Setup and defaults

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

Download the x86_64 ISO and verify it against the SHA-256 checksum.

Install the desktop

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. Btrfs is the default; ext4, XFS, and F2FS are 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.

Make it yours

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
Mount an additional disk at startup	Pori’s user guide

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.

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.