I had to write some logic to ensure that a holiday falling on a row that displayed the month name shows up in the next line.  To make this work I decided to sacrifice David's ISO calendar week numbering scheme.
It could produce problems if someone puts holidays in succeeding rows starting with a month name - otherwise it's fine.

Column Formatting
This is set to be formatted with conditional formatting using the "Weekday" function looking for either Saturday or Sunday.  This makes them move in the display depending on which day of the week you use to start the calendar.

Protection
I protected the sheets so that users couldn't inadvertently put entries in the wrong place.  There's no password so anybody who wants to modify the sheet can do so with no problems = opensource(?).

Hope this helps.

30

Living Room / Re: How to achieve High Resolution for Text Reading

« on: August 30, 2008, 01:36 PM »

Thanks for the feedback.

It might be worth it to us to replace a display with one optimized for text.  Does anyone have any specific recommendations?

It also seems to me that the inherent "pitch" (I think it's the right term) is critical.  The Kindle just has a much higher pitch and thus produces better resolution, albeit in grey-only scale.  Any comments on that would be appreciated too.

31

General Software Discussion / Energy Saving Setup for XP

« on: August 15, 2008, 01:18 PM »

I leave my home machine on 24x7 (monitors off when not using) because I have it set to do several automatic backup tasks (net and local) in the middle of the night and because it's often still syncing files (Foldershare) when I head to bed. 

I'd love to be able to tell it to go into hibernation (ideal) or sleep when I head to bed after it's finished the syncing, but wake up in order to perform the backup tasks, going back to the energy conserving state afterward.

Is anybody aware of a way to achieve this?  I suppose the criteria would be:
- Wake on local demand - when I sit down at the keyboard
- Go to energy saving mode after identified tasks have gone to 0 activity for x minutes
- Wake at scheduled time(s), and return to energy saving mode after identified tasks have completed.
- If in hibernation mode, go to sleep mode at a scheduled time so that the wait on physically arriving at the machine is minimized.

Machines I'm concerned with are all XP

PS - Feel free to move this to another forum if that's more appropriate.

32

Living Room / How to achieve High Resolution for Text Reading

« on: August 15, 2008, 01:05 PM »

I've just been working with my wife on switching to digital for newspapers.  She finds that she cannot comfortably read on a regular computer screen (Philadelphia Inquirer on Lenovo V100 - Screen 1280 x 800), but is quite happy reading on my Kindle.  Both she and I believe that the difference is the increased pixels/inch on the Kindle (167 ppi, 4-level gray scale).  This leads to several questions.

1) Does anyone know of a monitor/card combination that we could use to achieve the same kind of flicker-free resolution with our desktop machine at a vaguely reasonable price?

2) Am I missing something in my analysis that might make it more palatable for her to use the laptop for reading?

Thanks

Jim Mitchell

33

General Software Discussion / Re: Educators/Teachers software...

« on: June 15, 2008, 08:14 AM »

Yes, the blog isn't working at the moment.  I switched webhosts and it broke in the process.  There isn't really anything of note there anyway - all the recommendations are in the site that still works.  I probably ought to go in and put a note about the blog.

If I got overwhelming requests to continue the blog I'd fix it. 

34

General Software Discussion / Re: Educators/Teachers software...

« on: June 14, 2008, 10:17 AM »

I created a site a while back with my recommendations for academics.  It has an associated blog on which I stopped updates because I wasn't receiving much feedback.  You might find some useful information on the site.  I did my best to categorize the tools and identify them in a variety of ways.

Let me know if it's useful and I might do some updates.
http://jcm2044.net/A...micTools/index.shtml

Jim Mitchell

35

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: ZohoDB - Online Free Relational Database

« on: May 21, 2008, 07:00 PM »

Nice minireview AEngineer!
Google spreadsheets can be used as a primitive database for google maps (or something like that).

-Nod5 (May 20, 2008, 06:13 PM)

For me the big difference between Google spreadsheet and ZohoDB is that Zoho is truly relational if still somewhat limited.  So far as I'm aware GSS isn't.  I use it and love it for other purposes.

36

Mini-Reviews by Members / ZohoDB - Online Free Relational Database

« on: May 19, 2008, 08:27 PM »

Basic Info

App Name	Zoho DB & Reports
App URL	http://db.zoho.com
App Version Reviewed	As of 5/18/2008 - Constantly updated
Test System Specs	XP-SP3, on Dell P390 2GB RAM
Supported OSes	Web-Based
Support Methods	Forum
Upgrade Policy	Currently Free - They update online
Pricing Scheme	Currently Free - I'd expect a  "Pro" in future.
Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product	REVIEWER: I'm a simple user - no financial relationship

Intro:


Who is this app designed for: Someone with minimal programming expertise who wishes to create a moderately complex relational database online - although an understanding of relational database tables is probably a good idea.

