Setup and defaults

Devario’s live image includes the desktop and installer together. Check the hardware requirements for your image before starting.

Open the Seafoam Labs homepage. In the Devario section, use Get the ISO Beta and SHA-256 to download the image and matching checksum.

Install the desktop

For the full walkthrough, follow Install Devario from ISO verification and USB preparation through each installer screen and first login. The screenshots use the 2026.10.31 image.

1. Boot the image in 64-bit UEFI mode. The live environment signs in as liveuser and starts Aqueous with Pearl. BIOS boot is available for trying the live system, but installation requires UEFI.
2. Open Install Devario from the launcher. Calamares provides the guided installer with Pearl appearance, dark and light palettes, and reduced-motion support.
3. Choose your language, region, keyboard, and disk layout. The 2026.10.31 image defaults to ext4; Btrfs, XFS, and F2FS are also available. Review the partition summary carefully: applying it can erase data on the selected disk.
4. Create your local user and confirm installation. Calamares copies the prepared desktop, configures hardware and services, and installs systemd-boot with the EFI partition at /boot. The base installation works offline.
5. Restart into the installed system. Pearl Greeter replaces live autologin. Sign in to the Aqueous session with your new account.

The installer sequence and partition defaults describe the actual image setup.

Check your first login

Aqueous manages windows and the session; Pearl provides the desktop and Settings. The greeter is the separate login screen.

1. Remove the installation media after restarting. Select Aqueous and sign in with your new account, not liveuser.
2. Check the username, Caps Lock and keyboard layout. If login fails, use greeter recovery.
3. Open a terminal (normally Super+Return) and run pearlctl status. Open Settings → Aqueous → Input to check your desktop keyboard layout.
4. Check networking, sound and monitors. The Settings task index points to each control. Display previews revert if you do not confirm them.

Installer language, console keymap, greeter input and desktop layout are separate settings. Keep a working console or another desktop available before changing login settings. Note the image date, package versions and any failures.

For updates, use Shelly’s Update page and the configured Devario repositories. See upgrade preparation; a missing shell or failed download usually calls for troubleshooting first.

Make it yours

To run a game on NVIDIA or a laptop’s dedicated GPU, follow NVIDIA and laptop GPUs for terminal commands, Steam launch options and checks.

Task	Where to start
Change wallpaper, colors, bar, or dock	Pearl Settings; see Pearl’s desktop features
Switch from floating windows to another layout	Pearl’s layout controls and Aqueous layouts
Configure monitors, scaling, or input	Display settings and input settings
Customize shortcuts and window behavior	Keybindings and window rules
Install applications or update the system	Shelly’s Package and Update pages; see package management
Try a different CPU scheduler	CPU schedulers with sched_ext
Mount an additional disk at startup	Pori’s user guide

Missing an application or library? Request a package to ask the Devario team to add it to the repositories.

The default cursor is Vimix, with Papirus icons and Matugen available for color generation. Personal Aqueous settings live in ~/.config/aqueous/ and take precedence over the system defaults.

To edit Shelly’s /etc/shelly.conf, follow Native package configuration for backups, options, repository definitions and checks.

If Shelly cannot check for upgrades, see Shelly upgrade-check recovery.

Everyday services

Pearl’s control center connects to NetworkManager for networking, BlueZ for Bluetooth, and PipeWire/WirePlumber for audio. UPower reports battery state and power-profiles-daemon supplies power profiles.

GNOME Keyring stores credentials, with Seahorse available to manage them. Password login through greetd unlocks the login keyring when its password matches your login password. UFW is enabled with incoming and forwarded connections denied and outgoing connections allowed by default.

Ghostty opens a Fish shell. Fastfetch displays the Devario system summary in each new terminal; nested shells stay quiet. A personal ~/.config/fastfetch/config.jsonc overrides the system summary.

For the underlying service and configuration files, see How Devario is built. For collecting a troubleshooting report, see Hardware and status.