Q&A - Recent questions and answers

Answered: Reset terminal on vfxlin crash

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 17:53:10 +0000

We have a fix for this.

Answered: How do we make a Linux .so library file using VFX64?

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 16:07:48 +0000

Belay that - we have figured out how to do it. We can now make .so's in VFX that can be called from both C programs and other VFX programs.

Useful.

Answered: How can I use my own icon for my program created with VFX Forth?

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 04:01:03 +0000

Hello Mr. Pelc,

Thank you for the tip regarding Resource Hacker. I have actually used the tool for this before, but I always end up breaking the .exe file when I try to change the icon. This only seems to affect programs that were developed in Forth.

Is there a trick or a specific setting to prevent this from happening?

Best regards,

S. Henneke

Answered: Windows security

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:42:02 +0000

Roger - Today was the first time I got a notification for a while. I'm checking with Wodni & Pelc GmbH central to see if something has changed.

Answered: How to flush a ." string" immediately?

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 22:36:09 +0000

VFX is vectoring the IO through the GENIO system. So without knowing your OS, sourcecode or selected GENIO system, this question is hard to answer.
: slow ." start" 200 ms ." end" ; \ works as expected under lin64 using xterm.

Initialising local values - a plea

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 12:55:08 +0000

In his paper to Euroforth 2025, Nick Nelson made a plea (I think his second plea on the same subject), that local values should be initialised on entry.
It is so easy to forget to do this manually.
Now it has caught us out again.

If you use

gtk_tree_model_get

to retrieve the value of a column, and you use a local to put it in, it works fine if the column is a data type string.
But if the column is a data type int or bool, and you tell it to put it in ADDR <local> , it only half fills it because ints and bools are only 32 bit.
If you have forgotten to manually initialise your local, then the result is garbage.
A very hard bug to track down.

Answered: Why does VfxForth_x86_win.exe have a 12 second startup delay but VfxForth_x64_win.exe does not?

Sat, 08 Nov 2025 04:48:41 +0000

I've been struggling with this for ages, with the 32-bit version (5.20) on Windows 10. Seems to do it on 10 and didn't on 8. Sometimes it starts instantly, sometimes it can take longer, as long as 30+ seconds. I used Process Monitor to pinpoint the delay at the loading of profapi.dll. Does anyone else still observe this?

I've whitelisted in Windows Defender and turned off SmartScreen.

Statically linked turnkey application

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 14:59:00 +0000

I'm playing with VFX Forth on Linux and I was wondering if it supports generating statically linked executables, or if dynamic linking is required?

file p0046
    p0046: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, no section header

ldd p0046
        linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007ffe0cf14000)
        libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007fd313f6b000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007fd313d89000)
        /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007fd313f88000)

Adding interrupt handler

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:39:00 +0000

If I relocate the vector table of a cortex-m4 to r/w memory, can I add EXC: definition to the target located in IntCortex.fth?

Edit:

I’ve realised I can use vectored execution and a dummy isr.

Are you all coming to the Euroforth conference?

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 08:32:26 +0000

Hamburg, 12.-14. September 2025

https://euro.theforth.net/

Should be very informative, as always.

Answered: This question is no longer relevant, but there's no delete function.

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 14:04:59 +0000

This question is no longer relevant, but there's no delete function.

There’s a bug in the macOS cross compiler

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 04:08:12 +0000

After some investigation, when cross compiling vpf32sx.fth the stack depth appears to be limited to 6 values, as any more values are lost. This causes the population of farray to fail.

Is there a formal bug submission process?

Thanks,

Theo

Answered: Beginner Question: Drawing Simple Graphics with VFX Forth?

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 17:29:45 +0000

I'm surprised nobody else has responded to this.

Drawing in VFX is as simple as abc.

For example:

BLACK PEN RED BRUSH \ Define your edge and fill colours

10 10 100 100 ELLIPSE \ Draw your circle by defining a bounding rectangle

You could easily define a word CIRCLE ( x,y,radius--- ) if you preferred.

There are, of course a few hoops to jump through first.

1. Make sure GTK is installed on your PC.

2. Switch VFX to 64 bit floats, needed by the Cairo graphics library - for some reason VFX come with 80 bit floats at the moment.

3. INCLUDE the GTK bindings and wrappers.

4. INCLUDE the CAIRO bindings and wrappers.

5. Code a little toy program that provides a surface for you to draw on.

An example program that does 2-5 for you, using the latest version of GTK, has been donated to VFX though I'm not sure if it's part of the distribution yet.

