diff --git a/bin/breezy_gnome_setup b/bin/breezy_gnome_setup
index 31fe60b..fc0c3a0 100755
--- a/bin/breezy_gnome_setup
+++ b/bin/breezy_gnome_setup
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ check_command() {
     fi
 }
 
+check_command "curl"
 check_command "gnome-shell"
 
 ARCH=$(uname -m)
diff --git a/bin/package_gnome b/bin/package_gnome
index b0e6c29..ce388c3 100755
--- a/bin/package_gnome
+++ b/bin/package_gnome
@@ -92,11 +92,13 @@ pushd $GNOME_DIR/src
 GNOME_MANIFEST_LINE=$(find -L . -type f ! -name "*.compiled" -exec sha256sum {} \; | sort | sha256sum | sed 's/ .*//')
 popd
 
-FLATPAK_BUILD_ARTIFACT=ui/out/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop-$ARCH.flatpak
-if [ ! -e "$FLATPAK_BUILD_ARTIFACT" ] || [ "$1" == "--rebuild-flatpak" ] || [ "$1" == "--rebuild-all" ]; then
-  ui/bin/package $ARCH
+UI_BUILD_ARTIFACT=ui/out/breezyUI-$ARCH.tar.gz
+if [ ! -e "$UI_BUILD_ARTIFACT" ] || [ "$1" == "--rebuild-ui" ] || [ "$1" == "--rebuild-all" ]; then
+  pushd ui
+  bin/package $ARCH
+  popd
 fi
-cp $FLATPAK_BUILD_ARTIFACT $PACKAGE_DIR/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.flatpak
+tar -xf $UI_BUILD_ARTIFACT -C $PACKAGE_DIR
 
 # create manifest file for verifying installed file checksums against the originally packaged versions
 # include any file that doesn't get modified during setup (e.g. vkBasalt.json files)
diff --git a/gnome/bin/breezy_gnome_uninstall b/gnome/bin/breezy_gnome_uninstall
index 199bc03..4545d2d 100755
--- a/gnome/bin/breezy_gnome_uninstall
+++ b/gnome/bin/breezy_gnome_uninstall
@@ -36,8 +36,12 @@ rm -rf $DATA_DIR
 [ "$for_install" -eq 0 ] && echo "Uninstalling the breezydesktop@xronlinux.com GNOME extension"
 gnome-extensions uninstall breezydesktop@xronlinux.com
 
-[ "$for_install" -eq 0 ] && echo "Uninstalling the Breezy Desktop UI Flatpak"
-flatpak uninstall --user --noninteractive --force-remove  com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop
+[ "$for_install" -eq 0 ] && echo "Uninstalling the Breezy Desktop UI application"
+rm -rf $XDG_DATA_HOME/breezydesktop
+rm -f $XDG_DATA_HOME/applications/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.desktop
+rm -f $XDG_DATA_HOME/icons/hicolor/*/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.png
+rm -f $XDG_DATA_HOME/locale/*/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
+rm -f $XDG_BIN_HOME/breezydesktop
 
 [ "$for_install" -eq 0 ] && echo "Uninstalling XRLinuxDriver"
 # if for-install
diff --git a/gnome/bin/setup b/gnome/bin/setup
index 7ee291a..e34efb5 100755
--- a/gnome/bin/setup
+++ b/gnome/bin/setup
@@ -9,8 +9,10 @@ check_command() {
     fi
 }
 
-check_command "flatpak"
 check_command "gnome-extensions"
+check_command "glib-compile-schemas"
+check_command "update-desktop-database"
+check_command "gtk-update-icon-cache"
 
 # This script gets packaged with the release and should do the bulk of the setup work. This allows this setup to be tied
 # to a specific release of the code, and guarantees it will never run along-side newer or older binaries.
@@ -22,12 +24,11 @@ if [ -z "$XDG_DATA_HOME" ]; then
 fi
 XR_DRIVER_DATA_DIR="$XDG_DATA_HOME/xr_driver"
 GNOME_SHELL_DATA_DIR="$XDG_DATA_HOME/gnome-shell"
-DATA_DIR="$XDG_DATA_HOME/breezy_gnome"
+BREEZY_GNOME_DATA_DIR="$XDG_DATA_HOME/breezy_gnome"
 
 if [ -z "$XDG_BIN_HOME" ]; then
   XDG_BIN_HOME="$USER_HOME/.local/bin"
 fi
-BIN_DIR="$XDG_BIN_HOME"
 
 if [ -d "$XDG_BIN_HOME" ]; then
   # check ownership and permissions before doing chown and chmod
@@ -59,31 +60,40 @@ UA_EVENT_VERSION="$1"
 #INJECT_UA_CALL
 
