!ARMForth32 on the Raspberry PI, ARMini(X) and Iyonix 

 
 
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 The purpose of this website is to describe the use of the Forth language with the modern incarnations of ARM-Based desktop computers i.e. 32-bit machines such as the Iyonix, ARMini, ARMiniX and, above all, the Raspberry PI, whose rich I/O is well-suited to Forth's strengths.
 
Forth itself is explained in subsequent pages of this website, along with some examples of code written to control peripherals using the GPIO bus on the PI, including the SPI and IIC interfaces (see 'Projects' and 'Downloads' pages).
 
The particular flavour of Forth used here is a development of "ARMForth", initially written for the Acorn Archimedes and copyrighted by Robert S Turner in 1992, who was a Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. Mr Turner still owns the copyright but has stated that his wish is that others will develop it further. I have extended the code for the newer 32-bit machines with their more complicated requirements (eg cache synchronisation) - hence the description of the system as "
ARMForth32"
. It is important to stress at this point, that this version of Forth runs as an application under RiscOS, which was developed specifically for ARM-based computers and has many adherents, who consider it the best WIMP system to use.
 
Usual Disclaimer:
While every effort has been made to produce a working error-free system, there remain parts of the source code which have not yet been tackled (eg the Debugger) or fully tested, and so the use of this code is at the user's risk.
 
R.J.Wilks November 2014
email: rjw4th@orpheusmail.co.uk