If you come to EuroForth 2025 I can show you exactly how it all works.

Problem with binding rebuilt VFX (MacOS) Kernel

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 14:08:54 +0000

When I rebuild the VFX kernel using x64.mo and mosx64.sh, I can generate VFXFORTH64.img. But the script then tries to run it directly, and macOS throws a “exec format error” (likely expecting a Mach-O binary):

Is there a work-around for this, or am I following the wrong shell script? (I'm using the script mosx64.sh in /Kernel as the guide.)

thanks

- Bruno

Answered: where can I find a step by step example of how to use GUIgen?

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 09:38:44 +0000

GUIgen was written for the Win32 API using 32 bit VFX. I'm pretty sure it will not work under the 64-bit version.

Answered: macOS building standalone app

Wed, 28 May 2025 18:02:08 +0000

Hi,

I'm on an M1 Mac and was able to make an executable. ( I have rosetta 2 installed as VFXForth is intel codebase ). I placed the stubosx64.mo in the same location as vfx64, which for me is /usr/local/bin

I followed the instructions in the manual ( Chapter 26 Building Standalone Programs ). It created an executable and ran without issue.

: start \ hmodule 0 commandline show -- res
4drop
WalkColdChain \ run startup chain
." Hello World! from VFX" cr
0
;

' start is EntryPoint
Save hello

Hope this helps.

Answered: Has anybody been able to compile vfxforth on to a Micro:bit V2 (nrf52833)?

Wed, 28 May 2025 17:06:30 +0000

It's now resolved.

generating a DLL on Windows - missing VfxForthBH_64_win.exe

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 12:40:35 +0000

I am trying to generate a Windows DLL, starting with the GenDllTest.fth example.

However, my distribution (version 5.43 build 4241) does not contain a pair of matched low-memory / high-memory compilers. VfxForthK_64_win.exe does not have init-libs, but both VfxForthB_x64_win.exe and VfxForth_x64_win.exe compile the file successfully, with the DllMain entry reported at different addresses. Unfortunately, that does not seem sufficient for MakeDll.

MakeDll %bin%\VfxForthB_x64_win %bin%\VfxForth_x64_win %mydir%\GenDllTest C:\temp\testdll
Saving C:\temp\testdll
Err# -256 ERR: Execution of a DEFERed word with no ASSIGNed action.
-> MakeDll %bin%\VfxForth_x64_win %bin%\VfxForthB_x64_win %mydir%\GenDllTest C:\temp\testdll
                                                                                            ^
I then tried to make a VfxForthBH_x64_win.exe by using VfxBase64.bld. But (after selecting the latest ExternWin64.fth) I gave up after stumbling on the following error. Also I could not find how to load to make the result load to a higher memory area (just reserve unused space in the dictionary to get an offset?).

Err# -13 ERR: Undefined word.
Source: "c:\Products\VfxCommunity\Sources\VFXBase\CallDefWin64.fth" on line 178
->     [a movsx a] Poff bytePSP, ^ai IntArgReg [a]
                                                   ^

False virus detection of turnkeys

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 01:25:53 +0000

My saved turnkey exe (which has EntryPoint reassigned) is tripping Windows 10 defender on my own machine. The file gets automatically quarantined a few moments after being copied to another folder.

As I recall, I used to have this whenever I did anything with the compiler. Since I'm not in this program, I guess that Windows Defender has gotten more sophisticated with its heuristics.

What can I do that (hopefully) doesn't involve code signing?

Version: 5.20 (build 3797) 32-bit

Answered: Building Standalone Programs - getting the example to work?

