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Messages - andrewalston

Pages: 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 ... 333
19
The Lighter Side / Re: Recording family treasures
« on: Friday 09 February 24 11:34 GMT (UK)  »
Quote from: Viktoria on Sunday 04 February 24 22:20 GMT (UK)
The worry is the drive belt will probably have deteriorated ,but my sons can find almost anything for obsolete things.
Drive belts seem to available for virtually any tape or cassette device. However gaining access to the right part of the innards can be a problem. Some machines appear to have been designed by people fanatical about logic puzzles, with screws of various sizes and spring clips to be negotiated.
In addition, old rubber tends to end up as a sticky mess, often in the places most difficult to reach.  :(
YouTube has loads of videos of people struggling with the task on any number of devices.

I suggest looking for someone who already has a working machine!  ;D

20
The Lighter Side / Re: The worst Ancestry transcription ever?
« on: Thursday 08 February 24 14:49 GMT (UK)  »
I've just had a quick browse of those Banns.

People seemed to be in a great rush to marry, and the clergymen seemed to be in a rush to get them to the altar. I notice one marriage at 2:15 on March 30th and the next listed at 2:30 the same day.

Was it the influence of wartime, or were they all worried about being transported back to the reign of George II ?   ;D ;D

21
The Lighter Side / Re: A worldwide family history success story
« on: Sunday 04 February 24 21:45 GMT (UK)  »
Quote from: goldie61 on Thursday 25 January 24 04:13 GMT (UK)
I'm never going to find oil paintings of my lot! :)

Me neither! Most of the places my lot lived have been demolished as slums. We reckon that if they were alive today, they would be borrowing off us.  ;D

However someone I've been helping at out FHS has a gateway ancestor, and there is an image online of a painting of one of her direct ancestors from the early 17th century! Unfortunately it is in someone's private collection, so it's unlikely she will be able to view it in person.   :(

22
The Lighter Side / Re: Recording family treasures
« on: Sunday 04 February 24 21:27 GMT (UK)  »
Quote from: Viktoria on Friday 02 February 24 16:50 GMT (UK)
On an old reel to reel tape recorder we have lots of voices from the past.

I am not sure in what condition the tapes are now after sixty plus years.

Viktoria.

There are people around who have the right equipment to play the tapes and make modern digital versions. It's actually the first of these tasks which is more difficult - any old PC or phone can record the sounds.

In any case, PLEASE label the tape boxes or reels to give someone else a chance of figuring out why they are worth keeping!

23
The Lighter Side / Re: Ancestors almost born somehwere else to where they were.
« on: Sunday 04 February 24 10:02 GMT (UK)  »
I have people claiming to have been born in the same place as their older siblings. Neither place was more prestigious than the other, so no special bragging rights. ;D

24
Technical Help / Re: New Ancestry Stories interface
« on: Sunday 04 February 24 09:55 GMT (UK)  »
Have you tried reducing the size of the text (Control-Minus)?

I find that many things disappear off the bottom of boxes, or even the screen, because the coders can't imagine anyone working with a screen less than 72 inches wide, and would be incapable of doing the arithmetic needed to work out whether a scroll bar was required.

Shrinking everything in the window gives the website similar proportions to the developers' machines.

They used to have an email address (support@ancestry.co.uk) but they have stopped answering that. Apparently the only text-based contact is now through the minimal form which is reached ONLY after going through their "frequently asked questions", none of which are EVER appropriate.
 

25
Technical Help / Re: Vodafone 3G switch off
« on: Sunday 28 January 24 22:37 GMT (UK)  »
Yes, you've got it.

The phone will try LTE first (which your provider WILL support) and if you are out of range, will try 3G, and that having been switched off, 2G after that.

26
Technical Help / Re: Keeping just Recording of sound from a video - - -
« on: Sunday 28 January 24 17:13 GMT (UK)  »
The free media player can do this happily - I often use it for this.

Under the "Media" menu, there is "Convert/Save".

In there, use the "+" button and add the video file to the list.

Click on the "Convert/Save" button at the bottom of the dialog box.

Adjust the "Profile" to be an Audio format, such as "Audio - MP3".

Give a name for the "Destination file".

Click on "Start".

The main window of VLC shows a progress bar.

27
Technical Help / Re: Word
« on: Sunday 28 January 24 16:51 GMT (UK)  »
There has been a free what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor called Wordpad included with Windows for many years.
Last year Microsoft announced that it was on its way out. If it was uninstalled from Windows 11, it could not be put back.
Microsoft have been pushing people towards their office product (now called Microsoft 365) for a long time. A fresh install of Windows comes with a teaser to get you to pay for it. They also try to get you use an online "free" version which is restricted to only use files inside Microsoft's OneDrive. They examine your files and sell you to advertisers depending on what you have written.

However, there are several properly FREE products which do just the same things.

If you can't locate your original program, have a look for LibreOffice, or OpenOffice. They happily deal with the same file types as the Microsoft products, and cost noting besides the time to download them.

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