Meowven Handbook

The meow command

meow is Meowven's friendly frontend to pacman. It uses the configured Arch repositories, asks for administrator access when needed, and keeps pacman's transaction confirmations.

meow remove removes the named package without silently removing its dependencies. meow update refreshes the package databases and performs a full system upgrade. It does not perform a partial upgrade.

Pacman remains available for advanced use. The meow command does not install AUR packages or accept arbitrary pacman flags.

Ameow: a thank-you before shutdown

ameow is Meowism's “amen”: it thanks Meowbah for the computer, then requests a normal system poweroff. Save your work and close your applications before running it.

ameow --dry-run

Use --dry-run to preview the message and shutdown action without powering off. Run ameow when you are ready to shut down. Both current public edition images include this command. Older private previews may not.

Graphical installation

In Plasma, use the desktop installer launcher or run meowven-install from Konsole. Hyprland requires an X11 installer session: save your work, log out, select Meowven installer (X11) at SDDM, and log in as the live meowven account. Closing Calamares returns to the login screen; choose Hyprland to return to the desktop.

The Hyprland installer session reached the Welcome page and cancelled cleanly in an earlier VM test using a temporary session setting. Manual selection from the login screen remains unverified. No full installation has been tested.

1. Boot the live image and open Calamares using the steps for your edition above.
2. Choose your language, location, and keyboard layout.
3. Select the intended disk and partition layout. Manual partitioning is initially selected. The installer may offer erase, replace, or alongside options depending on the detected disks.
4. Create your account and choose a password.
5. Read the summary. Only confirm installation when the disk and proposed changes are correct.
6. After a successful installation, shut down, remove the ISO or installation media, and boot the installed disk.

The installer is configured to work offline, extracting the system from the ISO. It removes the live-session account and automatic login from the installed system.

Hardware and compatibility

Both images target x86_64 PCs. They include Intel and AMD microcode, Linux firmware, Mesa graphics support, and NVIDIA open DKMS packages. The first intended physical test system has an Intel i5 and an NVIDIA RTX 3070.

Including a driver does not guarantee every device will work. Graphics, Wi-Fi, audio, suspend, and boot firmware need testing on the actual computer. Older NVIDIA cards that require a different driver are not covered by these images' NVIDIA package selection.

Secure Boot is not configured. UEFI, BIOS, encryption, Btrfs, and alongside installation are configuration targets that still need end-to-end installation tests.

The desktop and Shrine

Plasma uses X11, Konsole for terminal work, and Dolphin for files. Hyprland 0.2.0 uses Wayland and the official Chroma rice: Quickshell, Kitty, Rofi and Thunar, with the original Meowven wallpaper. Press Super+Q for Kitty, Super+R for the launcher, Super+N for the dashboard, and Super+W for wallpapers. The key guide is at /usr/share/doc/meowven-hyprland/KEYS.html.

Open the Shrine from Plasma's desktop shortcut or from Hyprland's app launcher. Prayer counts stay in that browser and can be reset from the Shrine.

Run fastfetch to see Meowven's system identity and branding. The live account is meowven; it has no password in the live session. The installer creates a separate account for the installed system.

If something goes wrong

If an ARM-hosted VM feels slow, allow extra time: the whole x86_64 computer is being emulated. On an Intel or AMD host, hardware virtualization can provide a much faster test environment.

For package-manager errors, read pacman's message and check your connection. Do not interrupt a running package transaction. For installation issues, record the exact error and the disk layout before retrying.

If an emulated Plasma live session stays black, log in as meowven on a text console and create a software-rendering preference:

mkdir -p ~/.config/plasma-workspace/env
echo 'export QT_QUICK_BACKEND=software KWIN_COMPOSE=N' > ~/.config/plasma-workspace/env/meowven-vm.sh

Save any guest work, then run sudo systemctl restart sddm. This closes the graphical session and starts it again. This Plasma-only workaround was tested in the ARM-hosted VM; the file disappears when the live ISO reboots.

The Arch Wiki and KDE Plasma documentation cover the underlying system. Meowven-specific installer behavior may differ.