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 08:53:29 +0000

This version does create a valid VFX console executable and provides a clue as to why the example does not work. See comment

```
: start \ hmodule 0 commandline show-- res
[ action-of EntryPoint ] literal execute
0
;

' start is EntryPoint
SaveConsole hello

Answered: Could IF...THEN mismatches be trapped more tidily?

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 09:44:28 +0000

The obvious thing to do is to add two check boxes:
1) check to display registers
2) check for a horizontal return stack display
Additional analysis of the last word called, e.g. >ARES is likely
to be unproductive. e.g. try

: TT ELSE ;

Answered: Can old installation of VFX be preserved after new installation?

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 14:12:17 +0000

Make sure that you install the new version (64 bit or 32 bit) in a new empty directory.

The only thing that may be shared is the INI file, type SHOWMACROS to see where it is for each version. The 64 bit INI file is not the same as the 32 bit, but all 32 bit installations will probably eventually use the same INI file.

Sorry for the delay - mail went to mpeforth.com, which is only read once a month or so.

Answered: embedding VfxForth into an interpreted language?

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 10:29:18 +0000

My apologies for the delay in answering - domestic and technical nightmares now resolved.

When we did this in the past, we used named pipes for comms because there is no need to interfere with other processes address space.
1) you can tell if the pipe is there. This allows you to determine if the pipe server (say Forth) is running.
2) You still have two processes running. On one or both sides side you can have a pipe task that feeds source code into the REPL.

Answered: getting started with libXL

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 11:01:25 +0000

There is no need to reload the EXTERN mechanism. It is already part of the VFX Forth base.

LibXL.fth does not include the definitions for Win64. To add these, insert the following code

[defined] Target_x64_Windows [if]
also types definitions
: "C"    fastcall ;
previous definitions
Library: libXL.dll
[then]

After this libXL.fth will compile correctly.

Answered: Command line history in the console app

Mon, 07 Oct 2024 12:49:43 +0000

The console is a GENIO device. There may be several devices for a version of VFX and the console is being redesigned for v6.

The history system is contained within a GENIO device.

For Windows, see VFXBase/Win64/richedit.fth. For Linux, see Lib/Lin64/Genio/xterm.fth. For MacOS, see Lib/Osx64/Genio/xterm.fth.

For Windows, you will have to move or replicate the history system into the default console.

Answered: Has anyone got a working version of XML.FTH?

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 14:46:11 +0000

I seem to have bumbled my way through to fixing it. AS I suspected it was a problem with the change to 64-bit. There were a number of small changes needed throughout the file (mostly in details of 64 bit fetch and store) , but I think the critical bug was this on line 536 of ZML.FTH:

: -align \ caddr -- addr'

\ *G Align a byte address to the previous cell boundary.

\ ** N.B. This word assumes a byte addressed 32 bit Forth.

-4 and <======================= should be -8 AND

;

The -4 should be a -8 for 64 bit. As this word is part if the machinery for the multiple string-stacks, an error here would have lots of opportunity to mess things up.

Fortunately, due to Stephen's foresight and good programming practice, the comment preceding the above definition flagged it as being specific to 32-bit, so it caught my eye fairly quickly.

Bruno Degazio

Answered: VFXFORTH -console

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 09:57:53 +0000

See the manual (remember those). Chapter 27, Building Standalone Programs. Section 27.5, Binary SAVE words. The word you want is SAVECONSOLE.

Answered: VFX 64 for Arm Linux

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 09:42:58 +0000

Give me a call on +44 7803 903612. Stephen

Answered: How could this state machine (traffic light) be optimized further?

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 09:57:36 +0000

In real life, we have never had a speed problem with VFX, despite dealing with over 100 much more complex state machines simultaneously in one 20ms thread, plus around 20 other threads doing user interface, communications with loads of other devices, and lots of database stuff.

However - since we are getting competitive, here's a suggestion.

Enumerate ALL possible states - a combination of light state and direction.

Create a table defining the next state for each state.

The transition simply does a lookup to generate the next state - almost certainly quicker than CASE, comparisons and IFs.

