wowbagger asks: "We've all heard of the various apt-get packages for Mac OS X (and more power to them!), but does anybody know of a similar effort for Irix? Yes, SGI has their freeware distribution of GNU and other utilities, but there is as far as I've seen no good way to automatically update - you just have to go to the SGI open source server (when it is available) and try to find something new. Has anyone set up a apt/gentoo/redcarpet system to automate this process"

anvilmark asks: "Sci-Fi and sci-fi games often incorporate the romantic idea of 'free trader' ships with ports of call on a myriad planets across the galaxy. Recently I was toying with the physics of propelling such ships and their cargos out of a gravity well and realized the astronomical amounts of power it would take to do it (not to mention interstellar travel). This led naturally to contemplating how cheap energy would have to be in order to make this activity profitable. To make a long story short (too late!), I began wondering what would happen if the introduction of fusion power takes energy costs from pennies per kilowatt hour to pennies per megawatt hour (or GWH)? How do you envision the world changing if energy costs became a trivial part of economic equations?"

Jay Maynard asks: "The project team is getting ready to release a new version of the Hercules IBM mainframe emulator. Part of the update is support for new instructions IBM added in their latest z/990 system, and two of those do encryption. The Bureau of Industry and Security (formerly the Bureau of Export Administration) changed their regulations on June 6, 2002 to grant a license to export open-source encryption code to anyone but the usual suspects (denied persons and banned countries). They went on to recently clarify that putting up code for download did not in itself constitute exporting to those banned countries or persons. There are many open-source projects that still host encryption code outside the US because of past rules. Is there still a reason for doing so?"

t0pper311 asks: "I work for a pretty large utility company in the midwest and of course, security is a big concern. We use Trend Micro as a mail gateway to basically scan for virii and strip off most attachments like executables or VB script. Now with the Sobig.E virus on the loose, we need to ask ourselves if we should be blocking ZIP files. We got lucky this time and were not effected, but what about next time? What are other companies doing? If you do block ZIP files, how do you give the people who need to sends files the ability to do so? Do you allow any attachments at all?"

A not-so Anonymous Coward asks: "I have searched the web for links on how to make VNC work with Windows XP fast user switching, and all I have seen is people saying that they cannot get it to work. I would now like to ask the Slashdot community to give it their shot, and see if they cannot find a way to make your standard VNC utilities cooperate with Windows XP fast user switching. For those who don't know what the problem is; when using fast user switching, if you switch users (without logging out) from the first user to log on then VNC comes up with a blank screen. Hopefully someone can come up with a fix for this." It sounds like (and I might be way off base here)Windows isn't necessarily running multiple desktops for its fast user switching, and once the switch occurs from the user running the VNC process, that VNC then somehow loses rights to the desktop. It would be interesting to note if VNC sessions will work once the desktop is switched back. Has anyone else tried getting this to work? Have you run into the same problems, or were you able to find a solution?

Cujo asks: "In all seriousness, I need a RAID that supports at least level 3 and stores > 500 GB, and I need to it work in zero-G (but not in a vacuum), and be able to take a fair bit of vibration and noise when turned off. I don't want to spend huge sums: I'm thinking well less than $50,000. I've looked at Apple's XServe/XRaid products, and they look great (about $10,000), but are they rugged enough and who is their competition? Some people make hardened RAIDs for military use, but I'm unfamiliar with the best candidates in that field (and do I really need mil spec?)."

JoeShmoe950 asks: "I recently got my hands on an Atari 65XE. It didn't come with a floppy or a cassette drive. I started programming when I realized there was no way to save my program. I wanted to ask you people if there is any way to wire up a normal cassette recorder to an Atari. What I need is the description for what part of a tape recorder(record, mic, speaker, etc) to each pin. I want to create an alternative to buying an Atari Cassette Drive from eBay."

Scummer asks: "I am tinkering with the idea of replacing my old Palm Vx with a Tungsten C from Palm since I really like the WiFi capabilities of this new handheld. However, I have read in some reviews, that the range of the T|C is not that great since it doesn't include an external antenna. Has anyone tinkered with his T|C, and can tell if it is possible to place a connector for an external antenna somewhere in there? Is the internal antenna soldered or is it actually plugged, which would provide a better signal quality? I mean, browsing Slashdot and reading email on a T|C from the playground (which is about 1 mile away from my house [with a 15dbi external omni on the roof]), while my kids are having fun falling off the playground equipment, would be awesome." Solutions should try to be a little more novel than Pringles' cans and floppy disks but I don't think the submittor will complain if it works.

HCIGuy asks: "A few of us are working within a local school of engineering and technology to set up a seminar series unique to the area. We envision a sequence of monthly seminars that focus on bleeding edge technology, presented by vendors' engineers, and attended by students, faculty, and industry folk. No marketing hype allowed; we want only the facts. We obviously want this to be of high interest to everyone, so we're asking for input on what topics would be of sky-high fascination right now. What would it be? We're leaning toward wireless for our first program, but all comments gratefully received. What topic would make you rush out and drive across town to hear it? We have only an hour and a half to commit to this, so the material has to be narrowly focused. We plan on holding up to six per school year, and we don't intend to hold over subjects from one time to the next."