Sub: Minutes of your RT Conference.
     The FIGGY BAR of 28 April 1988. We
     got the HAL newsletter, talked Dallas
     Infomart, ANS TC and Rochester meets,
     PC Pursuit -AND accessing ECFB with
     PCP, ARIEL BBS in Forth, and the 
     usual incredibly insightful chats.
                
Date: 04/28/88   Time: 22:43EDT
Attendees:
[[Jan] FIG]
[DANMILLER]
[[Gary] GARY-S] - meeting leader
[L.BROTZMAN]
[J.SHIFRIN]
[[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN]
[[Jax] VESTA]
[D.BUCKOWSKI1]
          
Minutes:
<[Jan] FIG> oh, were here
<[Jan] FIG> ok
<[Jan] FIG> is this really a party?
<DANMILLER> oopen the wine
<[Gary] GARY-S> ok - sorry about all that
<[Jan] FIG> i alredy did
<[Gary] GARY-S> did what
<[Jan] FIG> open the wine
<VESTA> is here.
<DANMILLER>
<DANMILLER> hi jax
<[Gary] GARY-S> hey jax - just starting
<[jax] VESTA> woof!
<[jax] VESTA> hey dan ... hows parallel
<[Gary] GARY-S> ok - anyone got a bone to pick
<[jax] VESTA> have a big one with C users on WELL !
<[Gary] GARY-S> got a subject ?
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga jax
<[jax] VESTA> The future of FORTH in parallel.
<[jax] VESTA> .
<[Gary] GARY-S> talking mpp ??
<[jax] VESTA> talking mimd, simd, gapp ... u name she.
<[Gary] GARY-S> or just parallel
<[jax] VESTA> .
<NMORGENSTERN> is here.
<[Gary] GARY-S> everyone get their call to Rochester?
<[jax] VESTA> speak up Dr. Dan!
<[Jan] FIG> hi leonard
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga dan
<[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN> Ih
<[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN> That's Hi
<[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN> .
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga dan
<DANMILLER> just typjjust type or rais just type or rais hand first?
<[Gary] GARY-S> does everyone know the conf protocol ?
<DANMILLER> hi leonard is your wife  recovered?no
<DANMILLER> no
<[Gary] GARY-S> ok dan if you wanna talk just hit your CR - or !! <CR>...
<DANMILLER> thanks
<[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN> All ok here! Thanks
<[Gary] GARY-S> if you get the floor ( I will say ga...name)...
<[Gary] GARY-S> then try to remember to type ok so we will know...
<[Gary] GARY-S> you know its your turn...
<[Gary] GARY-S> type ... three dots at the...
<[Gary] GARY-S> end if you have more to say...
<[Gary] GARY-S> or type on a seperate line...
<DANMILLER>
<[Gary] GARY-S> a period or ga to tell us you are through.
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga dan
<DANMILLER> ok
<DANMILLER> will upload ascii an article forth column pub today in hal pc
<DANMILLER> check desc of 3 key input. good topic. here goes
<DANMILLER> Copyright Daniel Miller April 88
<DANMILLER> The following is the HAL PC Newsletter May Forth Column:
<DANMILLER> HAL is the Houston Area League of PC Users Group
<DANMILLER> and this is posted on BIX just for general interest although the
<DANMILLER> content is probably old hat to BIX forthies...
<DANMILLER> Forth Notes:
<DANMILLER>      First, thanks to all who helped man the Forth Sig table at the
<DANMILLER> HAL PC annual convention.  I will not list names for fear of leaving
<DANMILLER> someone out.  But we all had a good time and put on a nice 
presentation.
<DANMILLER> We had  displays of Forth software and forth compilers, hardware
<DANMILLER> systems and a Nasa video application coded in Forth.  This was a 
significant
<DANMILLER> amount of work for the volunteers involved.
<DANMILLER>       The Forth sig now has a conference area on the HAL board
<DANMILLER> Telcom 1.  This is the place to ask questions on how to get started,
<DANMILLER> availablity of public domain compilers for the ibm pc, discussion of
<DANMILLER> relative merits of commercial compilers and to find
<DANMILLER> out something about Forth syntax and the various Forth textbooks.  
There
<DANMILLER> is a listing applications coded in Forth.
<DANMILLER>      Some recent Forth developments include release of a super z8 
microcomputer
<DANMILLER> which supports instructions for fast forth and is available on 
demonstrator
<DANMILLER> a card for $88 and has an available Forth stand alone prom for 
under $100.
<DANMILLER> Other Forth processors include the Motorola F68hc11 controller cpu 
which
<DANMILLER> has an on chip a/d converter.  We have Forth Sig members doing forth
<DANMILLER> commercial projects in Houston using these cpu's.
<DANMILLER>      I have seen a parallel PC system in Silicon Valley using Forth 
RISC chips
<DANMILLER> capable of running 6 boards in a pc chassis with each board having 
its own
<DANMILLER> memory and capable of independent operation once initialized by the 
host pc.
<DANMILLER> Output can be directed to various windows on the pc screen which 
can be
<DANMILLER> dragged around by a mouse. Speed for integer operations and control 
logic is
<DANMILLER> fast and 6 board system can be purchased at a claimed cost per 
board about
<DANMILLER> half that of a transputer node.
<DANMILLER>      Goddard Space Labs has a project programming a massively 
parallel
<DANMILLER> computer in Forth (MPP project). Is anyone in Houston connecting 
cpu's
<DANMILLER> directly with FIFO's and cross point switches? Is anyone here doing 
any
<DANMILLER> parallel development or neural networking.  Let us know on Telcom 
one- join
<DANMILLER> forth.