The Good
 

• It works
• Pretty easy to learn
• Easy to embed what you create in your own web page via an iframe (they provide the code) or directly publish a particular view
• Database can be shared in part of whole (though I haven't tried this)
• Pretty good reports that allow summarizing and a crude form of grouping

The needs improvement section
 

• Little control over format yet - the output is a spreadsheet in appearance with no obvious way to control column width, font, weight etc.
• No auto-incrementing the key field in tables - it's up to you to ensure that you have a unique entry so far as I can tell
• Sometimes slow to accept updates, though generally pretty responsive.
• Help is not evident. You need to figure it out yourself. Presumably it's in the forums, but I didn't find much helpful there.
• If you make relations between tables you must put an entry in every linking field or the record won't show up in a query - this one took me a while to figure out.

Why I think you should use this product
If you need to produce an updatable list for a small-scale website this is great - no worry about PHP, MySQL (and less control of course). I tested it by creating a six-table database of equipment that my academic department has for common use in the department. After stumbling a bit with the problem noted above on required entries in linking fields it all worked as I wanted. Total time to learn, setup and populate the tables (only about 20 pieces of equipment), create the website to embed the result was 3 hours - vastly better than an effort with PHP a year or two ago. Here's what the output looks like.


How does it compare to similar apps
I'm not aware of any similar web-based apps that are free with similar functionality, though I'm sure Google is working on one. The closest approximations in the desktop world are Access, FileMaker and OpenOffice Base. All offer far more control and features for the single user, but they don't allow easy creation of a web page. Here are some others that I believe are less capable either because their not as fully relational or because the fees kick in very quickly.

 

• Lazybase.com - I took a quick look at this by creating a test DB. It doesn't seem to offer as much user control. It's more aimed at a rating system for restaurants, books etc.
• Quickbase.com (Intuit) - This one has been around a long time and is clearly very capable. The problem is that the minimum appears to be $250/month - not for me.

Conclusions
As I've emphasized throughout, the beauty of this app is that it's web-based and thus able to be readily shared and published. It's nowhere near as finished as even OpenOffice Base, but it sits cleanly in it's own niche and can be very helpful in a rapid manner.

Links to other reviews of this application
I'm sure that there must be some, but I couldn't find any devoted to the database portion of the much larger Zoho suite . It's fairly new.

37

General Software Discussion / Re: Drafting/Architectural Software?

« on: April 26, 2008, 06:50 AM »

I'm an ancient autocad user who agrees that the shift to Revit (almost $8K list I believe) is inevitable in the professional world.

For simple 2D work there are actually some good alternatives - though without the double-wall capabilities etc.
QCad - very low cost, limited compared to ACad
OpenOffice Draw - quite capable indeed though not really aimed at the building world - free

38

Living Room / How to Access Data in US, Britain & France

« on: March 26, 2008, 08:23 AM »

I'm going to be traveling a fair amount in the US, Britain and France over the next several years. A good part of that time I'll be in places where I cannot count on a Wifi connection for my laptop.   I'd like to see if there are ways of making my Motorola L6 work for me, or if that doesn't work I'd like advice on the best way to achieve my goals.

Data: - I'd like to be able to connect my Lenovo 3000 V100 laptop to the web via the phone for EMail etc.  If I understand things correctly this is called tethering in the mobile world.

Expected Usage:
Daily EMail checks - some of which probably will have significant attachments
Maps
Check news
NOT - major downloads of programs etc.
Perhaps some photo uploading to Flickr

I'd appreciate suggestions on the following:

1) Should I be able to do this with my existing unlocked Motorola L6?

2) Which  Carriers make sense- Particularly in the UK and France - I'll only be there for less than a month each time so availability is possibly a real issue. I'm hoping that I can get the data service for about $60/month.

Thanks for any thoughts

Jim Mitchell

39

General Software Discussion / Re: File synchronization: moving away from incremental backup (HELP!)

« on: November 20, 2007, 07:28 AM »

Here's a quick plug for a MS product (bought) - Foldershare.  I've been using it for several years to sync folders on five machines(!) at different locations, desktop and laptops both.  It does sometimes produce extra copies of files if there have been simultaneous edits, quite easily found and deleted, but I've never lost anything.
Free
Limit of 10G per sync
Limit of about 10 simultaneous syncs
It will sync Macs and PC's but not (surprise?) linux.
I'd gladly pay some for a "Pro" version with more capacity but they seem happy to let it languish.  There have been no changes since MS bought it.

40

General Software Discussion / Re: Money Management Software

« on: November 20, 2007, 07:11 AM »

One thing to think about when choosing financial software is taxes.  In the US it can save you a LOT of time to transfer data from your finance program to a tax program.  I've used Quicken for years and will probably continue to do so even though Intuit is a grasping company with MS goals because the translation from Quicken to Turbotax is so easy.  I cannot speak for others

41

General Software Discussion / Re: Equivalent to Foldershare?

