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by autoexec 675 days ago
We have toasters that run linux, connect to the internet, and play doom. Explain to me how they aren't electronic devices.
1 comments

Even cheap toasters (I take toaster apart for fun) have true electronics these days because it's usually cheaper to implement things like timers electronically and if the toaster has a display it certainly has some electronics. But I suspect that the absolute simplest toasters are purely mechanical and electrical.
Most toasters these days actually use a PT8A2514A (https://www.diodes.com/assets/Datasheets/PT8A2514A.pdf) microcontroller. But it is still safe to wash, for the same reason as it is usually safe to wash a keyboard.
It's not every day you see a datasheet with a "bagel" in the diagram.
I was curious so I did some searching -- this is the cheapest toaster that I'm aware of in the US, and it surprisingly does have a custom IC that handles the timing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLFG068HtgM