<DANMILLER>      I also saw running atop the Coastal Ridge above Palo Alto 
overlooking
<DANMILLER> Half Moon Bay, a low cost prototype of a very
<DANMILLER> interesting programming environment using only three keys.  These 
keys are
<DANMILLER> pressed in binary combination to select 7 items.  The key 
combination is
<DANMILLER> pressed and the computer recognizes the key combination when the 
keys are held
<DANMILLER> stable for a moment.   Since in Forth all words in a definition 
except the
<DANMILLER> first name are predefined, these can be quickly picked from pages 
of the
<DANMILLER> dictionary of defined words. The unit I saw used a one inch one 
megabyte
<DANMILLER> floppy disc and had one 4 by 6" card sitting on top of the drive.  
The 3 keys
<DANMILLER> plugged into the card and the cable to a Sony multisynch color 
monitor plugged
<DANMILLER> also into the card.  Color no less, and an integer and control 
logic compute
<DANMILLER> speed faster than an 80386 20 mhz machine.  My first thought was 
hey this is
<DANMILLER> crazy, how do you input names and addresses.  Well you could pick 
each letter
<DANMILLER> using three strokes of the keyboard or pick names from menus or 
frequent
<DANMILLER> letter combinations.  A little awkward.  But then, do all computers 
use name
<DANMILLER> or address type input?  What about control computers, things that 
turn pumps
<DANMILLER> on or off, or control rockets or steering mechanisms or robots.  
These don't
<DANMILLER> need any more than three key menu systems.  Then I thought of all 
the people
<DANMILLER> who can't type --a lot of important people- like my wife and most 
of the rest
<DANMILLER> of the world's population.  The machine began to have more appeal. 
Besides its
<DANMILLER> intended use as a programming station and a programming environment 
it could
<DANMILLER> have quite a bit of general purpose application. And it could be 
mass produced
<DANMILLER> inexpensively having very little actual silicon or metal contacts, 
minimal
<DANMILLER> power supply and yet is powerful, contains a programming and 
application
<DANMILLER> environment and pertinent to this column, runs Forth, "real fast." 
Contact
<DANMILLER> Computer Cowboys 410 Star Hill Road, Woodside, CA 94062 telephone 
(415) 851
<DANMILLER> 4362 for preproduction information and to express an interest.
<DANMILLER>                                                 dlm
<DANMILLER> ga
<[jax] VESTA>
<[jax] VESTA> how does he make his voice do that? :-)
<[Gary] GARY-S> whoa ga jax
<[jax] VESTA> .
<[Gary] GARY-S> i dunno - tell me dan...
<DANMILLER> ok
<[Gary] GARY-S> that's neat , but why didn't you just put..
<DANMILLER> i missed that. make his voice do what.  its
<[Gary] GARY-S> it in the library under chapter news...
<[Gary] GARY-S> huh ?
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga
<DANMILLER> ok
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga dan
<DANMILLER> will do but thought it'd be good to kick off discussion. ga
<[jax] VESTA>
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga jax
<[jax] VESTA> That is much harder to do on an Amiga ...
<[jax] VESTA> because it doesn't transmit CR's at end of line! But some 
software ...
<[jax] VESTA> allows translation of line-end protocols, like HANDSHAKE ...
<[jax] VESTA> but how is parallel, Dan? ....
<[jax] VESTA> any new toys? ...
<[jax] VESTA> .
<DANMILLER>
<[Gary] GARY-S> say - dan you do know a topic..
<DANMILLER> havent had
<DANMILLER> ok ok
<[Gary] GARY-S> near and dear is comming up May 4 ?
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga dan
<DANMILLER> we have parralel forth, 3 key input, may 4 32 bit forth chip, also 
suggest
<[Gary] GARY-S> dan - I am meeting moderator - jax is just being polite..
<DANMILLER> rochester conf. who and what will be there.
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga dan
<DANMILLER> finished.
<[Gary] GARY-S> did you read the interlace ?
<[jax] VESTA>
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga jax
<[jax] VESTA> look at it this way ....
<[jax] VESTA> at $5 an hour ....
<[jax] VESTA> interlace is more chat for the bux! But harder for Len to edit! !!
<[jax] VESTA> .
<[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN> I
<[Gary] GARY-S> jax - is sunday your gig ?
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga len
<[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN> ok
<[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN> ATV0X1
<[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN> ATDT836-5060
<[jax] VESTA> he' thinks he lost it again! :-)
<[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN> I did!
<[jax] VESTA> Hey len, you're here!
<[Gary] GARY-S> last time leonard gave us his whole script - neat huh?
<[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN> My Mac comes tomorrow. I hope I won't have this 
problem any more
<[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN> . . . . .
<[Gary] GARY-S> john hall - what about the videos
<[Leonard] NMORGENSTERN> ga
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga len
<[Jan] FIG>
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga janny
<[Jan] FIG> hi its me, jan, not john, though we are friends
<[Jan] FIG> john is not here
<[Jan] FIG> ga
<[jax] VESTA>
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga dan
<DANMILLER> g shaw is talking about another conference.  what do you guys think
<DANMILLER> of a conference in texas next spring?
<DANMILLER> ga
<[Jan] FIG>
<[Gary] GARY-S> sounds good to me - I'm in Arkansas
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga jax
<[jax] VESTA> yield to jan, then me.
<[jax] VESTA> .
<[Gary] GARY-S> ga jan
<[Jan] FIG> after visiting infomart in dallas and seeing the oncome of their...
<[Jan] FIG> automation area, and the fact that that they have free on-line
<[Jan] FIG> ...
<[Jan] FIG> information access to Compuserv and the Source (but not GEnie yet)..