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A Linux-powered microwave oven
- tlarkworthy 11y agorelated $1500 June machine learning vision oven thingy http://fortune.com/2015/06/09/june-smart-oven/ http://fortune.com/2015/06/09/june-smart-oven/
- noonespecial 11y agoThat's a fine looking death machine there. Then again, the buttons on my microwave are also so horrible I've been tempted... If he gets the voice control worked out to where I can say "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot" I might be sold.
- chipperyman573 11y ago>Then again, the buttons on my microwave are also so horrible Is it really that hard to push "Time cook -> 2 -> 3 -> 0 -> Start"? I mean come on I can understand wanting to optimize your life or whatever but complaining about microwave buttons seems a bit ridiculous.
- ggoss 11y agoFor the record, many of the microwaves I've used have required something more like "Time cook -> 2 -> 2 -> 2 -> 3 -> 0 -> 0 -> 0 -> Start -> Facepalm" than the intended "Time cook -> 2 -> 3 -> 0 -> Start". TL;DR: pressing buttons is easy, but sometimes they press your buttons back.
- profmonocle 11y agoAhh memories. Back in college I had a microwave where almost all of the buttons stopped working over time. Eventually I had to set everything for something like 4:44 or 44:44 and use the timer on my phone to know when to take it out.
- zapu 11y agoMy previous one had something like, e.g. "Cook > Power > 500W > Time > 15 sec > 15 sec > 15 sec > Start" for cooking something for 45 seconds at 500W. None of my guests knew how to use it, because pressing buttons in wrong order would do nothing (not even error "beep").
- ekianjo 11y agoIn japan at least most microwaves have au automatic mode that stops heating usually at the right time.
- mixmastamyk 11y agoOur Emerson is awesome, you just push 2 and it runs for 2 minutes, no need for Start. Push Start alone, and it runs for 30 seconds, every push adds 30 seconds. Haven't pushed more than two buttons in almost a year.
- noonespecial 11y agoMine often makes the beep without registering the press. Drives me nuts.
- digi_owl 11y agoOr you have the quick option, where hitting start add time in 30 second units.
- wtallis 11y agoSome microwave ovens have pretty hostile user interfaces. The microwave oven I've got doesn't let you use the number keys to specify the power level. Each press of the power level button decrements the power level by 10%, and the first press doesn't count. So to cook something at 30%, you need to press the power level button 8 times before typing in the cooking time.
- robocat 11y agoI bought a "crappy" brand microwave because it has a great UI: One knob with rotary encoder for time (turn faster for minutes). One knob with rotary encoder for power. Both settingscan be changed even while microwave is running.
- adrianN 11y agoThat's the standard interface for microwaves for me.
- bcook 11y agoMy standard interface is a finicky touchpad. Has been for ~30 years & half a dozen microwaves.
- zapu 11y agoThis is one that I've bought this year: http://www.elektrogeraete-co.de/bilder/produkte/gross/434738.jpg http://www.elektrogeraete-co.de/bilder/produkte/gross/434738... Not a crappy brand, a mid-range product I think. Costs around 180 EUR here.
- dmd 11y agoThat's gorgeous. It would be laughed off the market here in the US. Where can I buy one?
- zapu 11y agoIt's this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gorenje-MO-4250-CLI/dp/B00FMYZME8 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gorenje-MO-4250-CLI/dp/B00FMYZME8 I have trouble finding US shops that have it, maybe it's Europe-only brand, but hope you have better luck!
- gambiting 11y agoReally? Every single microwave I saw in the UK is like this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Russell-Hobbs-Microwave-Litre-White/dp/B00GYUV0WW/ref=sr_1_4?s=kitchen-appliances&ie=UTF8&qid=1455807107&sr=1-4&keywords=microwave http://www.amazon.co.uk/Russell-Hobbs-Microwave-Litre-White/... One knob for time, the other for power. Done.