In the good old days of Fig style Forth on 2MHz microcontrollers, when performance really was an issue, I remember this was an effective technique.

Any good?

I'm highly suspicious of the Rust figures - are we comparing like with like?

Nick Nelson

Answered: Something wrong with "include" on VFX Windows 5.43 build 4241

Tue, 28 May 2024 18:57:54 +0000

I always use EMPTY interactively. Run from within an include file will destroy some of the include file data (I think). The include file data system needs a rewrite - there are a couple of other side effects that need to be removed.

Answered: https://www.mpeforth.com/arena/ProgramForth.pdf gives error 404

Sat, 09 Mar 2024 17:13:46 +0000

We have moved the old arena content over to vfxforth.com. Redirects are in place, your provided link works again.

Thanks for letting us know.

Answered: Cant download Tarball for Vfx Forth 64 for Linux ?

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 14:37:29 +0000

We, the web people checked to downloads folder and found the last remaining trailing-slash-sensitive links. They are fixed now.

If it still does not work for you, please provide more information where you are trying to download the tarball from.

Answered: Type mismatch calling external library on Windows

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 12:31:30 +0000

Where is the file raylib.dll? It must be in the Windows search path.

Before execution, run .LIBS and .BADEXTERNS. If raylib.dll gives 0, it has not been found. If InitWindow gives 0, it has not been found.

Please give me the results.

I note that you are testing using a cross compiler. Try downloading VFX64 and testing on that, as that is what we will do.

If there really is a type mismatch do three things:
1) send me raylib.dll (64 bit version)
2) decompile InitWindow (dis initWindow) and send me the result.
3) check this against the Win64 calling convention.

Help me to help you. I do not need another C compiler installation on my Windows box. What I need is a 64 bit binary for the DLL.

Answered: Multitasking on RPi INIT_MULTI doesn't exist, where is multitasking Library?

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 09:16:02 +0000

The word in current VFX versions is <pre>INIT-MULTI</pre> and can be found at line 948 of Lib/Lin32/MultiLin32.fth.

Answered: Is somewhere free EBook about VFXForth?

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 11:51:44 +0000

Stephen's book 'Programming Forth' is available from:

https://www.mpeforth.com/resource-links/books/

Stephen

Answered: How to access a 'C' float in a callback?

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 12:58:52 +0000

I need to replicate this to see if there is a problem. So I have questions for you.

VFX64 or VFX32? I assume 64 and will test on Win11.

How do I replicate this? How do I trigger the callback? Please give code.

Answered: Which floating point system to use for MacOS (Cocoa)?

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 07:12:42 +0000

VFX 5.43, November 7 2023, has this fixed in KERNEL: Corrected return of two double floats in VFXBase/ExternSysVx64.fth. Current coco-vfx64 uses NDP FP because of speed.

Answered: Err# -1001 Invalid type in EXTERN: import

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 11:07:40 +0000

I cannot replicate this fault on v5.43.

extern "C" int al_attach_audio_stream_to_mixer( void * stream, void * mixer );

ok

Answered: Which FP package to use for MacOS?

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 11:12:43 +0000

It turned out that the problem was only with a small number of Externs that returned two floats. Unfortunately that included several graphics-related related OS calls needed for drawing and re-sizing windows, which made the problem look much larger than it really was.

PS - I just found out that there is a fix (vfx 5.43) already up on the server. Thanks!

Answered: Where to download VFX for MacOS, version 5.4x?

Sun, 29 Oct 2023 11:58:54 +0000

It's a website f***up. Go to

https://vfxforth.com/downloads/VfxCommunity/

Depending on the browser, the trailing '/' matters.

Regards, Stephen

Answered: Not understanding CallDef: properly

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 16:32:44 +0000

Just to confirm that floating point doubles in callbacks now work correctly.

(Linux64 and SSE64)

Answered: undefined word compile ?

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 11:22:24 +0000

Use POSTPONE instead of COMPILE. The kernel is cross-compiled and the cross compiler supports COMPILE as well as POSTPONE.

Fixing RebuildLin64.sh broken on Linux x64, patch supplied

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 08:18:44 +0000

Hello

In order to integrate PDFhelp.fth into the kernel I had to make ./RebuildLin64.sh work. It says in the manual be careful of paths, which I automated, and fixed a couple of typos as well.

