diff --git a/archlabs-installer b/archlabs-installer
index d9dd261..f295543 100755
--- a/archlabs-installer
+++ b/archlabs-installer
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 # Some ideas and code reworked from other resources
 # AIF, Cnichi, Calamares, Arch Wiki.. Credit where credit is due
 
-VER="2.0.55"     # installer version
+VER="2.0.56"     # installer version
 DIST="ArchLabs"  # linux distributor
 MNT="/mnt"       # install mountpoint
 ANS="/tmp/ans"   # dialog answer file
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ EXMNTS=''         # when an extra partition is mounted append it's info
 FONT="ter-i16n"   # font used for the linux console
 HOOKS="shutdown"  # list of additional HOOKS to add in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
 
-LOGIN_TYPE=''     # login manager can be: lightdm, xinit
+LOGIN_TYPE=''     # login manager can be: lightdm, xinit, ly
 LOGIN_WM=''       # default login session to be placed in ~/.xinitrc
 LOGINRC=''        # login shell rc file, eg. .zprofile, .bash_profile, .profile
 
@@ -95,11 +95,11 @@ ISO_BASE+="pacman-contrib parted rsync sdparm smartmontools wget wireless_tools
 ISO_BASE+="alsa-firmware alsa-lib alsa-plugins pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa networkmanager w3m htop wireless-regdb "
 ISO_BASE+="lm_sensors lsb-release p7zip pamixer reflector unrar ranger terminus-font ttf-dejavu archlabs-keyring"
 
-# archlabs base packages
+# archlabs base
 AL_BASE_PKGS="archlabs-skel-base archlabs-fonts archlabs-themes archlabs-dARK archlabs-icons archlabs-wallpapers archlabs-scripts"
 
 # baseline (usually installed in the background)
-BASE_PKGS="base-devel xorg xorg-drivers xorg-xinit sudo git gvfs gtk3 gtk-engines gtk-engine-murrine pavucontrol tumbler "
+BASE_PKGS="base-devel xorg xorg-drivers sudo git gvfs gtk3 gtk-engines gtk-engine-murrine pavucontrol tumbler "
 BASE_PKGS+="playerctl ffmpeg gstreamer libmad libmatroska gst-libav gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good scrot"
 
 # extras for window managers
@@ -219,6 +219,7 @@ declare -A FS_OPTS=(
 # packages installed for each login option {
 declare -A LOGIN_PKGS=(
 [xinit]='xorg-xinit'
+[ly]='archlabs-ly'
 [lightdm]='lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings accountsservice'
 ) # }
 
@@ -424,24 +425,27 @@ select_login()
 	if [[ -z $LOGIN_TYPE ]]; then
 		dlg LOGIN_TYPE menu "Login Management" "\nSelect what kind of login management to use." \
 			"xinit"   "Console login without a display manager" \
+			"ly"      "TUI display manager with a ncurses-like interface"
 			"lightdm" "Lightweight display manager with a gtk greeter" || return 1
 	fi
 
-	if [[ $LOGIN_TYPE == 'lightdm' ]]; then
-		AUTOLOGIN=''
-		EDIT_FILES[login]="/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf"
-	else
+	if [[ $LOGIN_TYPE == 'xinit' ]]; then
+		EDIT_FILES[login]="/home/$NEWUSER/.xinitrc /home/$NEWUSER/.xprofile"
 		# define what wm/de to use for xinit
 		if (( $(wc -w <<< "$INSTALL_WMS") > 1 )); then
 			dlg LOGIN_WM menu "Login Management" "$_login" $LOGIN_CHOICES || return 1
 			LOGIN_WM="${WM_SESSIONS[$LOGIN_WM]}"
 		fi
 		[[ -z $LOGIN_WM ]] && LOGIN_WM="${WM_SESSIONS[${INSTALL_WMS%% *}]}"
-
 		# autologin
 		yesno "Autologin" "$(sed "s|USER|$NEWUSER|g; s|RC|$LOGINRC|g" <<< "$_autologin")" && AUTOLOGIN=true || AUTOLOGIN=''
-
-		EDIT_FILES[login]="/home/$NEWUSER/.xinitrc /home/$NEWUSER/.xprofile"
+	else
+		AUTOLOGIN='' # no autologin for DMs
+		if [[ $LOGIN_TYPE == 'lightdm' ]]; then
+			EDIT_FILES[login]="/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf"
+		elif [[ $LOGIN_TYPE == 'ly' ]]; then
+			EDIT_FILES[login]="/etc/ly/config.ini"
+		fi
 	fi
 }
 
