Tech troubleshooting

Last night, before going to bed, I google my problem with the Windows 10 Video Editor, and found a few reports indicating that there was a solution, albeit a convoluted one that involved reconfiguring the app in a convoluted way. I needed information about the location of the app in the operating system and had to dig around a bit inside the Settings page information on the app. Here by chance I discovered there was an automatic repair button - maybe a more recent innovation than the articles I googled. I tested this out and found that the default app setup was restored. What a relief! Simple efficient video editing was one of the reasons behind buying a new laptop. The other was audio editing.

I was an early adopter of the Open Source audio editor 'Audacity' over fifteen years ago and have used it on both Linux and several different Windows platforms. It's an app I know well and use with confidence. My only sticking point with it is when I'm installing it on a new device. Audacity makes use of a special software library of code which enables it to import and export key commonly used sound format files. 

This library, called FFMPEG isn't Open Source Software, but Audacity is allowed to use it. You just have to download and install it. The authentic download site is information rich not ignorant user friendly. In fact, I didn't think it's changed much in a decade. I've rarely been successful in obtaining it and getting it to work first time. Invariably it seems I forget how I did it last time, which, if my memory serves me right was in my early days in Ibiza, as I was getting myself into gear for recording audio versions of services. 

As I have Audacity working properly on my desktop machine, I thought I'd take a look at its Programs file containing Audacity. That's where I saw a unique FFMPEG folder, as part of the setup. I copied and pasted this into exactly the place on laptop's filesystem, linked the library to Audacity, and it worked perfectly. It's not nearly so difficult to install Audacity plus FFMPEG on Linux.

I woke up early and posted Morning Prayer to the parish WhatsApp group. After breakfast, I went to St John's for the Eucharist, then after a brief visit to Tesco's, returned and cooked lunch. I intended to sleep after lunch but my mind was mulling on next week's Morning Prayer video. The more time I give to it in advance, the less pressure I feel I'm under to deliver to a deadline. Looking at the reading set for the office, ideas began to flow/ I lay on the bed with my Chromebook, and drafted a reflection based on it. 

I did my daily walk around the park before supper. I ate alone, as Clare went out to the Steiner School to watch final year students perform a Goldoni farce, their end of year school play, and returned much impressed with their comedic skills, including live improvisation on stage. Impressive for seventeen year olds! After supper I made a bereavement call to arrange next Tuesday's funeral, and with nothing better to do, having done enough work for the day, I watched three episodes of  'Just one look' a French thriller on Walter Presents. More plausible that what I binge watched yesterday and the day before.