[offtopic] Fiery X2-W Raster Image Processor

[Nickolay A. Burkov]

Hello, misc@

I work in the print company.
Recently, while cleaning out attic I've found interesting machine.
Machine labeled "Fiery X2-W" is a hardware raster image processor with 200MHz 
NEC VR5000 MIPS CPU.
At first look, it has PCI 32, PCI 64, USB, pATA and SCSI buses, serial and 
parallel ports, onboard Ethernet. 
I don't know anything about this machine so I googled for a bit..
Unfortunately, I've got very poor results. Here are some links describing its 
capabilities:

http://www.superwarehouse.com/Epson_RS-5100_Fiery_X2_RIP/C850122/p/35280
http://developer.novell.com/yes/58779.htm

There was no drives and RAM inside.
After plugging memory and powering on, device blimps its LED (on case) and outs 
some useless "Checking" messages;
After checking is completed it prints "Loading system..." and hangs.

I was able to access Setup but it looks like there is no interesting things 
there.
If needed, I can access it tommorow at work and dig more carefully.

My question is:
Anyway, what is it? :)
Why I was unable to find specs and finally, can I install some kind of my 
favorite BSD on it and bring it to life
as a complex computer system?

Thanks for your time.

-- 
I do not fear computers.  I fear the lack of them. (c)

Re: [offtopic] Fiery X2-W Raster Image Processor

[Jason LaRiviere]

Nickolay A. Burkov wrote:
> My question is:  Anyway, what is it? :)

Fiery is a brand of RIP, as you mentioned. The one you describe probably
drove a Xerox colour printer/copier in the mid to late nineties. For a
time, they were built by sgi, so the mips makes sense. Some had cool
little lcd screens built in and stuff that would be fun hacking on. 

> Why I was unable to find specs and finally, can I install some kind of
> my favorite BSD on it and bring it to life as a complex computer system?

You should attempt to load openbsd on this machine immediately, and
report any failure to make a complex computer system.