From: utzoo!decvax!genrad!linus!philabs!mcvax!ukc!edcaad!edee!edai!dfc
Newsgroups: net.lang.forth
Title: Re: forth machines? - (nf)
Article-I.D.: edai.996
Posted: Fri Apr 29 10:48:55 1983
Received: Thu May 19 19:28:26 1983
References: sri-unix.5449 security.214 sdcatta.514

For the price, I consider the "Jupiter Ace",
the micro with FORTH in ROM, to be good value.
(The designers used to work for Sinclair)
  The keyboard is the same as the Sinclair Spectrum. It's rubber,
but at least there is is some "feel" to it, and a click when you
press a key. My niggle - I don't like the use of two shift keys.
  I wouldn't term the graphics "high resolution". As in the ZX81,
you can address 64 x 46 pixels, but the character set (128 chars
8x8 plus inverse) is held in RAM and can be modified, so that you
can define your own special characters.
NB The display is black and white only.
  The sound is simply a beeper, but you have control of pitch
and duration from FORTH.
  Of the 3k RAM, 1k is allocated to the memory-mapped screen,
1k to the character set, so that most of the remaining 1k is
available for code. The add-on memory adds to the 1k.
  The processor is a Z80.
  I have not used any other version of FORTH, so I cannot compare,
but the manual gives some language differences.
  1) Input/output is cassette rather than disc based. Compiled
     programs are saved/loaded using SAVE,LOAD.
  2) The editor operated by decompiling - a screenfull at a time
     is displayed for editing, then recompiled.
  3) There are a few extra words for floating point arithmetic,
     and screen control etc.
  4) A few words are not implemented - I assume these are uncommon
     ones infrequently used.
  I've had the machine for 4 months and have enjoyed playing with it.
I would recommend it to anyone who wants to experiment with FORTH
and doesn't already have access to it elsewhere.
					David F. Corner
					Dept. of Artificial Intelligence
					Univ. of Edinburgh