« on: November 06, 2007, 07:35 AM »

Thanks for the recommendations - I find that I'd looked at both PowerFolder and Unison before, but had forgotten them.  PowerFolder indeed looks like what I want, though I'd have to ante up considerably more cash than desired to get the capabilities I need.  Oh well, now it's just a matter of money.

42

General Software Discussion / Re: Equivalent to Foldershare?

« on: November 06, 2007, 05:09 AM »

The first link didn't work and the other two are essentially about selective sharing of local items with others.  My sense of them was that they're about allowing others to access your files.  My interest is in synchronizing large numbers of files on multiple machines, something Foldershare does extremely well, but not extending into the *nix world.

43

General Software Discussion / Re: Free virtualization options

« on: November 04, 2007, 06:47 PM »

I've used Virtualbox on a Ubuntu (7.10) machine and been quite impressed with it.  I found it considerably easier to deal with than VMWare Server, but my familiarity with Ubuntu had increased between the two experiences (VMS first) so that may be unfair.

I cannot compare the speed of the two, but Virtualbox seemed quite perky when running XP (LEGAL) and my a sample of standard windows Apps within XP.

44

General Software Discussion / Equivalent to Foldershare?

« on: September 20, 2007, 02:24 PM »

I've been a very happy user of Foldershare for quite a while.  I sync about 30G of data between five PCs (and formerly a Mac) almost effortlessly.  Its big limitation is that (thanks to MS buying it), it doesn't do linux.

Now I'm thinking of trying to incorporate a linux box into the mix.  I'm looking for something that will do the same thing as Foldershare.  I'd appreciate suggestions.  Here's what my research so far seems to tell me:

 - rsync and its offspring might do it but - they seem to be 2-box only and probably hard for a novice to configure

 - Powerfolder looks like a candidate, but I found their documentation tough to evaluate - any users here?

- I could probably do a kluge and run a VM with windows on the linux box and thus continue foldershare, but that does not appeal at all.

Thanks

45

General Software Discussion / Re: Which MP3 player/management software do you use?

« on: July 11, 2007, 08:14 PM »

KMPlayer gets my vote - I found it thanks to BearBottoms site.  It's an extremely clean interface and so far has done everything I want - video and audio both, though I do much more audio. 
Things I like:
- Since I organize my music by folder it allows easy selection of a folder
- It plays by album (though Album has a different meaning for KMP as well)
- It can easily record from an Audio stream - easily being the relevant world
- It has an incredible number of bells and whistles, but they're hidden where they don't bother me till I need them.
- free, not-proprietary, no ads
http://www.kmplayer.com/forums/index.php

46

Find And Run Robot / Appreciation

« on: July 07, 2007, 03:42 PM »

No complaints.  No "I don't get it's" (though I'm sure I don't understand all FARR-II can do.) 

Just "THANKS" for such an amazing program!

47

General Software Discussion / Re: Share Usb Devices

« on: June 08, 2007, 06:59 AM »

I've used a Keyspan USB server for several years.  It can be a bit cranky to set up, but works very nicely with my Canon MP-730 printer/scanner/fax.  It's the only one I could find that did so.
http://www.keyspan.c...productList.USB.spml

48

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini-Review: Wubi - Painless, partion-free WindowsXP/Ubuntu dual booting

« on: May 28, 2007, 10:17 AM »

5/28/2007 One caution for those who backup regularly.  I believe I'm correct that any change in the wubi file means that then entire (in my case 20G) file will needs to be backed up.  This bogged my system down so i went to a dual-boot (eventually chose kUbuntu after a disastrous experience with Mepis totally trashing my windows install).

5/11/2007
I found the problem and was able to install it successfully.  Wubi needs a lot more space than I realized.  When I put it on a drive with 20G free it installed very nicely and works very well
[/quote]

49

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini-Review: Wubi - Painless, partion-free WindowsXP/Ubuntu dual booting

« on: May 09, 2007, 06:47 PM »

Here's the discussion of error-17
http://ubuntuforums....ex.php/t-402638.html

50

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini-Review: Wubi - Painless, partion-free WindowsXP/Ubuntu dual booting

« on: May 09, 2007, 05:08 PM »

For what it's worth I've tried wubi two ways - both with no success.  I used the only available, minefield, version for both.  First I tried the process of letting it download the ISO.  It downloaded, but then failed to install.  Then I downloaded the ISO separately, put it in the correct folder and tried to install.  No luck, it failed partway through.  When I checked the error code in a forum several others had had the problem which was vaguely attributed to disk fragmentation.  Since my disk isn't particularly fragmented I doubted that solution and sadly gave up.  I have gotten Ubuntu running under VMware though it's very jerky on my brand new Dell P390 - it looks like video driver problems.

Jim Mitchell

5/11/2007
I found the problem and was able to install it successfully.  Wubi needs a lot more space than I realized.  When I put it on a drive with 20G free it installed very nicely and works very well