toughguy asks: "I've got a single phone line with three numbers attached to it. The three numbers make three different rings when they are called ("Distinctive Ring Service"). I'm trying to get a Linux machine (RedHat) to answer only on one of the distinctive rings so that it can receive faxes on that line. So far I haven't had any luck. I'm wondering if anyone has been able to get a Linux machine answering distinctive rings. If so, what modem hardware were you using and what software package as well?"

baboonia asks: "I have a 10GB SnapServer appliance. I'm trying to upgrade it to a 40GB drive. Does anyone know what OS SnapServer uses? It looks like some kind of proprietary flavor of Linux but DriveImage 4.0 and Norton Ghost 6.5 don't seem to like it. (DriveImage supports LinuxSwap and Linux Ext2 but sees the drive as Unallocated.) Has anyone figured out how to move contents of a SnapServer to a larger physical drive? I'll buy you a donut if you can help me out ..."

TrekCycling writes: "I want to get in on the portable Linux action and I was wondering if anyone knew of the availability of a distribution for the HP Jornada 720. As many may know, this is a CE device with a similar configuration (but it's an HPC instead of a Pocket PC) as the iPaq. I'd like to run Linux on it just to become more familiar with. I use it at home for Java development, but I'd like to be able to pack it around with me. I've also looked online and haven't turned up anything positive, but that doesn't mean that something isn't brewing."

CritterNYC writes: "I was wondering if any fellow Slashdotters have experience outsourcing email for an entire domain(s). My web host includes mail hosting, but I'd like to be able to use ORBs or MAPS to filter spam (among other things)... and my host's fees for additional domains on the same account are a bit unreasonable. I'd probably only have a couple accounts with mulitple domains pointing to them, but may grow in the future. Has anyone found a good reasonably-priced company that does email hosting?" Mr. Critter is probably not alone -- charging for services like mail is one way that hosts try to increase their profit margins. Any ideas out there?

jhartnagle asks: "For VNC (Virtual Network Computing) we are trying to determine what the minimal bandwith would be on a network and still have a functional experience for the user (no or very little lag/latency). Information on any type of network connection would be useful, 10/100Mbps, cable/DSL, and modems. What are some of the setup parameters for the machine that would be the VNC server, x number of bits for color for example. Are there any white papers about VNC, bandwidth requirements and usability? Also, is there similar information about telnet? How low of baud rate can you go before it stops being functional? We would be interested in any academic and practical information. Thanks!" So does anyone have any rules of thumb or words of caution in allocating enough bandwidth here? Better yet, are there any good hints in accomplishing VNC over relatively low bandwidth networks?

ahde asks: "I tried to install Ximian Gnome 1.4 on a customized Redhat 6.1 box that their Red Carpet installer didn't like. No big deal, I thought I'd just download Gnome and install it myself, only to discover that there is apparently no such thing. Gnome.org tells you to download from Ximian, which only allows installs through their Red Carpet. I have nothing against Ximian, but is there another way to get Gnome without downloading a hundred separate RPMs and then going through dependency hell?"

TokyoBoy asks: "I have been looking at in-dash mp3 head units and changers lately. However, its occured to me that I would much rather make Ogg/Vorbis files instead of mp3s now. Does anyone know of any hardware manufacturers who plan on supporting the Ogg/Vorbis format in either portable or car stereo equipment?" I would figure this wouldn't be so hard to add on support to some of those Linux-based players out there. There has been a lot of press about the Empeg Car MP3 player (now RioCar...here's hoping that these units are still as flexible as they always were), over the past year, and Slashdot did this MP3 player project which also might proove to be a good starting point. If anyone out there has done this already, please share your experiences.

Skuld-Chan asks: "I'm left handed - so is about 10%-15% of America (depending on what statistic you look at). Is there a PDA out there that has left handed support? I have a Compaq Ipaq and the problem is I have to reach over the screen to grab scroll bars - thus obstructing what I am viewing. My brother has a Palm 7 and he says it doesn't have left handed support either. I think it would be easy to impliment - just reverse all the scroll bars and I'd be happy (the menu items happen to be on the left - just the right place)." You would thing things like this would come out in the usability tests. For those of you lefty's out there who work with PDAs on a semi-daily basis, what do you do to work around this problem?

Zenithal asks: "I've been slowly and silently developing an online game for quite some time now, and I'd like very much for it to be free. The problem is that the game will require several servers and lots of bandwidth if it is at all successful. For now my workplace is willing to sponser my needs, but if things ever picked up it would start costing serious money to run. What I'm wondering is, how can I make any money to maintain the game universe and possibly maybe even get cash for a few beer? I know the potential is there to sell box versions and manuals, but that just doesn't seem realistic. Any ideas Slashdot?" If you aren't willing to sell the game, then maybe you can sell things about the game to fund its further development. Of course, it goes without saying that the game will have to be good, so one of the first things one should do is get a good core group out there to test it. Also, if any game like this is to succeed, it should not ignore whatever community that happens to develop around it. I know something like this is unlikely, but if it were to happen, what would you do to get it started?

XRayX asks: "I'm currently installing a Windows 98 PC and I'm trying to install just Open Source Software (except Windows and Drivers). Okay, there's Freeamp, GIMP, Mozilla, OpenDivX, VirtualDub, Audacity, Abiword, Tuxracer and FlaskMPEG for Windows; but I'm still missing some good Open Source Tools for Windows: a picture viewer and a GUI Zip-program. Can anyone help?" While an interesting thing to try, I don't think it will be as easy as it sounds. How many others of you have tried to pull this off and how successful were you?

Lisa2682 asks: "What software programs are available for editing real audio files? Are programs available to convert from real audio to mp3? I have several large real audio files (~20mb, 2hrs), and I only want to keep about 2 minutes of the file. I haven't found a way to directly edit a Real Audio, or convert from RA to another audio format (like WAV, MP3)." Slashdot tackled a similar question waaay back in 1999, and aside from tricks surrounding grabbing the data as it hits the sound card, most readers either hadn't found or didn't think there was a decent solution. It's been about 2 years since this article. Has this changed at all? If it's this bad with Real Audio media, I can only imagine what it's like for Real Video. As always, feel free to share your thoughts, suggestions, observations and anecdotes on this issue.