h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

 It's my last day in my current job tomorrow, which is cool 'cos it sucks. However that means that I won't get free net access for 8 hours a day...Double suck.

So, as I don't have a PC at home I guess that means I'll be restricted to the occasional half hour sesh in the library, paying through the nose.

I'll try to make quality, not quantity count.

This is bad medecine.

Get ye to a dodgy back street vendor of warmish computers and forge for theyself out of finest copper an connection to the internet!! And in election week!!

No, Bad Medecine is a track by alleged "Rock Gods" Bon Jovi.


This is Bad Timing.

I'll still vote Merkin and do my best to recruit others in the time that I get. And if I get my hands on a cheap PC or Mac.....

Ah Bon Jovi. How often I pictured their severed heads atop the gates of the Tower...

Bon chance in your PC hunt, if you're buying a complete system I don't think the recent rise in momory prices will affect you.

It would have to be a complete system as I currently have jack...

I think I could probably get an I-Mac for around £600 and having used Macs before, I think they're quite funky. Mind, I could probably get a low spec PC for around £400.

Have got a couple of iMacs in our offices, and frankly they're not up to much. They look cute, but they are the C5 of the computer world. £400 should get you a K6-450 with all the knobs on. Or get one shipped over from the states if you've got all the UK software you need.

Give us a shout should you require any software (for evaluation purposes).

Thanks for the advice Merkin!

I was going to haul my sorry ass down to PC-World and see what they'd got on offer. I've just got to pay off my car, first and on the kind of wages I earn it could take some time before I've got the £400 to spare.

Don't know what software I'll be getting/needing yet, but I should probably start with the hardware!

Advice II

Don't go near PC world!! PCs cost far more there than they ought to. Buy Computer shopper and check out the mail order stuff. Also if you've got any small independent retailers near you, check them out. they can be anything up to 40-50% cheaper than PC world, and you can customise your PC a lot more.

OK, will do. If I'm going to get advice, it's nice to know it's not from someone trying to sell me something.

I quite happily use computers at work but I haven't been much of a techy since my ZX Spectrum was outclassed by the Commodore 64 and my parents couldn't afford to buy me a new one, so my knowhow is a little, hrrrmm... outdated.

Mind you, HTML seems to make more sense than any programming I used to do back then. All those pokes and peeks...

> my ZX Spectrum was outclassed by the Commodore 64

That brings back memories. 4th year common room, C64 and Speccy owners arguing about which was best (no contest, the 64 ruled mercilessly), copying games (on cassette!), Dragon 32 (remember those?) and BBC model B guys stood on their own.

Omigod! Dragon 32's! Those and the Beebs were terrible!

And then everything went Atari ST and Amiga and I was left in 48K attribute clash hell....

It was amazing what they achieved within those limitations. Programmers are only just beginning to catch up now and exploit the potential of current technology.

I tried to fire up my old speccy a few months ago, but it had sadly bitten the dust.

Copying on cassette...a wave of nostalgia overcomes me..

Hmmm, C64's eh, games on cassetes, isn't it, Elite, Horace goes Skiing, Manic Miner, wasn't he, eh? Small boys in the common room, ZX81's for frisbees...