Minutes of the Special GEnie Forth RT Conference with George Nicol, president of Silicon Composers. Dr. Nicol discussed his company's SBC32 single board computer based on the 32 bit Forth engine created at Johns-Hopkins Advanced Physics Lab. Entire contents of this transcript copyright (c) 1990 GEnie Forth RoundTable. The contents may be freely copied and distributed in whole or in part provided origination credit is included. Date: 07/19/90 Time: 22:25EDT Attendees: [[george] FIGGUEST] [GARY-S] [[Dennis] D.RUFFER] [[Len] NMORGENSTERN] [[Robert] R.BERKEY] [[Alan] ATFURMAN] [[Doug] D.PHILIPS3] Minutes: is here. is here. is here. <[george] FIGGUEST> Hello there JUST got the notice posted george - set /xec to end echo, look at /sta to know where I am... any last questions ? <[george] FIGGUEST> no questions is here. <[Alan F.] ATFURMAN> is here 2 minutes to show time <[Dennis] D.RUFFER> welcome Robert and Alen <[Alan F.] ATFURMAN> Gary: will e-mail right away 1 minute hey Robert - welcome to the meeting :-) <[Robert] R.BERKEY> hi <[Alan F.] ATFURMAN> Scuse me... Mr. Berkey refers to FIGGY as his Forth chapter meeting

let's roll The GEnie Forth RoundTable is very pleased to welcome this ... evening's special guest, Dr. George Nicol, founder and president ... of Silicon Composers. He holds degrees in Mathematics and a ... doctorate in Systems Science from Portland State University. ... For the last twelve years, Dr. Nicol has worked in ... operations research and computer science. ... At the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Lab he developed a Forth ... based solar forecasting and image analysis system for the ... flight of Space Lab 2. ... Currently Dr. Nicol is managing the development of Forth ... based hardware and software at Silicon Composers. He is ... here tonight to discuss those developments in general and ... the SBC-32, single board computer in particular. ... - Please make welcome Dr. George Nicol. .. .. .. .. .. .. ga George <[george] FIGGUEST> Silicon Composers, in business since 1986, specializes <[george] FIGGUEST> in hardware and software using Forth chips such as the <[george] FIGGUEST> 16-bit Harris RTX 2000, the 32-bit SC32 Forth Chip, and <[george] FIGGUEST> the NC4016. We make single-board computers for stand <[george] FIGGUEST> alone use and for use in PCs as plug-in coprocessors. <[george] FIGGUEST> We also do custom board and software work. Our newest <[george] FIGGUEST> product is the SC/FOX SBC32, a stand alone single board <[george] FIGGUEST> computer for the SC32 Forth Chip. The SBC32 <[george] FIGGUEST> is a small Eurocard size (100x160mm) board with up to 512K <[george] FIGGUEST> bytes of SRAM, 128K bytes of EPROM, a 56K baud serial port, <[george] FIGGUEST> and two fifty pin user application connectors. It also <[george] FIGGUEST> comes with SC/Forth32, an interactive Forth based on the <[george] FIGGUEST> Forth83 Standard, in EPROM. (See the July/Aug '90 issue <[george] FIGGUEST> of Forth Dimensions, inside cover for additional details). <[george] FIGGUEST> If you have any questions about Silicon Composers or our <[george] FIGGUEST> products please feel free to ask. GAga <[Robert] R.BERKEY> I spoke with John Hayes this week. <[Robert] R.BERKEY> He indicates there are no current plans for more mods to the chip. <[Robert] R.BERKEY> That is the SBC32 design right? <[Robert] R.BERKEY> <[george] FIGGUEST> The SBC32 is the single board computer. The SC32 is the Forth Chip. Which do you mean? <[Robert] R.BERKEY> I am confused by the several sources of Forth chips. <[Robert] R.BERKEY> THere's one that Glen Haydon is involved with, for example. <[Robert] R.BERKEY> There's one in England that's 4 bit and BCD. <[Robert] R.BERKEY> I'm not sure which you are involved with. <[george] FIGGUEST> The SC32 Forth Chip is the 32-bit Forth chip developed at the Johns Hopkins... <[george] FIGGUEST> University. The SC32 is the chip we are discusinng here. <[Dennis] D.RUFFER> George, can you give any comparison between this chip and Harris' new BINAR 32 bit chip? <[george] FIGGUEST> I haven't seen any benchmarks for the BINAR and I haven't <[george] FIGGUEST> seen a spec sheet on it. ... <[george] FIGGUEST> Anything in particular? <[Len] NMORGENSTERN> For what kinds of applications is the SC32 now being used? <[george] FIGGUEST> Primarily embedded control applications. ... <[george] FIGGUEST> Such as the satellite control application, communications, encryption, ... <[Len] NMORGENSTERN> Can you tell us about <[Len] NMORGENSTERN> the encryption algorithm, or is it hush hush? <[george] FIGGUEST> The one being experimenting with is an RSA version. ... <[george] FIGGUEST> It's based on prime numbers. <[Len] NMORGENSTERN> Thanx Are you producing the SC32 in house ? xray litho ? <[george] FIGGUEST> The production of the SC32 is being subcontracted to a ... <[george] FIGGUEST> company called US2. <[Dennis] D.RUFFER> Can you tell us costs, how long it's been in production, numbers sold (i.e how's it doing)? <[george] FIGGUEST> The