What's New at MPE?

Last updated: 3 March 2008

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PC software

VFX Forth for Windows version 4.1

Download the latest free trial version.

Price reduced

MPE's VFX Forth for Windows development system is now at version 4.1 with a new help system and additional application configuration tools.

The v4 code generator produces code that benchmarks about 12% faster overall than that of v3.9. Some code, especially if it involves array indexing, may see an improvement of 33% or more, e.g. the Dhrystone benchmark.

See our benchmarks.

See the release notes.

Customer comments
"I know a lot of compilers are free but speaking freely, this is one of the best darn things I've spent money on."

"I just wanted to write and congratulate you on your VFX Forth. What a wonderful system you folks have developed! I recently downloaded the evaluation version of VFX and rewrote a Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation that I had originally written for xxxxx. What a difference! Under xxxxx, a single run of the simulation takes over an hour on my computer. Under VFX, the same simulation completes in less than 4 minutes."

"I am actually VERY impressed with VFX Forth for Windows's code generation ... you have a fantastic product."

VFX Forth for Linux - beta release

VFX Forth for Linux is built from the same source tree as VFX Forth for Windows, and includes the same VFX code generator and other tools. The original implementation has been running for a few years, and has now been brought into the VFX Forth source tree. There is direct support for ELF executable file generation and access to all functions in shared libraries such as libc is available.

Customer comments
"I am in awe of how fast VFX Linux Forth is. My experience is in the distant past with ... and more recently G... so I am not used to the optimized code produced by VFX. Very nice!"

" ... impressed by the features of the Vfx, and the fact that you have a *REAL* manual."

VFX Forth for Linux is suitable for all x86 Linux distributions, and runs very well on lightweight systems such as the Ebox2300 family with a 200Mhz or 300MHz CPU.

The Beta test version is now available. Purchased copies will receive technical support and upgrades to the production release version. Free downloads of the Beta version are available from the Southampton server. Login as "public" with a blank password. The 32 bit VFX Forth for Linux version is available in rpm and deb packages for 32 bit and 64 bit Linux variants. The release is usually updated on Wednesday afternoons or evenings (UK time).

See the release notes.

VFX Forth for DOS

Price reduced

VFX Forth for DOS is built from the same source tree as VFX Forth for Windows, and includes the same VFX code generator, graphics and other tools. VFX Forth for DOS is mainly used for embedded applications. The PowerNet TCP/IP stack is available. For more details see our PowerNet page.

The version 4 release is now available with pricing the same as VFX Forth for Windows. Contact us for further details.

See the release notes.

Embedded systems tools

Forth 7 Cross Compilers

Windows and Linux versions available

Price reduced

Version 7 of the MPE Forth cross compiler is available. Apart from the many detail improvements to compilers and target code, the major item for users of 32 bit targets will be the FAT filing system supporting removable media such as SD/MMC cards through SPI, CompactFlash and USB memory sticks. FAT 12, 16, and 32 are supported, auto-detecting at initialisation.

Compilation speed of the v7 compiler is now at around 500 kb/sec of binary. When ordering, please specify whether you want the Windows or the Linux version.

A customer says:"
"My co-workers kept asking, "how can you do that?". I tell them is the good tool, they think I'm good, too bad I don't use the C compiler!"

The ARM compilers produce faster code (15% average over v6.3) and ARM9 targets get a further improvement. More target configurations are available for Atmel ARM7 and ARM9 CPUs, the STR9 family is supported, and new drivers are available including SPI for the FAT filing system. The MSP430 compiler and target code have been overhauled, and the 68HC12 has improved paging support.

The Windows or Linux hosted Forth 7 Cross Compilers provide an interactive development system for embedded targets. MPE's VFX optimising code generators are available on a number of targets, producing excellent code quality and density. Customer comments include "Wow!" and "How do you do that?". As always, floating point, multi-tasking, full target source code, manuals and technical support are included as part of the package. Most compilers can be supplied with evaluation boards and prepackaged software configurations. For a complete list of targets, please visit our Forth 7 page.

A user commented on a news group:
"Wow, your documentation is the best I've seen for any Forth system."

