NetBSD Toaster Powered by the TS-7200 ARM9 SBC (2016) | Hacker News Reader

NetBSD Toaster Powered by the TS-7200 ARM9 SBC (2016)

embeddedarm.com

"Toaster ready to accept toast."

No, it's ready to accept bread. The utility of putting a toast into a toaster is vanishingly small.

"USB speakers are attached through the built-in USB hub on the keyboard to allow playing of MP3’s while toasting occurs."

This is attention to detail right there!

  Takes "Of course it runs NetBSD!" to a whole new level :)

As funny as this is, it makes me think about the viability of OpenBSD on smart home appliances. Those get hacked a lot and makes me wonder if OpenBSD can make them more secure.

The big issue I see with IoT devices is the absence of routine and long-term software updates. When these devices run Linux or Android, they are generally outdated. I don't really see this as being a result of the specific operating system, just laziness and contempt on the part of manufacturers.

In the meantime, a simple mitigation for consumers is to create an isolated guest Wi-Fi network on their router, and connecting IoT devices through that, so that they are kept well clear of the rest of the network. This is becoming commonplace on consumer grade equipment now.

Not the NetApp kind.

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