[sebhc] Forth disk

[Dwight K. Elvey]

Hi
 I worked a bunch on this over the weekend but
still didn't get a chance to boot it on a H8.
I'm still fiddling on the H89.
>From what I know now, you'd need a machine with
48K RAM and a H8-5 Ser/Cas board to use the one
in the ftp.
 I've been making a better release
version to handle systems as small as 24K and
both the H8-5 and H8-4 boards. I had some initial
problems finding a compatible version to work
with the current meta compiler I'd put together.
 After a number of false starts, what I have
right now, one can boot in that smaller memory
model. I'll include the meta compiler
so one can regenerate a Forth for the memory
size one actually has. This includes the FULL
source. It is mostly a FIG Forth so I don't
have many comments in the source, I'm assuming
that one would have access to the FIG installation
manual and the 8080 FIG listing.
 The Forth, itself can run in systems as small
as 12k-16K but one would need the 24K system to create
an image that would work in such a system. Still,
it could be done. It takes about 8K for the core
of Forth and about 2.5K for buffers and such. What
ever else one would have to fit into the remaining
RAM. Making it resolve the memory size at boot time
would take a little more work since Forth uses
the high memory end for buffers and stacks. It
is easier to just create an image from the source
that will fit the machine one is on.
 The fun thing is that one can completely create
their own custom Forth in just a few minutes,
even on an old H8 or H89. Forth is one of the
few high level languages that it is possible
for one to completely understand and implement.
Dwight


>From: "Dwight K. Elvey" <dwight.elvey at amd.com>
>
>Hi
> I see that the Forth disk has also been added.
>Has anyone tried it with the emulator? It runs
>on a H89 so it is hard tied to the same serial
>port as would be used on a H8 with a H8-5
>serial/cassette card. I should check it out to make
>sure it works under this environment but I expect
>it to. I can create a version to run with the H8-4
>given a little time( see below about meta
>compiler ).
> I have some screens disk that I've built up
>over time but they need a little cleaning.
>I do also have some meta compiling disk. These
>allow one to completely create a new version
>of Forth ( takes a couple of minutes ). I did
>it the lazy way by creating an intermediate
>Forth that is then used to create the final
>Forth. It is a little more in steps but it
>allows one to check out the new features before
>committing thing to disk.
> The screens disk also has a simple editor
>that used the H89 or H19 type escape sequences.
>These wouldn't work to well without something
>like the H19 emulator of Carroll's or a real
>H89/H19. I can help someone make a simple line
>editor if they are interested in using this
>Forth with a H9 or other simple terminal.
> Give me a little time and I'll release these
>disk images with the utilities and meta compiler
>to the library. I need to do a little cleanup
>work on them first.
>Dwight
>
>
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