On Friday 14 June 2002 22:52, Valeriy E. Ushakov wrote:
> On Fri, May 17, 2002 at 17:06:42 +0300, Valtteri Vuorikoski wrote:
> > We have a bunch of Sun Ray 1 boxen (Sun's "thin client" terminals)
> > we aren't really using for anything. Does anyone know what's inside
> > these things (most of the interesting chips have heatsinks glued
> > on) and whether they (the Rays themselves, that is) can be made to
> > run some useful OS?
>
> I have reverse engineered SunRay flash image and I think it's not
> possible to boot NetBSD on it without soldering work.  Sun images are
> DSA-signed so the only way to make it execute external code is by
> mounting a buffer overflow or crypto attack against SunRay bootstrap
> code.  So the only practical alternative is to replace the flash chip
> with a PLCC socket that you can plug a custom flash into.
>
Why?

If its FLASH, then its reprogrammable in a flash, hence the name!

What is needed is suitable code to put in it.

Dosclaimer:

I have not got a Sun Ray 1, and I have never even seen one.
but I have programmed Flash memory - its an ugly job, but it can be 
done.

Andrew