
Microwaves only need two dials - NiallBunting
https://niallbunting.com/microwaves/complexity/daily/2020/06/22/microwaves-only-need-two-dials.html
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robocat
Try the breville "quick touch" microwave.

Not sure if it is still in production, but it definitely has jogger knobs for
power and time, and both can be modified while it operates. I’ve bought two (I
gave first one to my parents because I loved the usability). Only flaw that I
have noticed is that the writing wears off the start and stop buttons.

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the_hoser
A microwave oven with two dials would still implement the timer and duty cycle
control with software. You're just trading membrane buttons for stepper-motor
backed rotary encoders. A neat luxury, for sure, but probably harder to keep
clean.

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jaclaz
The two dials are not necessary to be a a stepper motor backed rotary encoder,
the timer could be a mechanical one, and of course the power setting could be
a multiposition switch.

For the record I recently replaced one of them (mechanical timer) on an
industrial grade dryng machine because a spring broke inside its clockwork,
the machine (and the original timer) were manufactured 1978.

But, it could be a couple +/\- buttons with TIME written on it and another
couple buttons +/\- with POWER, but then you would need a display, and then
you would need backlight to it (people are reknown to cook in the dark), and
then you would add a +10/-10 seconds button for daster setting the time, and
possibly 4 or 5 "presets" buttons, each with a totally not understandable icon
(is that a french baguette? But the setting is to just heat it a bit or to
defrost it? and is that a pigeon, a chicken or a turkey?, etc.) or written in
teeny-tiny fonts that the average user won't be able to read without
spectacles ...

Compare this:

[https://www.123rf.com/photo_33509347_close-up-of-modern-
micr...](https://www.123rf.com/photo_33509347_close-up-of-modern-microwave-
control-panel-blue-light.html)

with - say - this:

[https://www.123rf.com/photo_11190552_control-panel-wtite-
mic...](https://www.123rf.com/photo_11190552_control-panel-wtite-microwave-
kitchen-appliance.html)

~~~
the_hoser
A mechanical timer would be more expensive, and less reliable than a software
solution. It would also be less accurate, but that doesn't really matter.

You could easily reduce the complexity of the actual controls, but it would
still be a digital microwave.

