Notes from June 2003 Meeting


Morning

SARS, Cardiovascular Disease, and Vitamin C by CH Ting
Orthomed website - Robert F. Cathcart, MD
Vitamin C Foundation
Dr. Rath's Health Alliance

Afternoon

AM Research - Albert Mitchell
Gadget products use Tcl for GUI
Gadget300 and 305 uses Cygnal's C8051F300 and C8051F305 -
Gadget017 uses C8051F017
Gadget061 uses C8051F061
Gadget310 uses C8051F310
Ethernet Gadget coming soon for home automation and other applications
JTAG port (4 lines) used to talk to chips's firmware for single-stepping and writing to flash memory - Intro to JTAG

Misc

Wescon 2003 - Moscone Convention Center - August 12-14

Testra Corp - Product development using Forth
This is the website and company of John R. Hart, of Hartronix fame. He was one of the pioneers of Forth Engines when they had to be chiseled from bare rock and bit-slice chips. He is now making and selling sophisticated DSP-based motor drive electronics designed with Forth and he is not afraid of using the F-word. Check out the articles linked on his Forth page, in particular "Using Forth as a VHDL (Virtual Hardware Definition Language)".
To quote his Forth page:
Forth was used as the simulator in the search for the design.
Forth was used as the hardware definition language for the design.
Forth was used to convert the design into logic equations.
Forth was used to fit the logic equations into the PLD.
Forth was used to route the PLD's internal connections.
Forth was used to verify the logic equations.
Forth was used to assemble the application code.
Forth was used as the meta-compiler.
This may be the same guy who wrote "Reconfigurable Architecture Computation Engine (RACE (TM) )" in the "Last Forth Dimensions" (available in AMR library, see below).
ARM7 microcontroller (AX07CF192) with:
192KB of embedded flash memory
10-bit 5-channel A/D converter
4KB of SRAM
Flexible I/O options (up to 75 pins)
Six 16-bit multi-function timers/counters
One 8-bit watchdog timer
Two 16C550-compatible UARTs
And more!
Data Sheet material:
Data Sheet Directory
Summary - PDF
Support Tools - PDF
User manual - PDF

Megasquirt - electronic fuel injector computer

"The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn" by Diane Ravitch
Sinotone - LED replacement bulbs and flashlights with built-in DC-DC convertors
Mr. Zeng John
Sinotone International Limited
90 South Spruce Ave. Suite E
South San Francisco, CA  94080
650/583-8306
650/583-8326 fax
sinotone@yahoo.com

Additions by Kevin Appert

Join the SVFIG mailing list - send email to jv@zork.net

John Carpenter was presented with a $100 Borders gift card as a "thank you" for his years of excellent service as program chair.

Visit Al Mitchell's library on the Web:
It includes the just-before-release draft of the Forth ANS Standard document AND the as-yet-un-paper-published "Last Forth Dimensions"

It appears that taking a product like X-Box and modifying it for use by handicapped people is forbidden by the DMCA. See: http://books.slashdot.org/books/03/06/26/1454249.shtml?tid=109&tid=137&tid=187

US Army Signs $471,000,000 Deal for Microsoft Software

Forth-Relevent !!!! http://www.millermicro.com/ still crazy after all these years!

Ethereal - free packet sniffer - use your newfound powers only for good!

FURPHY - A Project to testbed concatenative functional language constructs with Forth. On his website the author asks "What is Joy, and how is it related to Forth?" He might better ask "Who is Joy, and what is she doing for dinner?"

Coming soon (due to the evil registrar hosing the original domain name) http://www.cameleoncontrols.ca/ (and maybe .com) A motion and process controller which is based on Forth. They speak the F word unashamed!

Patriot to Litigate, From ptsc.com: (quoted in news:comp.lang.forth ) "Over the past several months, PTSC has accelerated its intellectual property compliance effort. In September, we reached an agreement with Beatie and Osborn LLP of New York to become our lead law firm to represent our licensing and enforcement objectives. Due to the strength of our patent portfolio coupled with the size of the market benefiting from our protected technology, this prestigious firm is representing us on a contingent basis. Additionally, we have obtained an independent third party opinion favorably evaluating our core technology in the microprocessor area. This strengthens our optimism to the likelihood of compliance success in multiple and sizeable market segments. PTSC expects to commence this process by contacting a number of companies in early May. We are contacting companies that use microprocessors with capabilities greater than 120 MHz. I remain confident the results of this accelerated effort will increase shareholder value in the near future."

(Relevant because it's the FOURTH of July, durn it)

The Capitol Steps produces four hilarious radio programs each year. The July 4th program is coming up but if you can't get it on your radio, it will be posted soon after the fourth at: http://www.capsteps.com/ They also post an old album track or new topical ditty every week.

You'll note from the navigation icons on the bottom of the SVFIG home page we are on the Forth Web Ring. We are in such august company as http://www.testra.com/ and http://www.forth.com

I found another interesting web ring --- Win32 Assembly Language ---