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jctaylor 
Posts:24
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| 08/19/2006 8:21 AM |
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My old Toshiba has BD v2.0 from the mid nineties. I'd like to take the backup from that program (BIRDS_DAT, I think) into my new laptop and BD v3.5. Reading the forums hasn't helped... whatever I've entered into 'search' returned no hits. You may know that I'm more knowledgeable about birds (since 1964) than computers.
So, will you respond with a fairly detailed procedure? Thank you.
RGDS, John Taylor
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jjones
Posts:5332
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| 08/20/2006 7:29 AM |
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Hi John,
The info you want is on a page in this web site - Product Info >> Upgrading from 2.5 or 3.0.
Upgrading from v2.0 (over 8 years old!) is no longer supported.
However, for others, I have taken their database and built a 3.5 database for a custom consulting fee, complete with all of your V2 data. If you are interested in this, please respond here and let me know.
Thanks,
Jeff |
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jctaylor
Posts:24
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| 08/20/2006 11:10 AM |
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Jeff, I appreciate your response. I'm stuck in a hotel, (Salt Lake today, Saint Louis tomorrow) on call. Keeps me from being out in the field.
Prior to posting my request, I read the v2.5 > v3.5 procedure (and all of the other threads, too.)
Bums me that just because I've been a BD user for some 9 or ten years I'm no longer considered a good guy.
Never mind, my 911 sightings will only take a little while to enter manually. I saw on one of the postings that your fee was $200 for your time and trouble. Cheap at twice the price, considering the work you are doing for the new release, and the time spent dealing with the Forum.
Let me ask you if v2.0 would load into v2.5. Might I be able to go back to the sequence of versions and convert, one upgrade at a time, until i was eventually up to date with the current software?
Rgds, John Taylor |
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jjones
Posts:5332
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| 08/21/2006 8:16 AM |
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Posted By jctaylor on 08/20/2006 11:10 AM
Bums me that just because I've been a BD user for some 9 or ten years I'm no longer considered a good guy.
Hi John,
You're still a good guy! It is just the reality of the software business. In order to keep prices to you, the consumer, on an acceptable level you bear the burden of staying current with the software you use. To make software backwards compatible beyond major release versions (e.g. v2, v3, etc) would be prohibitively costly for both development and then passing that cost on to the end user. For example, you can no longer upgrade from releases just 2-3 years old from manufactures such as Quicken, Adobe, etc. The reason for this is as I explained above. It is far too expensive to maintain cross-version update compatibility with software.
Let me ask you if v2.0 would load into v2.5. Might I be able to go back to the sequence of versions and convert, one upgrade at a time, until i was eventually up to date with the current software?
Yes - if those versions were still availble. However, they are not. Only v3.5.56 is currently being sold. It will upgrade v3.0.x and up.
Jeff |
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whack561
Posts:3
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| 08/24/2006 8:31 AM |
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Hi Guys,
I'm new to this forum stuff so please bear with me. I don't know if I'm even sending my inquiry to the right person but herer goes.
I just bought a new PC, XL version and I can't load my Birders Diary, Version 2.0 onto it. It states that it can't find VB40016.DLL. So I am thinking of purchasing version 3.6. But before I do I need to know if I can transfer my listings from my backup floppy disk to the new version. Do I need to be a computer scientist to do it?
If I can tranfer my data I'll be all set. When will 3.6 be available and what is the price?
Thanks for any assistant you can provide.
Walt H
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jjones
Posts:5332
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| 08/24/2006 8:38 AM |
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Posted By whack561 on 08/24/2006 8:31 AM
Hi Guys,
I'm new to this forum stuff so please bear with me. I don't know if I'm even sending my inquiry to the right person but herer goes.
I just bought a new PC, XL version and I can't load my Birders Diary, Version 2.0 onto it. It states that it can't find VB40016.DLL. So I am thinking of purchasing version 3.6. But before I do I need to know if I can transfer my listings from my backup floppy disk to the new version. Do I need to be a computer scientist to do it?
If I can tranfer my data I'll be all set. When will 3.6 be available and what is the price?
Thanks for any assistant you can provide.
Walt H
Hi Walt,
V2 will not install on today's computers. As you have already found out.
You cannot auto-transfer your data from your v2 database into v3.x. Your only options are:
1) enter them by hand into v3.x, or
2) I will convert your data into v3.x for a fee of $300
V3.6 may be released later this week or next week. The price has not yet been set for the user license of v3.6 - expect it to be in the $29 - $39 range. However, please read and understand the page on this site "Product Info > Licensing".
