It is an interesting approach, however, it doesn’t lend itself well to measurements. I wouldn’t recommend it as a piece of test equipment, it might prove interesting as an IoT approach.
Here is a screenshot of the Labrador generating/measuring a 1kHz 3V P2P signal along with the ESP32 Labrador. This took quite a bit of effort to figure out. I believe the following:
I discuss designating ESPForth as ArduinoForth, which is Forth words calling the Arduino framework.ESPForth is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to learn Forth, however it is based on the Arduino framework. This entry continues to explore how to use ESPForth calling Arduino routines on the Adafruit ESP32 HUZZAH32.
Change of plans (again)
This entry is pretty much deprecated for two reasons:
There is a bug (or I don’t understand it) in CH Ting’s version of ESPForth in the word “constant”. Through several attempts over multiple months, I haven’t been able to have it consistently store a value. I looked at the C++ code and wasn’t able to determine the issue. Ultimately, this prevents one from writing a readable Hardware Abstraction Level (HAL), as much of an HAL are constant definitions.
While attempting to solve #1, I ran across a new version of ESPForth, ESPForth 7.0.
Change of plans
For several days, I attempted to use the HUZZAH32 in its native mode, meaning I look at the registers such as GPIO_OUT_W1TS_REG and set specific pins to achieve what I need. I ran into significant issues, with some pins working well, while others had inconsistent results. It was this inconsistency that caused me to rethink how I approached this specific version of Forth, ESPForth.
ESPForth is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to learn Forth.
esp32Forth Serial Monitor is a version of Forth written by CH Ting. Ting is remarkable in the volume of documentation he provides, as well as the number of versions of Forth he has created. In this article I want to highlight a version that I believe is interesting for two specific reasons:
It runs on a Forth Virtual Machine (FVM) using the Arduino software framework
It runs on ESP32 Arduino boards such as the NodeMCU ESP32, Adafruit ESP32 HUZZAH32 and the ESP32-DEVKIT. Most of these boards are $5-$15 with an amazing amount of processing power. When looking for a board for ESPForth, you want to ensure it is compatible with the Arduino IDE.
FVM on the Arduino software
Using the Arduino software provides a simple, yet powerful IDE for the user to implement Forth. It doesn’t require additional hardware so the user can immediately begin to use Forth. This also allows one to create Forth words calling Arduino framework software such as digitalRead, digitalWrite, and pinMode.