So now no more include for PDFhelp.fth, it just works when I boot Forth, happy bunny :)

Binary files ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/Bin/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf and ./Bin/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf differ

diff -ruN ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/Kernel/mlin64.sh ./Kernel/mlin64.sh

--- ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/Kernel/mlin64.sh 2023-06-09 11:36:10.000000000 +0100

+++ ./Kernel/mlin64.sh 2023-08-27 19:06:03.625947939 +0100

@@ -6,12 +6,12 @@

 

 # build arguments

 VFX_ARGS="1 constant Community?"

-if [ "$VFX_BATCH_MODE" -eq "1" ]; then

+if [ "$VFX_BATCH_MODE" = "1" ]; then

     VFX_ARGS+=" 1 constant BatchMode"

 fi

 

 # save the INI file

-cp ~/.VfxForth/VfxForth.ini ini.temp

+cp ~/.VfxForth/VfxForth64.ini ini.temp

 

 # Build the desktop version

 # TODO CI2020 stephen: why isn't that crosscompile in the buildkit?

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@

 $XCDIR/x64.elf $VFX_ARGS include x64lin1.ctl

 mv -f VFXFORTH.img  vfxkern64.elf

 chmod +x vfxkern64.elf

-cp -a vfxkern64.elf  ../Images/VfxForthK_x64_lin.elf

+cp -a vfxkern64.elf ${XCDIR}/VfxForthK_x64_lin.elf

 

 # restore the INI file

-mv ini.temp ~/.VfxForth/VfxForth.ini

+mv ini.temp ~/.VfxForth/VfxForth64.ini

Binary files ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/Kernel/vfxkern64.elf and ./Kernel/vfxkern64.elf differ

Binary files ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/Kernel/XREF.XRF and ./Kernel/XREF.XRF differ

diff -ruN ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/RebuildLin64.sh ./RebuildLin64.sh

--- ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/RebuildLin64.sh 2023-06-09 11:36:10.000000000 +0100

+++ ./RebuildLin64.sh 2023-08-27 19:28:23.128666912 +0100

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@

 #! /bin/bash

-INI_FILE=${VFX_DEFAULT_INI:-$HOME/.VfxForth/VfxForth.ini}

+INI_FILE=${VFX_DEFAULT_INI:-$HOME/.VfxForth/VfxForth64.ini}

 INI_TEMP=ini.temp

 

 [ -f $INI_FILE ] && cp $INI_FILE $INI_TEMP

@@ -9,6 +9,15 @@

 ./mlin64.sh $*

 cd ..

 if [ "$VFX_BATCH_MODE" != "1" ]; then

-    ./CopyLin64.sh

+    # ./CopyLin64.sh

+

+    printf "\n\n                 !!!! IMPORTANT PLEASE READ !!!! \n\n"

+    printf "Rebuild64.sh tries to execute ./CopyLin64.sh which does not exist !\n"

+    printf "I can't find the code for this file but from the name and the fact that\n"

+    printf "is right at the end I would guess that it copies the 64 bit linux exes\n"

+    printf "to Linux ... I would suggest you run ./InstallMe.Lin64.sh instead :)"

+    printf "\n\n"

+

 fi

+

 [ -f $INI_TEMP ] && mv $INI_TEMP $INI_FILE

diff -ruN ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/mlin64.sh ./VFXBase/mlin64.sh

--- ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/mlin64.sh 2023-06-09 11:36:10.000000000 +0100

+++ ./VFXBase/mlin64.sh 2023-08-27 18:59:10.784766919 +0100

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@

 

 # CI2020: setup directories

 VFX_BUILDKIT_DIR=${VFX_BUILDKIT_DIR:-$HOME/buildkit.dev}

-VFX_DEFAULT_INI=${VFX_DEFAULT_INI:-$HOME/.VfxForth/VfxForth.ini}

+VFX_DEFAULT_INI=${VFX_DEFAULT_INI:-$HOME/.VfxForth/VfxForth64.ini}

 

 # default values

 BUILD_LEVEL=2

@@ -19,12 +19,24 @@

 # save INI file

 cp $VFX_DEFAULT_INI ini.temp

 

+# Build the desktop version

+# TODO CI2020 stephen: why isn't that crosscompile in the buildkit?

+if [ -d ../Images ]; then

+  XCDIR=../Images

+else

+  if [ -d ../Bin ]; then

+    XCDIR=../Bin

+  else

+    XCDIR=${HOME}/buildkit.dev/software/COMPILER

+  fi

+fi

+

 # Build proper

 cp VfxLin.no VfxLin.tmp

-../Images/VfxForthK_x64_lin.elf  $VFX_ARGS

-cp -a vfxlin64 ../Images/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf

+${XCDIR}/VfxForthK_x64_lin.elf  $VFX_ARGS

+cp -a vfxlin64 ${XCDIR}/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf

 # mv -f vfxlin64 ../Images/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf

-chmod +x ../Images/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf

+chmod +x ${XCDIR}/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf

 cp VfxLin.tmp VfxLin.no

 

 # restore INI file

diff -ruN ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/VfxBase64.bld ./VFXBase/VfxBase64.bld

--- ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/VfxBase64.bld 2023-08-27 19:32:54.755206149 +0100

+++ ./VFXBase/VfxBase64.bld 2023-08-27 19:03:15.535811987 +0100

@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@

 cr .( XREF )                    include ../Lib/xref

 cr .( DocGen )                  include ../Lib/DocGen4

 \ The next line should be the last of this group

-cr .( Config save/restore )                 include Lin32/SysConfig

+cr .( Config save/restore )                 include Lin64/SysConfig

