Page Created: 10th July, 1999 Last Update: 17th November, 1999 http://www.galactic-guide.com/ Compatible with: All too much? Perhaps you need a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster?
But remember to never drink more than two of these unless... Or perhaps you want to know what Life used to be like in the old
days? If you'd like to order a copy of the real Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, please see
here.What is this Project
Galactic Guide thing?:
To quote from their own FAQ, "Project Galactic Guide (PGG) is a collaborative Internet attempt at creating an electronic book meant to guide and misguide its readers in
matters of life, death, and finding a parking spot anywhere in the Universe. Ever
since 1991, editors, field researchers and other contributors alike have been involved in
building a database of articles ranging on all matters in and out of this world. They have built browsers, Web sites and written articles, all in order to create something as fun, helpful and brilliant as the late, great Douglas Adams' fictional Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (HHGTTG) -- only for real." At the time of writing, they say they are
still working on the fun, helpful and brilliant bits! You can find out much more
about PGG by visiting their website at:-
What should I expect to find in the Galactic Guide?:
"The contents of the Guide can range from the more practical to the more useless,
from the very factual to the very fantasist. While accuracy can be as much part of
the guide as humour, wit, insight and genius, it can easily be neglected in order to
attract readers or facilitate writing... You may consider the Guide as a friendly
resource for more or less reliable knowledge and fabrication. It's a sort of casual
encyclopedia reporting on art, travel, science, sex (but not that much), improbable
metaphysics, and almost anything, really. Every author and article has its own voice
and tone, and those are most preferably humoristic. Although we don't pretend to
anything, the nature of the Guide makes it perfect ground for adamian field researching,
borgian invention, swiftian satire, and all that is about sharing more or less personal
views about common things that may seem alien to others."
Articles are placed into three catagories: Real, Semi-Real or Unreal. Real articles can be about real people, real places, and real concepts, and are totally real (they do not contain anything that is unreal). Semi-Real articles are a cross between Real and Unreal, in that they do not qualify to be called "Real," because they contain unreal elements, but not so many unreal elements that they're completely unreal. Unreal articles, on the other hand, are complete fiction.
So what's the EPOC version of PGG?:
It's a collaboration between Pscience5, FreEPOC, and PGG - which essentially means that it's just a port of the original PGG articles to the EPOC platform! To me it seemed only fitting that PGG be ported to a hand-held device. There's a kind of poetic
justice in it since The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was originally conceived to be an electronic guide in a hand-held device. Certainly far more fitting that it should
first appear in a Psion rather than a WinCE device I think - I'm sure the great DNA himself would approve. ;-) A kind of 'coming home' for Project Galactic Guide
perhaps?! It will run on any EPOC device with a screen size of 640x240 or greater (although Revo version coming soon!). Be warned however that it is large - very large. Mindbogglingly, galactically huge in fact!... Having been duly aforewarned, you can download v1.01 from the Don't Panic logo below:-
What next?:
At the moment, the EPOC version of the Guide only contains the original 'real' articles. I'll be endevouring to add some of the 'semi-real' and 'un-real' articles to it in due course. If you're interested in contributing to the Guide, please visit PGG at the link above.
Additional information:
Saturday, 1 April 2006