- Sanddancer 11y agoLinux on a microwave feels a lot like the NetBSD toaster from all those years ago. Additionally, it doesn't make sense from a technical perspective. People have converted toaster ovens to do smd reflow with an arduino [1], and that requires a lot more delicate control of temperature and timing; hell, Linux is worse for the job because its realtime capabilities are so poor. Also, if you're going to go through the trouble of redesigning the microwave, you'd do a world of wonders to get rid of the magnetron altogether in exchange for a few microwave heating transistors [2]. That way, you can target hot spots better, have better power control, and generally make better food. If you're gonna remake the microwave, do the job right. [1] http://whizoo.com/reflowoven http://whizoo.com/reflowoven [2] http://www.nxp.com/products/rf/rf-power-transistors/rf-cooking/2450-mhz-250-w-cw-32-v-rf-ldmos-transistor-for-consumer-and-commercial-cooking:MHT1003N http://www.nxp.com/products/rf/rf-power-transistors/rf-cooki...
- xenonite 11y agoHi! Maybe you know of any oven that is using [2] or similar? I would like to buy one. Thank you.
- jfim 11y agoIt doesn't look there are any available, although there are a multitude of press releases from the last couple of years [0]. [0] https://www.google.com/search?q=solid+state+microwave+oven https://www.google.com/search?q=solid+state+microwave+oven
- derefr 11y agoThere are some fascinating things you could do with one of those. You could, for example, make a "stick boiler"—like a "stick blender"—that you stick inside a cup of liquid to heat it up, without any part of the stick itself getting hot. (Presumably there'd be a waffle-grid cross-guard to block reflected RF.) But, in the wrong hands, that's a directed-energy weapon, isn't it? (Hell, stick one of these in the right kind of tube and you've now got a coherent RF beam—a maser pointer. You could probably burn your name into a wooden building from across a football field with one.)
- andrewclunn 11y agoThis was really just done so that Richard Stallman could eat popcorn again without going into a rant. Nobody tell him that the genes for the corn it's made from are likely proprietary.
- testerooooooo 11y agoHe should only eat GPL'ed popcorns.
- kuschku 11y agoActually, there are universities doing genetic research on corn that have published some variants under free licenses. So he might actually be able to eat corn under GPL license.
- testerooooooo 11y agoLike I was joking or something...
- gmfawcett 11y agoThis won't fix popcorn rants. Introducing GNU/Linux only shifts the burden: there is still a risk of kernel panic. I'll show myself out.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- tezza 11y agoFor some reason you can't open the microwave door to get your food. After searching LWN you find a comment at the bottom that you need to run fuser on /mnt/microwave/0/door/mechlock and kill the dbus_microwave_door_status daemon. Search google again to discover a blog from 2004 detailing how you use dmesg and modprobe to find out which number your microwave door is bound to.
- logicrook 11y agoSuperb satire, it reminds me of "Why GNU/Linux Viruses are fairly uncommon".
- ultramancool 11y agohttp://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/evilmalware.html http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/evilmalware.html for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.
- BuildTheRobots 11y agoHmm... as a microwave oven is (essentially) just a large 2.4ghz transmitter, does this mean I'll have to stop running linux on it if the FCC gets their way and locks down radio modifications?
- MaddoScientisto 11y agoCan I link my phone to it? Can I use it to generate micro black holes and send messages to the past? This is important
- broodbucket 11y agoYou can link your phone to it, you will still need a lifter and a direct link from your house to CERN.
- na85 11y agoPlease no novelty accounts. This isn't Reddit.
- MaddoScientisto 11y agooh come on this is my regular nickname, I just made a funny post, that's all
- gravypod 11y agoThis reminds me a lot of this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2YtARzJTys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2YtARzJTys It integrated a raspberry pi with a barcode scanner and microwave. All you needed to do to cook prepackaged food was scan the barcode. It had all the times set in and all of the mixing and instructions. I think that feature is useful.
- pkaye 11y agoOnce I tried to warm up some food in a microwave oven at work and it would not run (no light or fan.) I opened the door and now the fan was running. Close the door and it stopped again. No idea if there was any microwave radiation coming out but I quickly unplugged that thing and put a note on it for facility staff. Not sure how a safety sensor would fail in that manner!
- aidenn0 11y agoMy microwave has a horrid interface; instead of buttons for setting the time to cook, it has a digital dial with a bizare nonlinear sensitivity. Fortunately it has a "add 30s" button, as the digital dial is so hard to use that I press the "add 30s" button 10 times for something that needs 5 minutes to cook.