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This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 07/389,334, filed Aug. 3, 1989, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,749.

It is interesting to note that the patent application was actually filed on June 7, 1995, which was the last date for a patent application to be actually filed and still enjoy the old "17 years from issue" versus today's "20 years from application" patent term.

Whose got a torpedo to take this submarine out?

If you *really* want a JRE (which is generally not synonymous with performance, in the microcontroller world), check out the TINI from Dallas Semiconductor, here.

If you want to get into heavier duty gear (and available only in surface mount), you can look at things like the Patriot from PTSC, here. There are also several others that I've seen, but can't recall the name of. A little Googling should find those.

Chuck Moore, the guy that has designed the X18 and invented Forth to begin with, also designed the original version of Patriot Scientific's Ignite 1 cpu. They acquired the rights to Chuck's design and added extra things to it to make it a better Java processor. But at it's heart, it's a Forth chip.

A number of the negative statements about Java have been attributed to the JVM. I agree that the JVMs out there are generally poor for embedded apps, but is that really the core problem? Is embedded JVM too slow or is Java itself inherently inappropriate?

It's easy to forget how Sun's picoJava cores got canned. According to Sun starting in 1996 the answer to poor embedded JVMs was to announce a silicon chip that executed Java directly. picoJava I was a JVM-like execution engine, executing bytecodes in silicon. That was too limiting though, so Sun announced picoJava II, introducing about 50 new opcodes so it could be used for C and C++! Sun even hired MetaWare to write a C compiler for their Java chip!

Sun's microJava 701, based on the picoJava II core, was supposed to be a standard product produced and shipped in commercial quantities. However, Sun cancelled those plans in 1999. The microJava 701 was produced in small sample lots, but ultimately its death was hastened by poor demand and lack of commercial acceptance.

The same can be said of Java-on-silicon generally. With a few notable exceptions, several high-powered semiconductor manufacturers have failed to bring Java ICs to market despite initally signing on with Sun. Fujitsu, Siemens, IBM, Sun, NEC, and Rockwell/Collins fill out the list of no-shows to the Java-chip game.

Yes there are a few chips out there like Ajile Systems (former Rockwell/Collins technology), and Patriot Scientific, but if Sun and all these other big boys can make Java-on-silicon fly, what does that say about Java in the embedded space?

One man's opinion.

Patriot Sci. has a Java processor - actually it was a FORTH in Si processor origionally, but was 'retargeted' since FORTH bit the big one and became as relevant as LATIN. I'd like to try one out, since the RTX2010 only comes in (expensive) radiation hardened form.

My goal is to write a universal 'bullshit detector' that can apply the derivation rules of logic from 'Principia Mathematica' to first principles of metaphysics and the grand unification theorm, creating all basic sciences, nuclear-plasma physics, astrophysics, chemistry, biology, medicine and then finally the psychology of human sexual behavior. This ambitious project, on hold awaiting govt funding, entails a self maintaining massive database of 'truths' derived (under human direction as to 'revelancy' to human needs, sort of a trusted derivable encyclopedia) from said fundamental principles, with the cognative ability to catagorize any random statement into TRUE or FALSE in a reasonable amount of time by cross correlating it to the massive database as logically derivable from self evident axioms or not, complete with referances to prior research, bibliography and derivation path (for human checking of logic) - sort of like an automated library research assistant, or like a web search engine but only capable of producing 'true' information, while all unfounded, non-derivable speculative ideas and plain ol' B.S. are weeded out as 'false' or at lease 'not yet proven', particularly the system's self-referential 'Gödel' theorms.

I'd like to implement this with a massive cluster of superconducting R TX-2001's or better yet the PSC1000 using a FORTH microcode as the propositional logic processor but haven't decided on the high level language yet. Even that physical implementation probably needs updating.

ya'll remeber good old chuckie cheese's chip? Well the benefactor ifin you don't remeber of this fine chip was Patriot Scientific They just announced the .35 ...seem ta me in synch with Torvald's Crusoe... I almost fell off my chair in the lab today when i saw this stock quote on PTSC today http://quote.yahoo.com/q?s=PTSC&d=v1

• New this fall is Sun's MAJC
• Patriot shBoom (a 1996 relabelling of Chuck Moore's 32 bit FORTH chip)
• IBM's Java Chip - 1997 - apparently some extra logic hung off a PPC logic set
• Sun Scrapped their initial Java Chip
• UC Berkeley students designed one for a CS course
• Rockwell had one...

None of these have really gone anywhere in terms of influencing Java deployment.

The only way they would have been important is if:

• Network Computers had taken off, but they didn't.
• Java was getting deployed heavily in embedded systems. That factor is not evident.