VNC Server for Toasters and Light-Switches

An anonymous reader submits: "How about using VNC to configure your toaster, microwave oven, or even your light-switches? Thanks to Adam Dunkels' micro-VNC server it is now possible to run a VNC server even on really small embedded 8-bit microcontrollers commonly found in such devices. The idea is that even low-cost devices that don't have a screen or graphics hardware could have a GUI, accessible over the network. To show that the server can run with very small amounts of memory, there is a demo server running on a Commodore 64. But the real question is: how would want to 'configure' their toasters using a GUI?"

Way to go, funny guys...

[FortKnox]

Yeah, back in the day we used to say "Lets install Linux on a toaster!" and it was a joke.

But now someone actually took it seriously, and look whatcha dun!! You should be ashamed!

Commodore 64 and the slashdot effect...

[e40]

Scares me to think how fast it'll fall...

Re:Commodore 64 and the slashdot effect...

[Lord_Slepnir]

Not as fast as the toaster had they slashdotted that instead.

VNC is Fun!

[FuzzyMan45]

Now all i need is VNC for my microwave and oven, and i can control my whole kitchen from my computer.

That raises the question...

[Anonymous Coward]

How many GUIs does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

But why? The last thing I want is someone hacking my coffee maker.

Pop-UP?

[budalite]

So, when your toast is done, will there be a "pop-up" window telling you that? Sorry. Couldn't help it.

MadDad32

/. effect

[Wrexen]

Quoth the page:
The pages you are currently watching are served by a web server running on a an Ethernet equipped 6510-based system with 64k RAM running at 1 MHz (a Commodore 64 with a TFE cartridge). The same system also exports two displays using VNC and the small uVNC server software.

Other servers have come down like they were Commodore 64's, but this one actually is one!

In another of those "Huh?" moments.....

[mickwd]

....I thought the title was VNC Server for Toasters and Light-Sandwiches.

But then I realised there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Re:C64s weren't built to...

[Richard_at_work]

Auuuh come on, they were built as home computers for kids :) If they can survive me and a thousand other kids screaming at it for the 10000th time after it moans about "syntax error", im sure it can survive a slashdotti.... oh there it goes, ignore me.

Re:Commodore 64 and the slashdot effect...

[MrNally]

Hmmm...let's take a PEEK.

POKE.

I can see it now

[Lord_Slepnir]

Techsupport: Hi, how may I help you?
User: Hi, I got your ToasterVNC, and when i tried to install it on my toaster, all hell broke loose!
Techsupport: Can you describe what happened?
User: I opened the box, put the CD in my toaster's CD-ROM, pushed the lever, and a few minutes later the whole thing started smoking.
Techsupport: I think I know what the problem is. Take the whole thing back to the store, and tell them that you got an ID-ten-T error
User: Thanks!

configure

[brer_rabbit]

But the real question is: how would want to 'configure' their toasters using a GUI?

./configure --with-bread --enable-top-brown-only --enable-honey --disable-butter

oops, that's the CLI. I don't know about the GUI version.

VNC

[Mudillo]

Though it may seem like a harmless doowhackey, devised by modern contraptioneers to somehow make our lives more complicated, VNC is in fact an extremely dangerous tool, already on its way to being outlawed in the more progressive states. Your average Christian would in normal circumstances be apprehensive at the idea of "remotely controling" a desktop; after all, it raises many issues, not the least of these being the Cult of the Desktop (a whisker away from paganism and heresy). Unfortunately, the Information Age has dulled our danger sensors, and most have accepted VNC without alarms going off. Many upstanding citizens are even unaware of this insiduous tool. With VNC's spread to toasters and light switched, respected Texan analysts agree that it may soon be used to remotely control a human being. Think! Teenage hackers may soon be able to take over your dear old Aunt May and have her vote Democrat! At this point we must ask ourselves exactly who would benefit from remotely controlling our relatives with VNC. The answer is all too clear. VNC is being groomed to become the ultimate weapon in the domination of our fair land by Liberals. It would not surprise this author to find out that human VNC interfaces are already being set up in critical sites across the nation -- Arizona, Louisiana, Texas. It is time for the American people to awaken and smite the deceptive serpent that is VNC once and for all!