@@ -463,7 +467,6 @@ select_config()
 				until [[ $ZONE && $SUBZ ]]; do
 					dlg ZONE menu "Timezone" "$_timez" America - Australia - Asia - Atlantic - Africa - Europe - Indian - Pacific - Arctic - Antarctica - || break
 					dlg SUBZ menu "Timezone" "$_timesubz" $(awk '/'"$ZONE"'\// {gsub(/'"$ZONE"'\//, ""); print $3 " - "}' /usr/share/zoneinfo/zone.tab | sort) || continue
-					yesno "Timezone" "\nConfirm time zone: $ZONE/$SUBZ\n" || unset ZONE
 				done
 				[[ $ZONE && $SUBZ ]] || { i=2; continue; } ;;
 			4) dlg KERNEL menu "Kernel" "\nChoose which kernel to use." \
@@ -477,11 +480,7 @@ select_config()
 		(( i++ )) # progress through to the next choice
 	done
 
-	case $MYSHELL in
-		'/bin/bash') LOGINRC='.bash_profile' ;;
-		'/usr/bin/zsh') LOGINRC='.zprofile' ;;
-		'/usr/bin/mksh') LOGINRC='.profile' ;;
-	esac
+	case $MYSHELL in *bash) LOGINRC='.bash_profile' ;; *zsh) LOGINRC='.zprofile' ;; *mksh) LOGINRC='.profile' ;; esac
 
 	return 0
 }
@@ -1470,6 +1469,8 @@ install_base()
 
 install_boot()
 {
+	echo "Installing $BOOTLDR"
+
 	if [[ $ROOT_PART == /dev/mapper* ]]; then
 		ROOT_PART_ID="$ROOT_PART"
 	else
@@ -1479,17 +1480,11 @@ install_boot()
 	fi
 
 	if [[ $SYS == 'UEFI' ]]; then
-		# our old installs
+		# remove our old install and generic BOOT/ dir
 		find $MNT/$BOOTDIR/EFI/ -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -iname "$DIST" -type d -delete
-		# generic BOOT/ dir
 		find $MNT/$BOOTDIR/EFI/ -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -iname 'BOOT' -type d -delete
 	fi
 
-	if [[ ! -e $MNT/$BOOTDIR/$UCODE ]]; then
-		chrun "pacman -S $UCODE --noconfirm"
-		[[ -e $MNT/$BOOTDIR/$UCODE ]] || UCODE=""
-	fi
-
 	prerun_$BOOTLDR
 	chrun "${BCMDS[$BOOTLDR]}" 2>$ERR
 	errshow 1 "${BCMDS[$BOOTLDR]}"
@@ -1519,6 +1514,7 @@ install_boot()
 
 install_user()
 {
+	echo "Creating new user $NEWUSER and setting password"
 	rm -f $MNT/root/.zshrc  # remove welcome message from root zshrc
 
 	chrun "chpasswd <<< 'root:$ROOT_PASS'" 2>$ERR
@@ -1549,7 +1545,7 @@ install_user()
 	[[ $WM_PKGS == *xfce* ]] && echo 'volumeicon &' >> $MNT/home/$NEWUSER/.xprofile
 