chip has been in production for about a year. ... <[george] FIGGUEST> It's doing well, well enough that we're continuing to come out with new <[george] FIGGUEST> development boards for it, like our new SBC32 single board computer. How alike the original, J-H APL chip is the SC32 ? <[george] FIGGUEST> The version we're using is identical to version 3 of APL's chip. <[Dennis] D.RUFFER> how much are you selling your SBC32 for? <[george] FIGGUEST> The 8MHz 64K byte version of the SBC32 sells for $995. Right now there is an .. <[george] FIGGUEST> introductory version for $695. go ahead and finish your response to dennis, then jump on len's algorithm question :-) <[george] FIGGUEST> The SBC32 also comes with SC/Forth32 in EPROM. <[Len] NMORGENSTERN> I am curious about the RVS encryption. Is it reasonably fast <[Len] NMORGENSTERN> The amount of computation is enormous, and some implementations are painfully slow. <[george] FIGGUEST> The current version of the RSA code runs about 15 times <[george] FIGGUEST> faster than a 20MHz 386 on the SC32 at 8 MHz. do you also job shop, or market hardware only, George ? <[george] FIGGUEST> We market hardware, software, and do custom design and production usually.. <[george] FIGGUEST> for the Forth chip world. You got a nice write up in the latest RTXpress from Harris on your Fox Box, it is apparently... A RTX only box, is that correct ? <[george] FIGGUEST> Yes, the SC/FOX BOX is a stand alone computer for the RTX 2000 Forth chip. is here. <[Dennis] D.RUFFER> yes, your FOX Box is nice, and we've used it on at least one project that I know of.... <[Dennis] D.RUFFER> You mentioned the SC32 running at 8 Mz, does it run at faster speeds? <[george] FIGGUEST> Yes, on the SBC32 the SC32 runs at either 8, 10, or 12 MHz. <[george] FIGGUEST> We just happened to be using an 8 MHz board for <[george] FIGGUEST> development. As a matter of fact we just got the benchmark (RSA) completed today. <[Dennis] D.RUFFER> this sounds as if your board is a new design. How long have you been in production with it? <[george] FIGGUEST> The SBC32 (for the SC32 32-bit Forth chip) was just recently announced.. <[george] FIGGUEST> in the July/Aug issue of Forth Dimensions. (See inside front cover for details of the offer). <[Len] NMORGENSTERN> Do you mean one chip can run at several speeds, or <[Len] NMORGENSTERN> can be board be configured with any of 3 different chips? <[george] FIGGUEST> The SBC32 comes in three different speed configurations, 8, 10, and 12.. <[george] FIGGUEST> The difference between the boards has to do with the RAM ... <[george] FIGGUEST> Clock, and CPU. The 12 MHz part can run at 8 MHz if you wish. What sort of development support does Silicon Composers offer a buyer of the SBC32 ? <[george] FIGGUEST> The SBC32 board comes complete with SC/Forth32 in EPROM,... <[george] FIGGUEST> a Shell editor, and utility files for a block editor, trig <[george] FIGGUEST> functions and example programs. <[george] FIGGUEST> The SBC32 comes completely assembled, tested, and ready to <[george] FIGGUEST> run. We also provide a very timely and attentive engineering support. .. <[george] FIGGUEST> to assist customers with either board operation or their application, ... <[george] FIGGUEST> hardware or software. When a customer call comes to the office... <[george] FIGGUEST> I try to pick up the phone first to see what the questions are about... <[george] FIGGUEST> If I can not answer the question, I call an engineer or two into my office ... <[george] FIGGUEST> and we put the speaker phone on and work with the customer until ... <[george] FIGGUEST> every one is happy. Just about all of the calls are about the customers' ... <[george] FIGGUEST> applications and how our products can best solve their problems ... <[george] FIGGUEST> That, for us, is the fun part of our job. <[Len] NMORGENSTERN> How many of your purchasers are relatively new to Forth ? <[george] FIGGUEST> Most of our calls come from developers who have not used <[george] FIGGUEST> Forth, but they are very interested in the speed and flexibility of the SC32. <[Dennis] D.RUFFER> do you have any plans for the extension connectors (i.e. are you planning peripherals to plug into them)? <[george] FIGGUEST> Right now we have a prototyping .. <[george] FIGGUEST> plug-on daughter board. We are planning a memory (DRAM) board... <[george] FIGGUEST> and a SCSI daughter board also. If you have any request, we are interested. closing comments please george <[george] FIGGUEST> Thank you for your questions and your interest in Silicon <[george] FIGGUEST> Composers and our products. I hope you continue to use <[george] FIGGUEST> Forth and will pass the good word to other developers. <[george] FIGGUEST> Thanks again. George Nicol, President, Silicon Composers. Dr. Nicol on behalf of the GEnie Forth RoundTable,'Thank you'... for taking the time to discuss events at Silicon Composers ... with us this evening.

All may stay and chat, but this conference has officially ended. === End of Steno notes. ===