radiojock asks: "OK, I've got a question -- has anyone ever seen a way to replace a LCD projector's bulb (they burn out way too easily) with the new superbright LEDs ? this should be very possible, take a group of the LEDs and mount them on a board. Would this be able to replace the bulbs? And would the LCD projector manufacturers allow this? Think of the energy savings, and the heat reduction ... Just a thought." I would pay a lot of money for such a replacement bulb, and I suspect a lot of others would too -- which leads me to suspect that such LED arrays really aren't ready yet, or they would be on the market. I hope someone can contradict this -- are LEDs up to the task? I bet the LCD manufacturers would be eager to supply them if so.

Tim_F writes: "Palmstation has a nice review of the recently available development release of the Sharp Zaurus 5000D. This device looks sweet, with QT Embedded, and Lineo Embeddix. It also features a full JVM based on JDK 1.1.8." Any readers out there who have managed to try one of these out as well?

scarolinus asks: "Working in the computer field, I find myself asking, "Which component to specify for my customers?" It used to be I would specify the most expensive component the customer could afford. The more established and reputable the brand, the better. Now, with no change in volume, it seems that failure rates are at least double what they used to be in the last few years. And it doesn't matter if the system is a $999 special or a $9999 multiprocessor server. So, is there a website out there that cataloges the failure rates of individual PC hardware components? Is there a website that helps us hold the hardware manufacturers accountable for the quality of product they produce?"

JohnMadison asks: "As a engineering student, I have a lot of projects, but not much test equipment at home. I was wondering if anybody has advice on using my PC as an oscilloscope. I've downloaded a couple of shareware programs that use the sound card for input, but they weren't really useful. I am looking for a good way to make a cheap, yet decent scope. Any sugestions?" While something like this would be an interesting hack, I'm at a loss as to what you would use for probes. The submitter mentions using the sound card as an input, but would that be the best solution? If you were going to make a custom add-on to the PC to do this, what would it need? Does such an add-on already exist? Interestingly enough, this fits in well with an earlier article we did.

zebziggle writes "The dashPC has Global Positioning (GPS) and Navigation, DVDs, Games (Quake 3, SoF, UT), Address book database, etc. It can run any programs that will run on an Intel/AMD i686 class computer. There is a Basic Stamp micro-controller that interfaces the Linux box to the car ignition for controlled boot/shutdown." The article says Linux, but that screenshot tells a different story. The website has other stuff and a lot more pictures.

Frédéric writes: "The venerable company ZiLOG who was founded in 1974, and who brought us the famous Z80 CPU (used in the Timex/Sinclair ZX80/ZX81, and the Amstrad CPC/PCW computers), is filling for Chapter 11 ... I didn't find the today's news on the web, but found this article at Silicon Strategy and this one at Electronics times, which was written a few days ago to announce it."

I've been excited about the ZapStation since I first saw it at ALS a few years ago. At the time it was at a good price point, and appeared to be a solid contender for the convergence media box that I crave. It took more then a year for them to release a product and for me to formulate an opinion. Now's your chance to read it. Don't get excited all at once now.

albamuth asks: "A friend of mine recently handed me $1000 (in the form of her credit card) and asked me to put together the best artist-friendly PC possible. Though I enjoy reading system guide recommendations put out by the likes of Arstechnica and Sharkyextreme, it seems that most, if not all, of these guides are geared towards gaming purposes. My friend is an artist and was surprised when I approaced with a list of decidedly non-Apple recommendations. I countered that the lousiest new iMac would cost $999 and the reason why "all the other artists" use them is because of brand loyalty. However, now I'm tediously looking through motherboard and monitor reviews for things like Firewire ports and color accuracy, respectively. There's plenty of other things to think about as well: Photoshop vs. GIMP, [slide] scanners, video capture, etc. Though I'm pretty dogmatic on getting an AMD, I would like to hear opinions on hardware/software for a media/arts-oriented box."

An Anonymous Coward asks: "Like every geek on the planet, I have attempted to create a slick, well integrated MP3 player for my car. I have the unit in place, a biscuit pc running of a dc power supply that is ACC line aware, wireless 802.11 to download music from my home server when parked in the driveway, and it sends its sound signal to the receiver via the Alpine cd changer connector in my car. What I have looked for religiously is the specification for the Alpine M-BUS protocol so I can cleanly integrate it with my in-dash Alpine receiver. I see lots of questions but no answers when I search the web and newsgroups. Any one out there reverse engineered this spec? I just want to know before I go try to reverse engineer it myself." I've gotta admit, the 802.11 extension is a new twist on the traditional car MP3 player! Pretty slick, that. Are there any projects currently in the works to reverse engineer the M-BUS protocol, or will our anonymous friend here need to start this off on his own?

