--- title: VIOS Manual | daily.dev description: This is the manual for VIOS, a small operating system built around a resident Forth for the Agon Light 2. You can type Forth at a VGA console or drive the same... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/vios-manual-2h5zs5ukd twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: VIOS Manual | daily.dev og:description: This is the manual for VIOS, a small operating system built around a resident Forth for the Agon Light 2. You can type Forth at a VGA console or drive the same... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/vios-manual-2h5zs5ukd og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/2H5ZS5UKd.png og:image:alt: VIOS Manual og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # VIOS Manual **[Two Stop Bits](https://daily.dev/sources/twostopbits)** · 2 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary This is the manual for VIOS, a small operating system built around a resident Forth for the Agon Light 2. You can type Forth at a VGA console or drive the same system from a Mac, edit live code in Smalltalk-style windows, and save work as checked source modules on an SD card. The manual covers building, installing and setting up VIOS, plus the console, Forth language, modules, tasks, files, devices, GUI, audio and host tools. It ends with example programs and a full word reference. This edition documents VIOS 0.8.0. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is VIOS for the Agon Light 2? VIOS is a small, malleable operating system built around a resident Forth, designed for the Agon Light 2 retro computer. Users type Forth commands at a console on the VGA screen or drive the system remotely from a Mac. Code can be browsed, edited and replaced live in Smalltalk-style windows, and work is saved as checked source modules on the SD card. _daily.dev surfaces niche systems projects like Forth-based retro OS builds for hobbyists exploring the space._ ### What version is the current VIOS documentation based on? The documentation covers VIOS version 0.8.0, dated October 2026, written by Alessandro Iob. The exact version is tracked in a VERSION file, and changes are recorded in a CHANGELOG.md file within the project repository. Screenshots in the manual are rendered by the real VIOS display server and GUI code running on a host computer, producing the same pixels as the actual board. _Developers tracking niche OS releases like this can follow version changes through daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Visual Operating System](https://daily.dev/posts/visual-operating-system-bueattoz1) · Hacker News · 4 upvotes · 1 comments - [Tiny programming with FreeDOS: Just a kernel, shell, editor, and compiler](https://daily.dev/posts/tiny-programming-with-freedos-just-a-kernel-shell-editor-and-compiler-rrztxj95v) · All Things Open · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [My Anti AI computer](https://daily.dev/posts/my-anti-ai-computer-vqs0dbnds) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Fuzix: Because Small Is Beautiful](https://daily.dev/posts/fuzix-because-small-is-beautiful-nyb6pwozi) · Hacker News · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#embedded](https://daily.dev/tags/embedded) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/vios-manual-2h5zs5ukd) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"VIOS Manual","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/vios-manual-2h5zs5ukd","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/vios-manual-2h5zs5ukd"},"datePublished":"2026-10-26T19:15:17.134Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T19:22:16.014Z","description":"This is the manual for VIOS, a small operating system built around a resident Forth for the Agon Light 2. 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