toaster
<jargon> 1. The archetypal really stupid application for an embedded
microprocessor controller; often used in comments that imply that a scheme is
inappropriate technology (but see elevator controller). "DWIM for an assembler?
That'd be as silly as running Unix on your toaster!"
2. A very, very dumb computer. "You could run this program on any dumb toaster."
See bitty box, Get a real computer!, toy, beige toaster.
3. A Macintosh, especially the Classic Mac. Some hold that this is implied by
sense 2.
4. A peripheral device. "I bought my box without toasters, but since then I've
added two boards and a second disk drive".
This is not usually to be taken literally but, to show off the expansion
capabilities of the Risc PC, Acorn Computers Ltd. built a seven-slice machine
(which they called "the rocket-ship") and installed every imaginable peripheral.
In a spare drive bay of the top slice they installed a toaster. This machine was
exhibited at various shows where it attracted attention by occasionally ejecting
a pizza.
[Jargon File]
(1997-07-18)
Nearby terms:
to « to a first approximation « toast « toaster
» toasternet » to a zeroth approximation » toeprint
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