An Anonymous Coward writes: "Archos has just announced the Jukebox Multimedia Portable Entertainment Center. Due this January, The unit is the same size and weight as the company's Jukebox 6000 MP3 portable, plays and records MPEG4 video, MP3 and WMA audio, has a color video screen built-in, and offers a FireWire interface as an option. What's most interesting about the player is an expansion connector that allows additional modules to be attached to the unit. One module lets the player take digital photographs and another allows the unit to record video from a TV. Neat concept that's more flexible than the Bokks AV component reported on Slashdot last week, but I think I would want more than the 10GB drive it uses for storage."

Catherine Ellerman asks: "I'm after a couple of REALLY low-profile video cards to put in a firewall/router. Motherboards with built in video and networking are available but the reason why I don't really want to go out and buy a new motherboard is because a lot of the processing power would be wasted. Back in my parts store I've a couple of 120Mhz Pentium motherboards that will do the job nicely and a friend of mine helped me source the low-profile NICs (at just over an inch high they're hardly noticeable). All I need now is someone to help me find a couple of low-profile video cards and get the bugs out of the latest kernel."

RyanG asks: "Everyone always looks at numbers (MHz, RAM, HD) when they're considering buying a new computer. Recently, more users have been eyeing bits, as in 64-bit processors, namely the Itanium and to a lesser extent the G5. A lot of people remember the performance increases that were seen when moving from 16 to 32-bit processors and some people seem to think similar performance increases will be realized when moving from 32 to 64-bit pocessors. From what I've read this isn't going to be the case given that 64-bit percision isn't needed in all but a few cases and that moving around that extra data can actually hurt the performance of 64-bit processors when compared to 32-bit processors. Anyone care to comment?"

msolnik writes: "Whether you say "0.13-micron" as most of us do, or "130-nanometer" as PR flacks prefer, the phrase is weighing heavily on both Intel's and AMD's minds. Indeed, each company's timeline in reaching that mark may determine who calls the CPU shots in 2002. Read more here at Hardware Central." Other submitters noted that AMD and Motorola have both updated their development roadmaps.

Eugene asks: "G'day everyone! Here's the deal, I study Engineering in college and therefore, I have to write down LOTS of mathematical formulae and such. Now I heard that students of Law/English/etc. find great use of various PDAs as a notebook replacement(that's pen&paper notebook). I'd like to know if there's a PDA software-solution for quickly writing down math expressions( Something like the equation editor shipped with MS-Word - but if possible with a more intuitive way of entering data). All I could find so far are lots of calculators, that do little in the way of easily entering equations and storing them for later review." Well, that would be one less thing to lug around in the ole backpack. Now if we could only get textboox in digital form...

Dee asks: "My firm has an opportunity to build a 21" NEC flat panel LCD monitor into a custom enclosure. As the OEM, we can do pretty much anything with the case. We're looking at deep drawn aluminum cases, anodized in any color you can name. A search on here shows that a generic 18" LCD in a plastic enclosure retails for $649 or so. What price range are people willing to pay for a 21" LCD? Would people be interested in a DIY kit for the display?" Frankly, I'd be more interested in seeing what one of these monsters might look like before I'd be able to say how much I'd pay for one, still the idea sounds intriguing in and of itself. Pricewatch has them in the $2-3k range, these days, in case you were wondering.

Snowfox asks: "Between having multiple network cards, video cards, SCSI controllers, audio, etc, I'm always hurting for expansion slots. Five or six just aren't enough for an everything box. Several companies offer PCI expansion chassis. I see these vendors on the show floor at Game Developers Conference and Siggraph every year, but the prices are high and none of the vendors can tell me whether these support Linux. Has anyone had any dealings with one of these units?"

AtariDatacenter asks: "My employer is having trouble, outside of eBay, locating used Sun Enterprise 10000 servers for sale. (In fact, they approved asking Slashdot for ideas.) Anyone have any good ideas on sourcing used E10ks?"

cbowland writes: "Sharp is now shipping the SL-5000D Zaurus PDA with a Linux 2.4 kernel, embedded PalmTop, Personal Java, and QT. Priced at $399 for developers only. Their plan is to get some apps created before marketing it to the public. Check it out" I wonder if the USB port on the docking station would let these work with the Happy Hacker keyboard ...

Nilatir asks: "I'm going to be starting on my CCNA and continuing on to CCNP and possibly CCIE. I know that there are virtual trainers and virtual labs available but I'm considering setting up a real hands-on lab to work with and I need advise from fellow /.'ers on what Cisco hardware to start out with."

axlrosen writes: "Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal reviews the new Handspring Treo, and loves it. 'For the past week, I have been carrying around a new hand-held, wireless device that is simultaneously the best personal digital assistant I have ever used and the most capable cellphone.'"