ladyunicorn,
Least you found out your computer is not setup for graphics. That kinda sucks.
The printable guide is pretty nice, Aedolaws made that for us. Only it is not updated yet with the last 4-5 updates. I will try to have that done next update, unless he sends me a new updated version first.
Here is a
current text file for you of the Diary information, you can simply print it out on your printer if you choose. It has the Operations and Crafting sections
(great idea!):
Printable_DiaryTextFile (tiny 2 kb)
The only other thing that I can think of that might help lag in your case would be, turn down a couple notches the "view distance" in settings. Then the engine does not have to process trees and stuff really far away from the player. Try to keep it at least middle way or better though cause you need to see some distance, lol.