This is a zoom chat I attended in 2022 with Chuck Moore the inventor of the Forth programming language.
Forth had only recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. The chat was arranged by Peter and @honuk and the Forth2020 group on Facebook.
@jhlagado @Wintermute_BBS @honuk Wasn't there a Forth
version of the ZX80? Same case shape, but different colour.
@arcaneoverflow @Wintermute_BBS @honuk
Yes or rather it was designed by people who worked at Sinclair and went off and started their own company.
The computer you're thinking of was the Jupiter Ace. It ran Forth instead of Basic
@jhlagado @Wintermute_BBS @honuk That was it! I just remembered it was white. My big brother had one. I must ask if he still has it :-)
@arcaneoverflow @jhlagado @honuk you can get yourself a working replica kit called #Minstrel4th which is a 1:1 re-make of the Jupiter ACE with a few nifty additions such as an #rc2014 bus connector and an alternative firmware, selectable via jumper settings.
EDIT: and you can run ZX80 and ZX81 compatible firmware on it too ...
@Wintermute_BBS @arcaneoverflow @honuk
You can learn a lot by studying their ROM source listing too. Tricks like JP (IY) taking only 7 cycles, vs JP or JR.
This is important for Forth interpreters who need to jump to the NEXT instruction.
@Wintermute_BBS @arcaneoverflow
My favourite Forth article series
https://www.bradrodriguez.com/papers/moving1.htm
@jhlagado @arcaneoverflow @honuk It's also interesting how they solved the issue of not having any block storage. I was surprised how well one can work with just an ordinary audio tape cassette recorder.