MPE's IRTC Forth Cross Compilers

MPE's IRTC Forth Cross Compilers are a new range of compilers targeted for single chip development of low cost Flash microcontrollers. They are supplied complete with the IRTC Forth cross compiler and assembler, the AIDE development environment from our high-end Forth 6.1 compilers, an Umbilical Forth target kernel (all source), precompiled libraries with automatic reference resolution, and an ISP device programmer, which is also used for communications during development. Manuals are on the CD in PDF format. Requires Win95/98/NT/2000.

The compilers are keenly priced:

Without printed manuals UK£245, US$395, Euro370
With printed manuals UK£295, US$475, Euro445

Atmel's AVR series

AVR family Atmel's AVR series of RISC-like CPUs has been a big hit in the microcontroller market, not least for the large amount of on-chip Flash, but also for a sensible amount of on-chip RAM and in-system programmability.

The IRTC AVR Compiler

The IRTC AVR compiler includes precompiled libraries, which are only compiled into the target when referenced by your code.

The compiler also includes an optimiser which does a good job in reducing code size and increasing speed, especially for the time-critical I/O handling code.

The ISP supplied releases the special function pins after programming is complete. It attaches to a serial port on the PC, is powered from the target board (requires 50mA), and can operate from 3-5v.

AVR Documentation and the AVR Developer studio

The CD also contains AVR documentation and the AVR Developer studio, which permits simulation of the CPU. Naturally IRTC code can be exported to the simulator.

Download the AVR IRTC Manual

Download the AVR IRTC manual PDF files (160kb) in A4 format or US letter format from our papers page.

See the AVR Forth Stamp board here

The Ubiquitous 8051

The IRTC 8051 compiler is based on the standard MPE v6.1 compiler with the single chip target, so see the Forth 6 page for more details. This compiler has been used extensively for jobs such as vending machines, stage rigging automation and yacht instrumentation.

The IRTC compiler is supplied with an MPE Forth Stamp board. The Forth compiler includes an interactive assembler and adisassembler, SPI Flash downloader (no programmer required!) and interactive Umbilical Forth development system. No device programmer is needed as the Forth Stamp is programmed from the PC printer port. All you have to do is to supply the 5v power supply and a five wire cable from the PC printer port to the Forth Stamp's ISP (In System Programming) connector.

Forth Stamp Hardware

The Forth Stamp hardware consists of the high-speed Atmel 89S8252 8051 compatible CPU running at 24 Mhz, plus serial interface drivers, LEDs and interface circuitry and decoding for adding your own memory mapped peripherals. The Atmel 89S8252 CPU includes 8k bytes of Flash for code, 256 bytes of RAM, 2k bytes of EEPROM, SPI and serial hardware drivers, timers and much more. The Forth Stamp is very small and has its own 48 pin Forth Stamp connector. This makes it an ideal solution for a wide range of embedded systems. By implementing an in circuit programming interface the Forth Stamp can be programmed, tested and debugged on site. For more details, you can download the Forth Stamp Hardware manual from here.

PIC Family

PIC family is in development.