Re: distributed colorforth?

Jeff Fox wrote:
> Dave,
>
> Your project sounds good.  I would recommend that you look at
> http://www.reda4.org
>   
Thanks Jeff, very interesting indeed.
> Pablo used the OS interface that was present however rather
> than building a stand-alone system that included its own
> OS services.
Do you know it was running R4 linux or R4 wince on the ipaq?  I doubt either
of my ipaqs even have the original roms :)

I see that he's using SDL, so it doesn't really matter which I guess :)
> Or perhaps you have studied all the
> low level details and want to jump it at the lowest
> driver level. 
Well for sake of simplicity the hardware I'm using comes with a linux ROM
installed, and I'm tempted to just use that for wifi, framebuffer, SD 
access,
and the touchpad ttys.

But since the hardware is so limited anyways, it might make as much sense to
reimplement the specific drivers.  Depends on how small a build the 
kernel becomes.
> If you google on Pablo Reda you can get pages translated
> to English but there are other ways to get translations.
> Maybe you wouldn't need translation. ;-) 
I probably should do that, though my Spanish composition is terrible 
these days  :)

At least I can read his site!
> Chuck is interested in making a SEAforth version of
> colorforth instead of developing SEAforth code in
> colorforth on a Pentium PC.  He wILL also port the
> okad colorforth code to processors of his own design.
>   
My impression is that the hardest part is going to be factoring code 
into 64 words
messaging between chips efficiently.  Assuming you could however, using 
something
like SEAforth chip for modeling protein folding would be an incredible.
> I think it is also interesting that you have more than
> one processor and can have both multitasking and
> multiprocessing without going to an outside network
> for more remote processors.
I've been doing a lot of cellphone programming these days, and I think 
the hardware
is far more capable than people realize.  If you look at the 
power/performance cost
of the 400-600mhz PXA chips, the boards I'm looking at draw ~250mA  @ 
3.6V- 5V,
and the screens I'm looking at take 25mA @ 3.3V for 18bit TFT-LCD w/ 
backlight.

That's a small amount of power for the equivalent of a Pentium III w/ 
display.  And
that's more than enough processing power to drive a postscript based 
display.  Which
is part of the reason I'm considering colorforth, as I can write a 
postscript interpreter
(or PDF interpreter) fairly easily in it.
>  I will be happy to comment
> on your approach to the multiprocessing aspect of your app
Thanks Jeff


-- 

David J. Goehrig


Email: [email protected]