Mon 26 Mar 2007
I recently purchased a 2GB Kingston Memory MMC card for my Nokia 6230i phone, but when I formatted it on the phone I could only copy 768MB of data to it. Believing that the phone only understood FAT, I tried formatting the card using a different cluster size (32k and 64k), but this made no difference.
The answer was to format the card using FAT32. Simple when you know how 
Mon 19 Mar 2007
Round Posts
| Diameter | Area | %age of 4" post | Breaking Force | %age of 4" post |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.5" | 4.91 | 39% | 238 lbs | 25% |
| 3" | 7.07 | 56% | 408 lbs | 42% |
| 3.5" | 9.62 | 77% | 650 lbs | 67% |
| 4" | 12.57 | 100% | 970 lbs | 100% |
| 5" | 19.64 | 156% | 1893 lbs | 195% |
| 6" | 28.27 | 225% | 3268 lbs | 337% |
Posts should have approximately 1/3 of their length in the ground
Wed 14 Mar 2007
I needed to use some draughting software recently and scoured the web for a decent CAD package. In the end, I found useful reviews of several freeware packages by NHCAD. Their favourite program was Turbo CAD Learning Edition. However, the latest versions are time limited, so they recommended downloading an earlier version (V4). The program can be downloaded from sfasu.edu and you should also download the pdf documentation CompleteGuideToTurboCADv4. If you decide to buy a copy then visit TurboCAD’s website.
I downloaded and tried several packages including
The worst packages were WinCAD and KitCAD, while the run away winner was Solid Edge 2D despite its massive 233MB download (due to the inclusion of Microsoft’s .NET Framework 2.0). Turbo CAD Learning Edition is good and a much smaller download (at ~16MB) while bCAD is useful for its 3D capabilities; the only drawback being its limitation of only being able to save drawings with less tham 37 entities in the demonstration version. I have not spent enough time with AllyCAD and A9Tech to form much of an opinion on these, although AllyCAD feels competent and is being taught in all South African schools, so should be actively supported for a while. They also have plenty of online tutorials. A9Tech felt as though they were trying to emulate AutoCAD, but didn’t draw me in.
Other SourceForge packages you might consider are
The Autodesk Design Review packages simply allow you to open various CAD drawings and annotate them, they do not allow you to design anything. This may be useful if you wish to distribute your drawings for comment or approval. You may also download and install Autodesk’s DWF writer which will let you create suitable files from any application by simply printing the document.
If you are after tutorials, then try CAD Digest, CAD Course or Winston.
Wed 14 Mar 2007
I have been searching for a service to forward my email to my mobile phone. This was free in the USA, but all the free providers in the UK seem to have dried up or been taken over.
World Text was the only service whose demo worked. You get 30 free credits which is sufficient for 2-3 messages. Messages costs start at 7p per message. Credits no longer expire.
The other offerings I tried were:
Web Based Services:
Defunct services:
 US dial up provider |
 UK dial up and broadband |
When you expect more from your host |