 # escaping sed replace: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/407523/escape-a-string-for-a-sed-replace-pattern
-ESCAPED_BIN_DIR=$(printf '%s\n' "$BIN_DIR" | sed -e 's/[\/&]/\\&/g')
-ESCAPED_DATA_DIR=$(printf '%s\n' "$DATA_DIR" | sed -e 's/[\/&]/\\&/g')
+ESCAPED_XDG_BIN_HOME=$(printf '%s\n' "$XDG_BIN_HOME" | sed -e 's/[\/&]/\\&/g')
+ESCAPED_BREEZY_GNOME_DATA_DIR=$(printf '%s\n' "$BREEZY_GNOME_DATA_DIR" | sed -e 's/[\/&]/\\&/g')
 ESCAPED_XR_DRIVER_DATA_DIR=$(printf '%s\n' "$XR_DRIVER_DATA_DIR" | sed -e 's/[\/&]/\\&/g')
 ESCAPED_GNOME_SHELL_DATA_DIR=$(printf '%s\n' "$GNOME_SHELL_DATA_DIR" | sed -e 's/[\/&]/\\&/g')
 
 echo "Copying the breezy_gnome scripts to ${XDG_BIN_HOME}"
 mkdir -p $XDG_BIN_HOME
 cp bin/breezy_gnome_uninstall $XDG_BIN_HOME
-sed -i -e "s/{bin_dir}/$ESCAPED_BIN_DIR/g" \
-       -e "s/{data_dir}/$ESCAPED_DATA_DIR/g" \
+sed -i -e "s/{bin_dir}/$ESCAPED_XDG_BIN_HOME/g" \
+       -e "s/{data_dir}/$ESCAPED_BREEZY_GNOME_DATA_DIR/g" \
        -e "s/{xr_driver_data_dir}/$ESCAPED_XR_DRIVER_DATA_DIR/g" \
        -e "s/{gnome_shell_data_dir}/$ESCAPED_GNOME_SHELL_DATA_DIR/g" \
           bin/breezy_gnome_verify
 cp bin/breezy_gnome_verify $XDG_BIN_HOME
 
-echo "Copying the manifest file to ${DATA_DIR}"
-mkdir -p $DATA_DIR
-cp manifest $DATA_DIR
+echo "Copying the manifest file to ${BREEZY_GNOME_DATA_DIR}"
+mkdir -p $BREEZY_GNOME_DATA_DIR
+cp manifest $BREEZY_GNOME_DATA_DIR
 
 echo "Installing the breezydesktop@xronlinux.com GNOME extension"
 gnome-extensions install --force breezydesktop@xronlinux.com.shell-extension.zip
 
-echo "Installing the Breezy Desktop UI Flatpak (this may take a couple minutes the first time)"
-flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
-flatpak install --user --noninteractive --reinstall com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.flatpak
+echo "Installing the Breezy Desktop UI application"
+cp -r breezy_ui/data/* $XDG_DATA_HOME
+cp -r breezy_ui/bin/* $XDG_BIN_HOME
+
+# update copied files to use the local XDG paths
+ESCAPED_XDG_DATA_HOME=$(printf '%s\n' "$XDG_DATA_HOME" | sed -e 's/[\/&]/\\&/g')
+sed -i -e "s/\/usr\/local\/share/$ESCAPED_XDG_DATA_HOME/g" $XDG_BIN_HOME/breezydesktop
+sed -i "/Exec/c\Exec=$XDG_BIN_HOME/breezydesktop" $XDG_DATA_HOME/applications/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.desktop
+
+glib-compile-schemas $XDG_DATA_HOME/glib-2.0/schemas
+update-desktop-database $XDG_DATA_HOME/applications
+gtk-update-icon-cache
 
 # set up the XR driver using the local binary
 echo "Installing xrDriver"
diff --git a/ui/bin/package b/ui/bin/package
index 6dd6beb..71c13ab 100755
--- a/ui/bin/package
+++ b/ui/bin/package
@@ -17,24 +17,41 @@ pushd $UI_BUILD_PATH
 meson compile
 popd
 
-PACKAGE_SRC_DIR=$PACKAGE_DIR/src
+# mimick the XDG directory structure in our archive file so setup can just copy the directories and not individual files
+PACKAGE_DATA_DIR=$PACKAGE_DIR/data
 PACKAGE_BIN_DIR=$PACKAGE_DIR/bin
-PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR=$PACKAGE_DIR/icons
-mkdir -p $PACKAGE_SRC_DIR
+
+# these are all subdirectories of XDG_DATA_HOME
+PACKAGE_BREEZY_DIR=$PACKAGE_DATA_DIR/breezydesktop
+PACKAGE_BREEZY_SRC_DIR=$PACKAGE_BREEZY_DIR/breezydesktop
+PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR=$PACKAGE_DATA_DIR/icons/hicolor
+PACKAGE_LOCALE_DIR=$PACKAGE_DATA_DIR/locale
+PACKAGE_APPS_DIR=$PACKAGE_DATA_DIR/applications
+PACKAGE_SCHEMAS_DIR=$PACKAGE_DATA_DIR/glib-2.0/schemas
+
 mkdir -p $PACKAGE_BIN_DIR
+mkdir -p $PACKAGE_BREEZY_SRC_DIR
 mkdir -p $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR
+mkdir -p $PACKAGE_LOCALE_DIR
+mkdir -p $PACKAGE_APPS_DIR
+mkdir -p $PACKAGE_SCHEMAS_DIR
 