A customer commented on the 68xxx compiler:
"I'm impressed with the VFX code generator!! Did not see any reason to re-code them in assembly."
"... cross compiler has proven to be an excellent tool, thanks again to you and your staff for a product well done."

The Forth 5 and Forth 4 cross compilers are still supported where Forth 7 and Forth 6 compilers are not available; see the pricelist).

Price reduced

The PowerNet v4 stack for the v6.x Cross Compilers is available with remote firmware update capability. New DHCP and SNTP clients allow more automatic configuration at powerup. A new set of client-side service examples ease talking to remote web sites. Maintenance and production configuration tools are provided to reduce setup costs.

For more details see our PowerNet page.

Version 5 with SOAP, XML and web services is in preparation. Web services enable embedded systems to be interrogated by and to exchange information with applications such as Excel and Project.

The CAN fieldbus is popular in many industries requiring high reliability. This implementation for Forth 6 compilers was originally developed for railway control systems, and is released as a cross compiler extension. Please contact us directly for more information.

RTX-2000 returns!

The RTX-2000 and RTX-2010 CPUs from Intersil were dual stack CPUs with fast and deterministic real time behaviour, but are no longer available. Now the significantly faster RTXcore is available for incorporation into FPGAs. In a Xilinx Spartan 2E, the VHDL clean-room implementation gives twice the original performance at lower cost, and includes an on-chip UART. The current software development tools work unchanged.

Boards and Hardware

ARM JTAG Widget

ARM7, ARM9, Thumb and JTAG daisy chain support.

The ARM JTAG Widget provides hardware and scripting software for debugging application software and hardware on ARM CPUs. It is ideal for hardware debug and bring-up, low-level software debug and production programming of your boards. After many years of frustration with existing tools for ARM hardware and firmware development, this is the tool we need. We use it every day ourselves. Ten times faster than some other proucts.

USB ARM Stamp

The MPE USB ARM Stamp is a small board (80 by 48 mm, 3.2 by 1.9 inches) containing a powerful CPU, Flash, SRAM, peripherals, and a user-programmable CPLD. The Flash is supplied containing a multi-tasking operating system and Forth compiler/interpreter. Applications can be developed and run entirely on the board itself, and turnkey applications can be saved to excute at power up. Everything, including Flash programming, is handled through the USB connection, which also provides all power needed by the USB ARM Stamp. Windows USB drivers are provided on the development CD. Mac, Linux, Free BSD and Open BSD drivers are available by free download. A seriously fast bit of hardware. Just plug one into a USB port and go.

NMIN2106-USB

Very similar to the MPE USB ARM Stamp, but with a prototyping area and the USB connection is through the second serial port which is user selectable between RS232 and USB.

Tini2106™ and Tini2138™

A tiny board using the same ARM CPU as our ARM USB Stamp and with very similar on-board software. Use the 1" by 1.3" (25mm by 33mm) board as a component in your hardware. Now available with a choice of LPC2106 or 2138 CPUs.

Free ARM Forth for Philips LPC2xxx CPUs

A free Forth system with 125 page manual for all Philips LPC2xxx CPUs with at least 64k Flash and 16k RAM and cystal frequency of 10, 12, or 14.7456 MHz.

• Download lpcforth.zip.
• UnZip the files.
• Flash the file for the required cystal speed.
• Reset CPU to run Forth

EMP21, Galep-5 and ALL-100 device programmers

To the Needhams EMP-21 (with USB connection) device programmer, we have added the Galep-5 and ALL-100 programmers. The Galep-5 adds in-system programming and the ALL-100 provides the widest range of devices and exemplary technical support.

In development: Embedded USB host

Embedded USB hosts permit access to a wide range of low-cost devices such as memory sticks for mass storage. StickHost is the first of a range of USB host products. The small board connects to a host system by an RS232, SPI or 8 bit parallel connection and provides a simple software interface to a memory stick. An expanded version includes a FAT filing system.

Contact us for further details.

Jobs at MPE

Visit this page to find out about current openings at MPE and our clients.

~ We would like to hear from you if you have any comments or problems with the website. Feel free to email webster@mpeforth.com.