Linux will never..

[J4]

Linux will never make proper toast
without Pantone for calibration.

Re:Why not use a small HTTP server instead?

[Anonymous Coward]

This seems akin to someone scanning in a print-out of their email as an attachment instead of sending an email directly... =/

As unlikely as this seems, my father communicates with my mother in a similar manner (they've been divorced for 30+ years now..)

When he wants to send an email, he types it up (on an old, mechanical typewriter) on letterhead.. then scans it and emails it..

When I first saw my mother open an email from him, I couldn't believe it.. and when she told me that that's how he sends all of his email, I almost fainted..

some people just don't understand technology.

Re:Why not use Windows XP Embedded?

[Anonymous Coward]

See this link [microsoft.com]. Makes a lot more sense than hobbling the device's capabilities to save a few bucks.

BAD JOKE ALERT!!!!

[Lord_Slepnir]

If we run it on the coffee machine, will we have to run the JAVA version of the VNC viewer?

Toast Is Stupid

[timeOday]

I hate to see Linux lending its credibility to such an ill-conceived scheme.

There's just no excuse for cooking your bread twice in completely separate processes. And don't even get me started on bagels; boil, bake, then toast? Wake up, people!

In a related story...

[An. (Coward)]

Earlier today, Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-Disney) announced legislation to allow copyright holders to use otherwise illegal hacking techniques to disrupt toasters, light switches, and other devices used by individuals believed to be pirating copyrighted works.

RIAA chair Hilary Rosen hailed the effort as a milestone in attempts at combatting Internet piracy. "The development of Internet-enabled toasters offers us vast new opportunities to hit the pirates where they live. 'Smoking out the bastards' will no longer be a figure of speech. It will be a reality.'"

And in 100 years...

[VValdo]

An anonymous reader submits: "How about using an external control, made of plastic or metal, to configure your toaster, microwave oven, or even your light-switches? Thanks to Adam Dunkels' "dial", it is no longer necessary to run a VNC server on really small embedded 8-bit microcontrollers commonly found in such devices. The idea is that even low-cost devices that don't have a screen or graphics hardware could have a physical control, like a GUI only in 3-d space, accessible right on the device...But the real question is: who would want to 'configure' their toasters using a physical dial?"

Re:Oh No, I don't understand the "real question!"

[adamshamblin]

I'm sure an Emacs mod would be written for this, and you could configure your toaster in your .emacs file!

(setq toaster-name "Kitchen4Slice")
(setq default-toast-color "Medium")
(load-library "toaster-mode")
(defun toast-lightly ()
"Light Toast, No Butter"
(interactive)
(toaster-mode-current-slice)
(toaster-mode))

Re:Correction...

[geekoid]

yes, but it was the best a smoking lump o' plastic surrounding a the burnt out husk of a 6502 of its time!

Re:How practical is this?

[Chris Hiner]

Or will I still have to walk 20 feet to the kitchen just to put the toast in myself

If you've already got toast, why would you put it into the toaster?

Re:VNC is Fun!

[Mitchell Mebane]

Made of LEGO Mindstorms, of course!

And how do you control the robot? VNC for Mindtorms!

Re:Good STUFF!

[scott1853]

I was immediately thinking of how much I could freak out the wife by making all the appliances turn themselves on and off. She still gets confused when the mouse on the home computer starts moving around on it's own while I'm at work.

Re:Good STUFF!

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Or Turn on your A/C from work because it's going to be a HOT afternoon. (Sure could use that today)."

Turning on AC's now? Wahtcha gonna do, send them Goatse?