
Why does Windows think that my wireless keyboard is a toaster? - SergeyDruid
http://superuser.com/questions/792607/why-does-windows-think-that-my-wireless-keyboard-is-a-toaster
======
eloisant
\- hey boss, I got the driver working from the sample but the icon is a
toaster

\- can you fix it?

\- not sure, I tried a whole day and couldn't figure it out...

\- whatever, ship it!

~~~
yen223
This would never happen if they implemented toast-driven development.

~~~
tbarbugli
genius

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blowski
I guess someone copied and pasted from
[http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowshardware/Toaster-7d256...](http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowshardware/Toaster-7d256224)

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oftenwrong
Every USB toaster I've had has been too slow to be practical, so I always
switched back to a conventional toaster eventually. Maybe when USB 3.0
toasters start coming down in price I'll give them another shot.

~~~
CalRobert
Firewire could deliver 30V and 1.5A (45 Watts). An average toaster uses around
1000 Watts. With a very small and efficient design you just might be able to
get a small piece of toast to work.

As I understand it USB for power may reach 100 Watts, which could power an E-Z
Bake oven.

~~~
KMag
An infrared laser diode toaster toasts a narrow band of the bread at a time,
but toasts a full sized slice.

~~~
CalRobert
That reminds me of my request to use the laser cutter at LA's hackerspace on
beef jerky. Seemed to me that laser-etched beef jerky greeting cards would be
pretty awesome, but they weren't so thrilled with the idea.

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laumars
Does anyone know why a toaster icon was picked above other place-holder icons?
My educated guess would be paying homage to the old flying toasters
screensaver.

~~~
dan1234
Microsoft's sample code for driver development is for a hypothetical toaster
bus[0]. I'm guessing someone built their real driver off the samples and
either forgot to find an appropriate icon or left in a UUID which is
associated with that icon in Windows.

[0][http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowshardware/Toaster-7d256...](http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowshardware/Toaster-7d256224)

~~~
laumars
Sorry, my question wasn't very clear. I get that the driver icon came from the
Microsoft's example driver code. My question was why MS chose to use a toaster
as their example.

Of course, there is always the possibility that these things are chosen just
out of pure chance / randomness. But often there's more history to the
decision than that.

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matthewmacleod
Fascinating. Did the driver developer not even plug it in to check?

~~~
4mnt
Of course not. It is a wireless keyboard :)

~~~
jlockfre
+10

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nothans
Maybe so it can use Twitter. See MyToaster -
[https://twitter.com/mytoaster](https://twitter.com/mytoaster)

------
SergeyDruid
Could it be that the superuser.com OP changed the icon?

[http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/hardware/ff5...](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/hardware/ff550727\(v=vs.85\).aspx) mentions a toaster made
by "Fabrikam, Inc.", a fictional Microsoft company. Could it also be a
Microsoft easter egg?

~~~
DanBC
I don't think MS do easter egss anymore.

Wait, here's a post about why the OS division doesn't do easter eggs:
[http://blogs.msdn.com/b/larryosterman/archive/2005/10/21/483...](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/larryosterman/archive/2005/10/21/483608.aspx)

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Wow are they a bunch of wet blankets. There is no more risk of EE having
security issues than any other code. EE code is generally small (miniscule).
Lots of rhetoric in that link, but almost nothing meaningful but 'we want to
be taken seriously'.

~~~
laumars
Maybe I'm a wet blanket as well, but I'd rather not have undocumented features
if there's even the slightest risk of it introducing bugs or vulnerabilities.

Sadly there isn't much room for Easter Eggs in the modern professional IT
industry since software is constantly being attacked (it's hard enough keeping
documented features secure!). Which is why these days most Easter Eggs tend to
be hidden away online[1][2]

[1] [http://konamicodesites.com/](http://konamicodesites.com/) (↑↑↓↓←→←→BA)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_hoaxes_and_east...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_hoaxes_and_easter_eggs)

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GurnB
You would think this type of device would be a FireWire 800 connection not
USB.

------
userbinator
It's more likely that whoever wrote the driver and used the default package
didn't even notice the icon - after all, it's a keyboard driver - it should
just work when it's plugged in.

------
JonnieCache
Microsoft is slowly catching up with BSD...

[http://www.embeddedarm.com/software/arm-netbsd-
toaster.php](http://www.embeddedarm.com/software/arm-netbsd-toaster.php)

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tempodox
Your keyboard was probably recycled from a USB toaster for Windows.

------
tim333
Maybe it's this toaster
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/legacy/bbcinternet/2009/04/bbc_ip...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/legacy/bbcinternet/2009/04/bbc_iplayer_now_available_on_a.html)

------
NAFV_P
All toasters are equal, but some toasters are more equal than others:

[http://reddwarf.wikia.com/wiki/Talkie_Toaster](http://reddwarf.wikia.com/wiki/Talkie_Toaster)

------
mariusz79
Cylons are people too, you know.. No need for name calling.

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tragic
Welcome to the glorious new age of the internet of things!

------
esquivalience
I guess it looks like a did-not-test error... but I'd like to think this was a
deliberate decision to exploit already-embedded artwork.

------
tegeek
Have you tested what we're shipping this evening?

No, but I'm already using "industry best practices".

------
skizm
Does anyone know the model of the keyboard? Someone asked in the thread, but
OP does not answer.

------
cezarywojcik
I wonder how long it'll take before we have actual USB toasters and grills...

~~~
Erwin
Apparently USB 3.1 -- called SuperSPEED+ (not to be confused with "Full Speed"
(USB 1), "Hi-Speed" (USB 2) or "SuperSpeed" (without +, USB 3.0) supports up
to 100 W.

A toaster takes 800-1500 W. But you could get a USB-compatible incandescent
light bulb.

Perhaps in 2030, the European Union will require all wall sockets to be USB
7.0 compatible. As you plug in your vacuum it will not only receive 2000 W of
power but will be able to share contents of the dust compartment with your
friends via the Internet of Things. Lost an earring? Your friend's vacuum can
now tweet you about it.

~~~
jordanthoms
That's not actually all that crazy - I remember seeing a proposal for an
electrical plug which had voltage and current negotiation - no power gets
supplied until the handshake gets done. Makes the plug itself very safe (and
you can have central transformers to provide 110v, 240v, 5v etc throughout
your house).

~~~
vetinari
Later you will also get things like 'Not for use in your region' as a part of
handshake and a heap of materials, that cannot be powered on.

Me, cynical? Nooo....

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harry07
Haha i seen your post on 9gag

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NDizzle
There's an Afterdark joke in here somewhere, but I can't quite put my finger
on it.

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cellover
At least the toaster-icon designer guy got some exposition now!

