Hello All !

A newcomer to this group and probably it is the wrong place for my search
(I hope not !).
My last project, some years back, was to prototype an educational wind
tunnel, based on theTufts Baals Wind Tunnel project:
http://www.ceeo.tufts.edu/robolabatceeo/College/windtunnel/baals.shtml
The control and output instrumentation was based on a LEGO construction
set using the old RCX brick (Hitachi H8 microcontroller). At that time, I
was very happy using Ralph Hempel's �pbForth� to program it.
I would like to re-float this project yet I find that LEGO now uses an
ARM7 based controller and Ralph has moved on to using his �pbLUA� (
http://hempeldesigngroup.com/lego/pblua/ ), in order to program it.
(...have not got into this last one yet, but it looks very �C like�, to me
).
As I would like to continue programming in Forth, a web search brought up
Frank Sergeant's �Pygmy Forth� and �Riscy Pygness� � Pygmy Forth for the
ARM :

http://pygmy.utoh.org/ and http://pygmy.utoh.org/riscy/
...and, before dumping my bank account into this, I would like have some
feedback on what probabilities I could have in directly using �Riscy
Pygness� on the LEGO NXT:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Mindstorms_NXT
I will appreciate any feed-back you may give me on this one.
Thanks and cheers,

Charlie

PS: copies of this one to both Frank and Ralph






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Charlie Crawley wrote:

> I would like to re-float this project yet I find that LEGO now uses an ARM7
> based controller
...
> ...and, before dumping my bank account into this, I would like have some
> feedback on what probabilities I could have in directly using �Riscy Pygness�
> on the LEGO NXT:

Wikipedia says "It has a 32-bit ARM7 processor, 256kb of FLASH memory,
64kb of RAM", but I didn't see which specific ARM chip it uses. The
sizes of the flash and RAM are more than enough for Riscy Pygness.

You would need a way to get code into the ARM's flash, typically either
a serial boot loader or a JTAG connection. You would also need a serial
connection to the ARM (to send the Forth commands and receive the
replies). If you can do that, I think Riscy Pygness would run on it.

I'll look forward to hearing how it goes if you try it.
--
Frank
http://pygmy.utoh.org/riscy




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--- In l..., "Frank Sergeant" wrote:
>
> Wikipedia says "It has a 32-bit ARM7 processor, 256kb of FLASH memory,
> 64kb of RAM", but I didn't see which specific ARM chip it uses.

According to this site (dated 2006) it uses an Atmel AT91SAM7S256 for running programs and two other microcontrollers for specialised tasks:

http://thenxtstep.blogspot.com.au/2006/07/inside-nxt-brick-lots-of.html

Regards,

Chris Burrows
http://www.astrobe.com





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Thank you kindly Frank,
surely Ralph will be willing to oblige on the much needed "specific ARM
chip it uses", for starters.
I certainly will follow-up your advice, as well as Ralph's, to see if there
will be a happy solution to this query.

Both of you have already been a magnificent help already and I hope it will
carry on, not only for my selfish desire but for the complete Forth
community !

Cheers,
Charlie

On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 10:29 PM, Frank Sergeant wrote:

> Charlie Crawley wrote:
>
> > I would like to re-float this project yet I find that LEGO now uses an
> ARM7
> > based controller
> ...
> > ...and, before dumping my bank account into this, I would like have some
> > feedback on what probabilities I could have in directly using �Riscy
> Pygness�
> > on the LEGO NXT:
>
> Wikipedia says "It has a 32-bit ARM7 processor, 256kb of FLASH memory,
> 64kb of RAM", but I didn't see which specific ARM chip it uses. The
> sizes of the flash and RAM are more than enough for Riscy Pygness.
>
> You would need a way to get code into the ARM's flash, typically either
> a serial boot loader or a JTAG connection. You would also need a serial
> connection to the ARM (to send the Forth commands and receive the
> replies). If you can do that, I think Riscy Pygness would run on it.
>
> I'll look forward to hearing how it goes if you try it.
> --
> Frank
> http://pygmy.utoh.org/riscy
>






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Thanks Chris,
that is a key piece to carry on, on this one !

Cheers,
Charlie

On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 11:30 PM, cfbsoftware1 wrote:

> --- In l..., "Frank Sergeant" wrote:
> >
> > Wikipedia says "It has a 32-bit ARM7 processor, 256kb of FLASH memory,
> > 64kb of RAM", but I didn't see which specific ARM chip it uses.
>
> According to this site (dated 2006) it uses an Atmel AT91SAM7S256 for
> running programs and two other microcontrollers for specialised tasks:
>
> http://thenxtstep.blogspot.com.au/2006/07/inside-nxt-brick-lots-of.html
>
> Regards,
>
> Chris Burrows
> http://www.astrobe.com
>



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This link may also be of interest,

http://www.mpeforth.com/arena.htm

Ian





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Of great interest !
Thanks Ian.

Charlie

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 6:13 PM, Ian H.Thain wrote:

> This link may also be of interest,
>
> http://www.mpeforth.com/arena.htm
>
> Ian
>
>



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