Let me know if I can assist further.
Jeff |
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Birder's Diary Technical Support |
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jctaylor
Posts:24
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| 09/14/2006 10:01 AM |
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Jeff: Rather than start a new thread, let me just add on to the subject I started in August.
I had Thayer v2.1 from 8 or 10 years ago. It was working fine, but the laptop was so slow that I decided to join you with the V3.5.56 download. I paid for it before attempting to use it, and was dismayed to find that my database was not transferable. Had I not paid for the v3.5, I might have tried to clean up the old computer, or lived with its slowness.
So, I bought the advanced license and Clements' 2005. I'm not sure why I needed the advanced, but there you are. Now, within a month of purchasing v3.5, I seem to need to spend an additional $39 for v3.6 license.
(btw, I queried you for help getting Petey to work with voice, and you helped me solve that issue, and I've entered about 60% of my life list from printed sheets using the voice recognition facility.) |
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jjones
Posts:5332
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| 09/14/2006 10:13 AM |
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Posted By jctaylor on 09/14/2006 10:01 AM
Jeff: Rather than start a new thread, let me just add on to the subject I started in August.
I had Thayer v2.1 from 8 or 10 years ago. It was working fine, but the laptop was so slow that I decided to join you with the V3.5.56 download. I paid for it before attempting to use it, and was dismayed to find that my database was not transferable. Had I not paid for the v3.5, I might have tried to clean up the old computer, or lived with its slowness.
So, I bought the advanced license and Clements' 2005. I'm not sure why I needed the advanced, but there you are. Now, within a month of purchasing v3.5, I seem to need to spend an additional $39 for v3.6 license.
(btw, I queried you for help getting Petey to work with voice, and you helped me solve that issue, and I've entered about 60% of my life list from printed sheets using the voice recognition facility.)
Hi John,
Version 3.5 has been out since June, 2005. V3.6 is long overdue as I intend to get updates out much more often than once per year now. The fact that you just purchased v3.5 - as opposed to over a year ago when it came out - is, of course, beyond my control. I hope that makes sense. It is the only answer that I can give.
I have however, improved my conversion process since we first talked and now support v2.0 and up. If you would like and you still have your full v2.x database, I will be happy to convert your data to 3.6 format at no charge. However, with this conversion, you will not have access to your old taxonomic lists that were present in v2. Just what you have currently in 3.5, e.g. Clements. Let me know.
Jeff |
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Birder's Diary Technical Support |
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jctaylor
Posts:24
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| 09/14/2006 10:27 AM |
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Thanks, Jeff.
There were other threads regarding the v2.0 database conversions, and you may have takers on the process.
I'm actually having nostalgic fun entering the old lifers via Petey. And having the new tax gives me the name changes that I would otherwise not know.
John Taylor |
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jjones
Posts:5332
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| 09/14/2006 10:35 AM |
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Sounds good John. Let me know if I can help with anything else.
Jeff |
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Birder's Diary Technical Support |
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jctaylor
Posts:24
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| 10/21/2006 1:24 PM |
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Jeff, greetings. We've made progress. Parent locations such as Arizona and Alaska seem to function. However, subsidiary sites, such as Henderson Bird Viewing Area, and Amsterdam, produce the screen shots below:
Any thoughts? You loaded the ABA checklist, and the entries were originally logged using only Clements. The ABA checklists (Amer & Can) were not activated/uploaded at the time. Will this make a difference, I wonder?
Rgds, John Taylor |
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jjones
Posts:5332
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| 10/21/2006 1:58 PM |
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Hi John,
There is only checklist data at the Country level for most of the world, and for State/Province levels in Canada and USA. So selecting your own user-created locations will have no checklist data with them. Instead, select the country or state that contains those locations as your Location Filter.
You can create checklist data for these locations using the Checklist Editor. You can autopopulate them with sightings you already have for those locations and then add the other birds. In my next release, the new checklist editor will allow a copy of data from one location with data to another.
Let me know if this is not clear.
Jeff |
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Birder's Diary Technical Support |
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jctaylor
Posts:24
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| 10/21/2006 2:41 PM |
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Well, Duh! I had forgotten how to work the program. Of course the primary locations for the checklists, then the sites for the sightings. It is functioning correctly now.
Please don't hold my ineptitude against me when you think of Las Vegas.
Reards, John Taylor |
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jjones
Posts:5332
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| 10/22/2006 9:24 AM |
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