1. LIVE SESSION INSTALLATION //
PhaethonOS boots directly into a Wayland-enabled Live Environment and automatically runs the ZZZ-themed Calamares installer on startup. Follow the wizard configuration panels to target your drive.
# Manual Calamares startup check:
/usr/local/bin/phaethon-calamares
2. HARDWARE ENHANCEMENT //
We utilize customized schedulers within the BORE-optimized kernel to handle gaming resource allocation. Process priorities are dynamically balanced by the ananicy-cpp daemon.
3. SHELL OPTIMIZATION //
The default user shell is preloaded with Fish. Launching a terminal triggers the distro diagnostics module using fastfetch. Custom alias configurations are mapped in ~/.config/fish/config.fish.
4. POST-INSTALLATION SETUP //
After installation, update all packages and configure your system:
# Update everything
sudo pacman -Syu
# Install AUR helper updates
yay -Syu
# Enable Firewalld if not running
sudo systemctl enable --now firewalld
# Configure snapper snapshots
sudo snapper -c root set-config TIMELINE_CREATE=yes
5. FILESYSTEM LAYOUT //
The default installation uses Btrfs with subvolumes for snapshot management:
@ - / (root filesystem)
@home - /home
@snapshots - /.snapshots (snapper)
@var_log - /var/log
@swap - /swap (swap file on Btrfs)
6. TROUBLESHOOTING //
Common issues and their solutions:
# GRUB shows no theme
# Reinstall grub and regenerate config
sudo grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=PhaethonOS
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
# Network not working
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager
# Calamares won't launch in live ISO
/usr/local/bin/phaethon-calamares
7. STEAM & GAMING //
PhaethonOS includes Steam, Lutris, MangoHud, and GameMode pre-installed with 32-bit library support.
# Enable GameMode per-game
gamemoderun %command%
# Toggle MangoHud (in-game overlay)
# Press Shift+F12 (default)
# Install Proton GE for Steam
yay -S proton-ge-custom-bin
8. AUR HELPERS //
Both yay and paru are pre-installed. Paru is recommended for its sandboxing and cleaner output.
# Search and install with yay
yay <package>
# Search and install with paru
paru <package>
# Update AUR packages only
yay -Sua
# Clean build cache
yay -Sc
9. KERNEL MANAGEMENT //
Multiple kernels can be installed alongside the default linux-cachyos kernel.
# Install LTS kernel as fallback
sudo pacman -S linux-cachyos-lts
# List installed kernels
pacman -Qs "^linux" | grep "^local"
# Remove old kernels
sudo pacman -Rns linux-cachyos-lts
10. BACKUP & RESTORE //
Beyond snapper snapshots, use rsync for manual backups of critical directories.
# Backup home directory to external drive
rsync -avz --progress /home/ /mnt/backup/home/
# Backup package list
pacman -Qqe > ~/pkglist.txt
# Restore packages from list
sudo pacman -S --needed - < ~/pkglist.txt