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

1. To become the humble owner of an iMac.

2. To become a user of broadband.

3. To become the shameless user of SG services!
[I'm not gonna get near the real thing this lifetime.]

All the best luck in achieving those - though i wonder what SG is???

I can strongly, strongly recommend the first!

I hoping none will be a disappointment, though none can live up to the image they have, hoping there is more than shrewd business behind 1 & 3.

SG - what is that? Please?

SG stands for Suicide Girls. The suicide girls are 'modern day pin-up girls,' the site has a community built around 'strong female' models, who are comfortable with celebrating their sexuality in an artistic and erotic way. It has cultivated an image as 'alternative' becausae the girls are rock/punk. It's also got the image of being non-exploitative becaus the girls are willing participants in the 'project'. However, as the site has matured and become more and more sucessful SG does more of the business and industry about it's aspect. But it does remain the acceptable face of porn.

Thanks for the explanation.That seems pretty interesting as a concept...

*goes all inhibited again*

What I need to do is obtain an account that I can use to upgrade to broadband. I'm not sure how long this will take. I'm yet hand the form in.
I have been planning on buying the iMac this coming Saturday at the Apple Store. I can't buy it online, but I don't think the version in store has the extra memory I was thinking of buy, I think you have that built-to-order.
I'm not good at telephone enquiries.
Then I think that if I just wait abit longer I could save enough for the bigger iMac, I'm not at college, I'm not struggling without computer like I was, and I can't re-enrol until September, assuming they let me.
Then I think, do I really want an Apple? PCs cost less, there are geekish things to be done with PCs, if I took the time to learn and just how easy to deal with is the whole business of incompatibility of documents, software etc.
And I worry about the ethicality of the other ambition.

Ah, hello... missed your posting, left the computer for sometime.

Aye, the concept is a good one, an attarctive concept.

I can't help you with the ethics question- but I can help with the mac.

"I have been planning on buying the iMac this coming Saturday at the Apple Store. I can't buy it online, but I don't think the version in store has the extra memory I was thinking of buy, I think you have that built-to-order."

Actually, it's very easy to upgrade the memory on your own- just ask the store tech support guy how to do it. Basically, it's just open slot, plug in memory, restart computer and go.

"Then I think that if I just wait abit longer I could save enough for the bigger iMac."

Ooh... tough choice. I'm kind of in this dilemma myself, but over a wireless card. The new Macintel should have a pretty high speed, but without the heat issues of the Power PC chips. Do they offer refurbished models, so you can try it out and not be out as much if you don't like it?

"Then I think, do I really want an Apple?"

What, do you /like/ spyware or something? Just kidding- Apples have been traditionally more difficult to hack. Even though there isn't as much software for Mac as there is for a PC, there is still more than enough for the latest version of OSX to keep me amused- check out http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/

Yes, document incompatibility has been a problem in the past, but subsequent versions of Apple software has reduced this in most cases. With the latest version of MS Office for Mac, I can read anything sent to me from a Windoze PC with very few exceptions. I think some word processing software comes with the system, but MS office offers more (don't tell anyone I said that!).

As for the geekishness- Mac OSX is based on a UNIX code called Darwin. When you open Terminal, you can geek out all you want! Here's a starter: http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2002/10/22/macforunix.html

Hope this helped.

It helps to know that upgrading the memory needn't be a headache...

Something else occured to me as a possibility, I could get a G4 and upgrade that. It wouldn't attractive have the flat panel, but it may serve my needs...

Oh, I really don't know what I should do.

The practicalities of reality are not a strength of mine. Nor much else of reality, really.

I just got a Mac Mini and I love it soooooo much. It's my baby, and I've named it.... well the disk name anyway..... sorry I can be retarded. Go with the Mac I very muchly recommend it.

Oh, oh! AND..... No viruses and spyware! Always a plus! I'm done now.....

*Looks at latest headlines from Macworld.*

It appears you won't have to wait that long for a Macintel...

I'm almost certainly buying one of the early G5 iMac's [refurb] in Brightonhelmstone in about 45 minutes depending on the trains... I will doubtless regret this.

Probably not.

But I haven't got broadband in place, the building society won't let me have chequebook let alone a debit or credit card, I'm not at college and in urgent need of a desktop... So why then did I get so unshakeable set on buying a iMac sooner rather than later when I could have afforded something better...?

In the immediate future all I need the Mac for is internet, so why didn't I step back from the original plan and save up for a great big flat screen TV that can be hooked up to a little old Macmini when the time comes that I'll actually what a mac that I can word process with?

Because I'm a feckin' idiot.

Uhm... what? You need a MacMini to word process?

Hmm... Maybe I should tell my iBook that.

Look- You're experiencing a little buyer's remorse, but you've obviously thought this through. That's why you got a refurbished G5 instead of one of the new Macintels- you know they work. You have a more powerful computer- sure, for now, you just need it for internet, but the not-too-distant future will bring a need for applications that suck more processing power, and it'll be well within the standard one-year warantee that you got when you bought it from an Apple dealer. And you probably got so set on buying a iMac right away because you needed internet right away, and you were sick of having your PCs killed by the spyware/adware/virus/trojan/worm/Windoze security flaw of the month. And you obviously have been saving for this.

Point is: you're not an idiot. You needed a computer, you compared your options, you got one. And frankly, I think waiting for the mini/flat screen TV would have been a big fat waste of time.

Will you be able to get modem connection from home? Painfully slow, I know, but it would mean we get more of you here!

Use it, don't begrudge it now that you have it! (is begrudge a suitable word here asks the foreign one)

In time you can save up for the flat screen - one has to know ones priorities!

1. You're not an idiot!!! (you get three !'s with that one)
2. People, as a society and esp. in groups are stupid.... (eg. building people)
3. s from me!!