I’ve been a no show lately. We’re moving house, and i’m not getting to my computers as much as i’d like.
Hope is everybody is well. Is anybody working on anything new and exciting?
Hi James,
Having moved house a few dozen times myself, you have my sympathy!
I’m still on my AI journey as I keep finding exciting new uses for it. My current favorite is qwen2.5-coder:32b made by Alibaba from China.
I maintain a Embedded Forth project/documentation site now about a decade old with hundreds of Forth code files in all the projects.
My latest AI ‘hot thing’ is getting the AI to analyse each Forth file, subroutine by subroutine, then add each analysis as a comment after the subroutine by way of user documentation.
This AI writes user doc much better than I can, and it does it instantly, including the insertion of documentation blocks etc. This a massive time saving for me, especially years after the fact.
it will probably save me months of editing if I do my whole site.
Here is example code for a Python wrapper for a Forth tool named “swd2”. The AI code analysis is the last item in the file and is untouched after AI creation.
#! /usr/bin/python -u
import subprocess
import selectors
import os
import time
import readline
import sys
import atexit
import threading
# set this to true to clear the line you just typed, as it is echoed by mecrisp anyway
clear_line = True
history_file = ".swdhistory"
process = None
def write2proc(line):
global process
process.stdin.write(f"{line}\n")
process.stdin.flush()
def sendchar(ch):
global process
process.stdin.write(ch)
process.stdin.flush()
def run(cmd):
global process
# stdout and stderr go straight to the terminal, but we pipe stdin so we can send commands
with subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=None, stderr=None, shell=False, universal_newlines=True, bufsize=0, encoding='utf-8', errors='replace') as p:
process = p
p.wait()
print('command complete')
# tab completion for forth words here
# we could add all known words, or just have a file with common words we want easy access to.
def completer(text, state):
# TODO read in a list of common forth words here
options = [word for word in ["words", "compiletoram", "dup", "swap"] if word.startswith(text)]
if state < len(options):
return options[state]
return None
def delete_last_line():
# cursor up one line
sys.stdout.write('\x1b[1A')
# delete last line
sys.stdout.write('\x1b[2K')
def main():
global process
try:
readline.read_history_file(history_file)
readline.set_history_length(1000)
except FileNotFoundError:
pass # No history file yet
readline.set_completer(completer)
readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")
t = threading.Thread(target=run, daemon=True, args=("swd2", ))
t.start()
print("SWD2 frontend with line editing and history. Type 'ctrl-D' to quit.")
while True:
try:
line = input()
if len(line) > 0 and clear_line:
delete_last_line()
write2proc(line)
except EOFError:
sendchar("\x04")
process.kill()
break # Handle Ctrl+D for exit
except KeyboardInterrupt:
sendchar("\x03")
print("Goodbye!")
t.join()
atexit.register(readline.write_history_file, history_file)
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
'''
BSD 2-Clause License
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this
list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,
OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
'''
'''
This Python script provides a frontend for interacting with the `swd2` command-line tool. It incorporates features like line editing, command history,
and tab completion for specific Forth words. Here's a summary of the code:
1. **Imports**: The script imports several modules including `subprocess`, `selectors`, `os`, `time`, `readline`, `sys`, `atexit`, and `threading`.
2. **Global Variables**:
- `history_file`: Specifies the file to store command history.
- `process`: Holds a reference to the subprocess running `swd2`.
3. **Functions**:
- `write2proc(line)`: Sends a line of input to the `swd2` process's standard input and flushes it.
- `sendchar(ch)`: Sends a single character to the `swd2` process's standard input and flushes it.
- `run(cmd)`: Starts a subprocess with the given command, waits for it to complete, and prints 'command complete' when done.
- `completer(text, state)`: Provides tab completion for a list of predefined Forth words.
4. **Main Function**:
- Loads command history from `history_file` if it exists.
- Sets up the completer function for readline to provide tab completion.
- Starts the `swd2` process in a separate thread so that the main program can continue running and handle user input.
- Enters an infinite loop where it reads lines of input from the user, sends them to the `swd2` process, and handles `EOFError` (Ctrl+D) or
`KeyboardInterrupt` (Ctrl+C).
- Registers a function to save command history when the program exits.
5. **Exit Handling**:
- Uses `atexit.register` to ensure that the command history is written to `history_file` when the script terminates.
6. **Execution**:
- The `main()` function is called if the script is executed as the main module, starting the interaction with the `swd2` tool.
This script enhances the user experience by providing a more interactive and convenient way to use the `swd2` command-line tool through features like
command history and tab completion.
'''
Hi James,
Good luck with the house move. It’s never smooth but I hope it’s as stress free as it can possibly be.
Life has taken over a little bit for me lately too, but recently I’ve been playing with ollama and some of the AI models on a M4 Mac. As one would expect, the performance is quite different from my older 3rd gen Intel machine I was using a few months ago!
Other than that, I’ve been glacially completing a few upgrades to the network at home (mainly swapping in some 10Gbit gear and migrating to new access points), and tweaking my Home Assistant setup with the intent of backing the config up and migrating it to a VM at some stage in the near future in order to free up some hardware. One of last year and this year’s goals is was to keep downsizing the mountains of physical equipment and work a bit smarter with what I have. Hoping that this puts me in a slightly better position when the dreaded “house move” comes my way again one day…
Cheers,
Belfry
Hi @jdownie I thought you had been quiet for a while.
For my part I’ve spent the break lost in kubernetes … and I mean lost.
I feel like the I am in my early days with linux. If I carefully follow the script I get a functioning system. If I deviate or update, the system breaks and I cannot readily fix it so I start over from the beginning. Hopefully, each time I learn a little more but it is a slow iterative process.
If I ever get out of this k3s “escape room”. I’ll let you know.
When I get settled I’m keen to try to catch up with you a little. I like the idea of self hosting large language models. I talk to ChatGPT all day every day, and it’s unsettling how much the responses contain personal information that I have happened to impart in earlier conversations.
I’d like to upgrade the motherboard and CPU in my gaming machine so that I can pass through the GPU in proxmox. I’m hoping that I can stand up a windows 10 guest that uses the GPU when I want Steam, and then stand up a Linux guest for LLMs.
Anyway, all of this will have to wait until I’m done with renovations, removals, oh and my job 