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?"

Good STUFF!

[freeze128]

This is Very cool indeed. Imagine a simple VNC controlled front end for your VCR so you can configure it to record your favorite show while you're away.... Or Turn on your A/C from work because it's going to be a HOT afternoon. (Sure could use that today).

Is this smart?

[Your_Mom]

OK, this is very cool and I can't count how many projects I would love to do with this...

That being said, is this smart?
Picture: 10 years from now, some company sells one of these things, and it takes off. Then somebody finds a nasty security hole that fscks the toaster up. Would you like it if suddenly you find your house burnt down by some script kiddie doing a port scan?
Everything connected to the net is not always a good idea.

Commercial Uses

[Lev13than]

I think that on the residential scale this is all a bit silly beyond the fun/cool hobby level.

However, there are lots of legitimate industrial/commercial uses for these applications. Take, for example, a restaurant kitchen. You want the cooking/prep time to be as fast as possible so that you can move people through & have more sittings. A waiter with a wireless touchpad could automatically send instructions back to the kitchen incuding special instructions for browning toast to the right level, rareness of steaks etc... Add a few bar code readers to the appliances and you could automate a lot of the routine process while still accounting for the need to customise preparations down to the unit level.

microcontrollers in light switches?

[CheechBG]

Call me crazy, but all the light switches in my appartment, my parents house, and damn near everyone I know doesn't have, nor do they need a 8 bit microcontroller. Anyone care to post a link to a ordinary light switch that has and utilizes this?

As for the idea, it's not that bad at all, with one small flaw that I can see. It's great if I can access my toaster from my desk at work, but if I have to leave a piece of buttered bread in there all day just so it's toasted but soggy when I walk in the door, I'll just start making it when I walk in.

Commodore 64 isn't a "small system"

[twoflower]

A Commodore 64 isn't really a small system, and therefore isn't a great demo. Truly small embedded systems have on the order of a kilobyte of ROM and a hundred bytes of RAM available, not 64KB.

Examples you might be familiar with include things like the BASIC Stamp and other PICs. Your toaster's built-in logic is going to resemble these much more closely than in does a general-purpose 8-bit computer.

Re:Is this smart?

[kalidasa]

That's why you get it to all run wirelessly on bluetooth so you have to be within the 20 ft limit (or whatever small number it is) so that fsckage is limited and no script kiddie can hit everything at once.

When you're within 20 ft, the obvious solution is TO PUT A &%$#@*! KNOB ON THE THING, not to put bluetooth, a webserver, and VNC on it.

Write the GUI in Java!

[Mr2cents]

I've done some embedded developing, and I have put an applet on a webpage of a TCP/IP enabled 8bit controller. It opens a connection back to the server and displays real-time data. This is much less overhead and the communication protocol separates the GUI from the application code somewhat. The way I see it, VNC is overhead. (It remains cool however).