Forth 7 cross compiler and targets
Professional version includes PowerNet
Version 7 of the MPE Forth cross compiler produces over 500 kb of binary code per second. There are many detail improvements to the compilers and the target code.
The first major item for users of 32 bit targets is the USB client interface. Your embedded system can be a memory stick or a virtual COM port or both (composite device). The code has been structured so that the hardware drivers are independent of the USB core layer and the class layer. Version 2 supports DMA operation for increased speed and reduced interrupt overhead.
The Mass Storage Class (memory stick) and Communications Device Class (virtual serial port) drivers require no installation of additional operating system drivers. Sample INF files are provided for Windows. The code has been tested with Windows, Linux and Mac OSX.
The second major item for users of 32 bit targets is 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.
The final major item for users of 32 bit targets is the PowerNet v5 TCP/IP networking stack – now included as part of the cross compiler Professional edition. FTP, HTTP and Telnet servers are included. DHCP, SNTP and DNS clients allow more automatic configuration at powerup. A set of client-side service examples ease talking to remote web sites. Maintenance and production configuration tools are provided to reduce setup costs. PowerNet is strong enough to be used on internet-facing sites with no firewall or other security measures. For more details see our PowerNet page.
The ARM/Cortex compilers include switches in the code generator for the Cortex-M0/M1/M3/M4 devices. Plenty of target boards are supported. New drivers are available including SPI and 4 bit SD card for the FAT filing system.
The Windows, Linux and Mac OS X hosted Forth 7 Cross Compilers provide a complete interactive development system for embedded targets. MPE’s VFX optimising code generators are part of most version 7 compilers, 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 customer says:”
“My co-workers kept asking, “how can you do that?”. I tell them it is the good tool, they think I’m good, too bad I don’t use the C compiler!”
A user commented on a news group:
“Wow, your documentation is the best I’ve seen for any Forth system.”
A customer commented:
“I’m impressed with the VFX code generator!! Did not see any reason to re-code words in assembly.”
“… cross compiler has proven to be an excellent tool, thanks again to you and your staff for a product well done.”
CANopen implementation
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.
Previous compiler versions
We are aware that embedded systems can have extremely long development and production lives. Consequently, we make previous compiler versions available where there is no direct upgrade path. See legacy compilers; see the pricelist.
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.