LPC1114 Devl

All the boards we have recently released

TTL To RS-232 DB9 M&F

TTL to USB

TTL to I2C

I2C-4SW-4LED 9Sept2012

were aimed at the release of our LPC1114 Development board. Or as I like to put it the LPC1114 Devl. And what do I mean by "we" and "our" ? Well it was developed as part of a team effort. An effort our little group likes to call ATeam Forth. This board is the center of a project to reintroduce the ease of Forth programming for microcomputing. All development in Forth happens interactively. And once you have developed and tested each bit of code there is a compiler on the board that speeds up the execution of the compiled code and includes easy ways to turn it into an application.

To see what you can do with the LPC1114 have a look at:

LPC1114 Data Sheet

LPC1114 Users Manual

So what do you need to start? Well you will need a way to talk to the board. Probably over USB. That is explained at TTL to USB. That post includes links to suitable terminal programs for your PC (there are probably similar programs for Apple users - but I'm not familiar with them) and an explanation of how to get them running.

Besides the USB board/terminal program you will need the LPC1114 Devl board. You can find the documentation for that board st LPC1114 Documentation. It includes the schematic, parts layout, and parts list. OSH Park has the boards for sale for $11.55 each.

And finally you will need to put the Forth located at ATeam Forth for the LPC1114 on the board. It is easy to do using a free tool called Flash Magic. I might add that if you have an LPC Xpresso LPC1114 Board with a serial/USB interface attached to it (TX and RX pins)it will also run our Forth. It should also run on the LPC1115 Xpresso. But we haven't tested it.

But back to Flash Magic. Once you have it installed follow these steps to load your LPC1114 with ATeam Forth.
1. Communications - Select your processor "LPC1114/102". You have already found your COM port as outlined in TTL to USB. Enter that in the COM Port box. The baud rate should be 9600. Interface is "None (ISP)".
2. Erase - check the box that is labeled "Erase all Flash+Code Rd Prot" do not check any other boxes in this section.
3. Hex File - Enter the location of your Hex file in the box. There is the usual "Browse" tool to make that easy.
4. Options - only check the box "Verify after programming"

Before you start programming install jumpers JU1 and JU2 on the board. Hit the reset button. You are now ready to

5. Start

It takes about a minute to install and verify ATeam Forth. Remove JU2 - go to your terminal program (set up for your COM Port and 9600 baud, 8 bits , no parity , one stop bit) and then press reset. You will see the sign on message indicating the number of free flash blocks and the date your version of ATeam FISH Forth was created. Press the "Enter" key and you will see "ok, go fish in BASE 10". That tells you the number base you are operating in in decimal. So how did it get the name FISH? Well, it is sort of an updated figForth. So we called it FigISH. Or just plain FISH. Go FISH.

Soldering notes for the LPC1114 Devl.

There is only one difficult to solder component on the board. The oscillator. It is difficult because the pads are not exposed. To make it easy lay down a generous amount (which is not much) of Chip Quik on the pads before you attempt to solder to them. Put the Chip Quik on the board before you place the oscillator for soldering. The solder will flow under the pads because of Chip Quik's outstanding wetting/fluxing ability. And also note. ALL the pads for components have been specifically designed for hand soldering. So fire up your iron!

More about Forth

If you are not familiar with Forth, I have added Starting Forth - pdf and Thinking Forth - pdf to the sidebar. Or click the links here. Obviously if you are new to Forth, Starting Forth is where you want to start. FISH does not completely conform to the Forth in the book. But it is close enough - especially in the beginning chapters - that you can use our hardware to follow along.

Update: 12 April 2014 2320z

The latest version of FISH Forth has been released. It has some added words for doing bit shifting and a Glossary with numerous examples. You can find the download link at Forth Update and Some Nice Doc.

Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.