 	# remove some commands from ~/.xprofile when using KDE or Gnome as the login session
-	if [[ $LOGIN_WM =~ (startkde|gnome-session) || ($LOGIN_TYPE == 'lightdm' && $WM_PKGS =~ (plasma|gnome)) ]]; then
+	if [[ $LOGIN_WM =~ (startkde|gnome-session) || ($LOGIN_TYPE =~ (lightdm|ly) && $WM_PKGS =~ (plasma|gnome)) ]]; then
 		sed -i '/super/d' $MNT/home/$NEWUSER/.xprofile $MNT/root/.xprofile
 		sed -i '/nitrogen/d' $MNT/home/$NEWUSER/.xprofile $MNT/root/.xprofile
 		sed -i '/compton/d' $MNT/home/$NEWUSER/.xprofile $MNT/root/.xprofile
@@ -1591,8 +1587,16 @@ install_xinit()
 	fi
 }
 
+install_ly()
+{
+	rm -rf "$SERVICE" "$MNT/home/$NEWUSER"/.{xinitrc,profile,zprofile,bash_profile}
+	chrun 'systemctl enable ly.service' 2>$ERR
+	errshow 1 "systemctl enable ly.service"
+}
+
 install_login()
 {
+	echo "Setting up $LOGIN_TYPE"
 	SERVICE="$MNT/etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d"
 	install_${LOGIN_TYPE:-xinit}
 }
@@ -1623,7 +1627,7 @@ install_awesome()
 		cp -rT "/mnt/home/$NEWUSER/archlabs-awesome" /mnt/etc/skel
 		rm -rf "/home/$NEWUSER/"{.git,archlabs-awesome,screenshots}
 		printf "You will need to install pamac separately using: 'baph -i pamac-aur'\n"
-		sleep 3
+		sleep 2
 	else
 		printf "failed to clone awesome config repo\n"
 	fi
@@ -1632,7 +1636,7 @@ install_awesome()
 install_packages()
 {
 	local rmpkg=""
-	local inpkg="$BASE_PKGS ${LOGIN_PKGS[$LOGIN_TYPE]} $PACKAGES $USER_PKGS $UCODE "
+	local inpkg="$BASE_PKGS ${LOGIN_PKGS[$LOGIN_TYPE]} $PACKAGES $USER_PKGS "
 
 	if pacman -Qsq 'archlabs-installer' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
 		rmpkg+="archlabs-installer "
@@ -1668,7 +1672,7 @@ install_packages()
 	[[ $rmpkg ]] && chrun "pacman -Rns $rmpkg --noconfirm"
 
 	# reinstalling iputils fixes the network issue for non-root users
-	chrun "pacman -S iputils --noconfirm"
+	chrun "pacman -S iputils $UCODE --noconfirm"
 
 	# install the packages chosen throughout the install
 	chrun "pacman -S $inpkg --needed --noconfirm" 2>$ERR
@@ -1732,8 +1736,9 @@ install_mirrorlist()
 	local mfile="$1"  # output mirrorlist file
 
 	if hash reflector >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-		reflector --score 80 -l 40 -f 5 --sort rate --save "$mfile"
+		reflector --verbose --score 80 -l 40 -f 5 --sort rate --save "$mfile"
 	elif hash rankmirrors >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+		echo "Sorting mirrorlist"
 		local key="access_key=5f29642060ab983b31fdf4c2935d8c56"
 		ip_add="$(curl -fsSL "http://api.ipstack.com/check&?$key&fields=ip" | python -c "import sys, json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['ip'])")"
 		country="$(curl -fsSL "http://api.ipstack.com/$ip_add?$key&fields=country_code" | python -c "import sys, json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['country_code'])")"
@@ -2380,7 +2385,7 @@ die()
 dlg()
 {
 	local var="$1"   # assign output from dialog to var
-	local dlg_t="$2" # display a dialog of type dlg_t (menu, check, input)
+	local dlg_t="$2" # dialog type (menu, check, input)
 	local title="$3" # dialog title
 	local body="$4"  # dialog message
 	local n=0        # number of items to display