 [THEN]

 

 [defined] Target_AA64_Linux [IF]

Binary files ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/vfxlin64 and ./VFXBase/vfxlin64 differ

diff -ruN ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/VfxLin64.no ./VFXBase/VfxLin64.no

--- ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/VfxLin64.no 2023-06-09 11:36:10.000000000 +0100

+++ ./VFXBase/VfxLin64.no 2023-08-27 19:28:30.224730620 +0100

@@ -1 +1 @@

-5.41 [build 0183]

\ No newline at end of file

+5.41 [build 0197]

\ No newline at end of file

Answered: Fixing help broken on Linux x64, patch supplied

Sat, 26 Aug 2023 15:54:29 +0000

Apologies, I made some errors above, if you want "help" to work the following is far more robust

From a Fresh install, check ~/.VfxForth/VfxForth.ini basepath is configured, in my case…

basepath = /home/dave/VfxForth64Lin

Next get the patch ...

diff -r /home/dave/VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/Lib/PDFhelp.fth /home/dave/VfxForth64Lin/Lib/PDFhelp.fth

192c192

< s" %LOAD_PATH%/../doc/VfxLin" HelpBase$ place

---

> s" %BASEPATH%/Doc/VfxLin64" HelpBase$ place

209c209

< ", \entry {\code {"

---

> ", \entry{\code {"

219a220,221

> \ expand macros to get path to VfxLin64.*

> helpbase$ $ExpandMacros count helpbase$ place

397a400

> [defined] Target_x64_Linux or

404c407

< s" HelpBase" HelpBase$ /Help$ s" /usr/share/doc/VfxForth/Doc/VfxLin" Ini.ReadStr

---

> s" HelpBase" HelpBase$ /Help$ s" %BASEPATH%/Doc/VfxLin64" Ini.ReadStr

Then use the above patch and apply it to the PDFhelp.fth file, in my case

patch /home/dave/VfxForth64Lin/Lib/PDFhelp.fth /home/dave/Desktop/PDFhelp.fth.PATCH

Then in VfxForth include the file, in my case

include /home/dave/VfxForth64Lin/Lib/PDFhelp.fth

Then this works :)

help help

Now working on howto recompile VfxForth so its included automatically without having to re-include it

Answered: Very useful VOCDOT - could this be ANSI?

Thu, 10 Aug 2023 09:16:51 +0000

This really one for Gerald, but note that recognisers are not yet standardised.

Answered: POSTPONE state switching

Thu, 10 Aug 2023 09:15:26 +0000

Not yet. Recognisers are not yet properly standardised.

A few minor issues with V5.41 on Linux64

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 09:01:44 +0000

a) The release notes state that "the base VFX64 does not include an FP pack". In fact, NDP387 is in the base system. If you need SSE64 then you have to remove NDP387 first. The documentation does not highlight that the NDP387 recogniser also needs to be manually removed - see my other post.

b) The compilation of FPSSE64S.fth leaves a couple of items on the number stack. These are non-functional problems, but on our build they flag an alert. The problem is a couple of NIP s missing. Line 307 etc. should be ...

c" FP-PACK" find NIP FPsystem SSE64System = and
dup [IF] cr ." SSE64System pack already compiled" [THEN]
?StopIncluding

c" FP-PACK" find NIP FPsystem 0<> or
[IF] cr ." Remove existing float pack before compiling this one" abort [THEN]

Answered: Raspberry Pi: could I control the general purpose I/O pins?

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 15:08:00 +0000

The 'correct' answer is to write a Linux kernel device driver for the GPIO/I2C/SPI/.. peripheral and access it through userspace. However, this is hard work.

The approach taken below (and also libbcm2835 https://www.airspayce.com/mikem/bcm2835/) is to access the memory device /dev/mem directly - is a bit of a hack but quick and easy. See the comment about libbcm2835 in the Buildroot Config:

WARNING: the opinion of the Buildroot developers is that such library is a complete abomination as it entirely works around the standard Linux interfaces to access GPIOs, I2C, SPI busses or other IOs. The library directly remaps the hardware registers in user-space, completely bypassing what the kernel drivers are doing, and potentially conflicting with them.

You takes your choice!

Bart

Step missing in the documented process for switching floating point systems?

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 18:36:24 +0000

I think there may be a critical bit of information missing in the VFX manual ?

Section 14.4 Only one FP package

says ...

To replace the floating point pack use:
remove-FP-pack
include <sourcefile>

BUT this does not remove the default NDP floating point recogniser, so any subsequent attempt to use an FP number results in a mysterious crash.

BEFORE doing remove-FP-pack, you must do

' REC-NDPFLOAT FORTH-RECOGNIZER -STACK \ Remove NDP recog

Answered: memory error saving application to an .exe with SAVE

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 07:58:09 +0000

SAVE operates on the current dictionary, which has to be less than the stated maximum dictionary size.

1024 Mb set-size
save bigvfx
bye

run bigvfx
compile app
save app