Windows 98 may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of kitchen appliances, yet for those who lived through the era, the Flying Toasters screensaver remains an unforgettable icon. After a brief respite from a game of Doom or a session on America Online, users would be greeted by whimsical toasters and flying slices of bread, a quirky solution to prevent CRT burn-in.
Innovative Inspiration
Inspired by this nostalgia, YouTuber Throaty Mumbo embarked on an ambitious project: to run Windows 98 on a smart toaster. With the Revolution Cooking High-Speed Smart Toaster in hand, he began the meticulous process of disassembling the device to explore its inner workings.
The initial hurdle was deciphering the appliance’s functionality. Unlike traditional toasters that rely on basic timers and heating elements, modern smart devices utilize microcontrollers and digital displays. By opening the toaster and connecting a logic analyzer to the wiring between the touchscreen and control board, Throaty Mumbo began to decode the internal communication.
He uncovered a series of command packets being transmitted approximately every 30 milliseconds, coordinating heating levels, tray movements, and status updates. To gain control over these functions, he constructed a bridge circuit on a breadboard and employed a Raspberry Pi Pico to inject spoofed signals. With precisely timed binary messages, he could manipulate the toaster’s mechanisms independent of its original user interface.
Bridging Two Worlds
However, running Windows 98 required a more innovative approach. Instead of forcing the operating system onto the embedded hardware, Throaty Mumbo opted to use a Raspberry Pi 5 as an external computer. He configured a virtual machine to emulate a late-1990s Pentium II PC, complete with 256 MB of RAM and Sound Blaster 16 audio. To enhance the experience, he replaced the toaster’s tall display with a 7-inch HDMI monitor, more suited for the classic desktop environment.
To connect the two systems, he developed a custom program named “toast.exe” within Windows 98. When a user interacts with the retro interface, the software communicates with the host Raspberry Pi, toggling GPIO pins through level shifters and sending decoded hex commands back to the toaster’s hardware.
A Nostalgic Fusion
The final product is encased in a large 3D-printed shell reminiscent of a classic PC, complete with period-appropriate styling. Despite the cables running through the crumb tray slot, the system operates seamlessly: it boots Windows 98, and with a simple mouse click, the toaster lowers the bread and begins the cooking process. While it took more than just a standard smart toaster to achieve this feat, the result is a delightful blend of nostalgia and modern technology.