-cp src/*.py $PACKAGE_SRC_DIR
-cp -r po $BUILD_PATH
-cp modules/PyXRLinuxDriverIPC/xrdriveripc.py $PACKAGE_SRC_DIR
+cp src/*.py $PACKAGE_BREEZY_SRC_DIR
+cp -L modules/PyXRLinuxDriverIPC/xrdriveripc.py $PACKAGE_BREEZY_SRC_DIR
+cp $UI_BUILD_PATH/src/breezydesktop.gresource $PACKAGE_BREEZY_DIR
+cp -r po/mo/* $PACKAGE_LOCALE_DIR
+cp data/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.gschema.xml $PACKAGE_SCHEMAS_DIR
 cp $UI_BUILD_PATH/src/breezydesktop $PACKAGE_BIN_DIR
-cp $UI_BUILD_PATH/src/breezydesktop.gresource $PACKAGE_DIR
-cp $UI_BUILD_PATH/data/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.desktop $PACKAGE_DIR
+cp $UI_BUILD_PATH/data/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.desktop $PACKAGE_APPS_DIR
 
-rsvg-convert data/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.svg -w 64 -h 64 -o $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop_64.png
-rsvg-convert data/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.svg -w 128 -h 128 -o $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop_128.png
-rsvg-convert data/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.svg -w 256 -h 256 -o $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop_256.png
-rsvg-convert data/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.svg -w 1024 -h 1024 -o $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop_1024.png
+mkdir -p $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR/64x64/apps
+mkdir -p $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR/128x128/apps
+mkdir -p $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR/256x256/apps
+mkdir -p $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR/1024x1024/apps
+rsvg-convert data/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.svg -w 64 -h 64 -o $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR/64x64/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.png
+rsvg-convert data/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.svg -w 128 -h 128 -o $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR/128x128/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.png
+rsvg-convert data/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.svg -w 256 -h 256 -o $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR/256x256/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.png
+rsvg-convert data/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.svg -w 1024 -h 1024 -o $PACKAGE_ICONS_DIR/1024x1024/apps/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.png
 
 pushd $BUILD_PATH
 
diff --git a/ui/bin/update_pot_files b/ui/bin/update_pot_files
index 68ec03e..a667bbd 100755
--- a/ui/bin/update_pot_files
+++ b/ui/bin/update_pot_files
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ for file in po/*.po; do
 
     msgmerge --update "po/$lang.po" po/breezydesktop.pot
 
-    outdir="po/$lang/LC_MESSAGES"
+    outdir="po/mo/$lang/LC_MESSAGES"
     mkdir -p "$outdir"
     msgfmt -o "$outdir/breezydesktop.mo" "$file"
 done
diff --git a/ui/data/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.desktop.in b/ui/data/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.desktop.in
index 1264eef..0cee462 100644
--- a/ui/data/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.desktop.in
+++ b/ui/data/com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop.desktop.in
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [Desktop Entry]
 Name=Breezy Desktop
-Exec=env LOCALE_DIR=/usr/local/share/breezydesktop/breezydesktop/po breezydesktop
+Exec=breezydesktop
 Icon=com.xronlinux.BreezyDesktop
 Terminal=false
 Type=Application
diff --git a/ui/po/breezydesktop.pot b/ui/po/breezydesktop.pot
index 1bfe949..e12cbf3 100644
--- a/ui/po/breezydesktop.pot
+++ b/ui/po/breezydesktop.pot
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ msgid ""
 msgstr ""
 "Project-Id-Version: PACKAGE VERSION\n"
 "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n"
-"POT-Creation-Date: 2024-10-01 13:24-0700\n"
+"POT-Creation-Date: 2024-10-02 09:15-0700\n"
 "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
 "Last-Translator: FULL NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n"
 "Language-Team: LANGUAGE <LL@li.org>\n"
diff --git a/ui/po/de/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo b/ui/po/mo/de/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
similarity index 100%
rename from ui/po/de/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
rename to ui/po/mo/de/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
diff --git a/ui/po/es/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo b/ui/po/mo/es/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
similarity index 100%
rename from ui/po/es/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
rename to ui/po/mo/es/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
diff --git a/ui/po/fr/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo b/ui/po/mo/fr/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
similarity index 100%
rename from ui/po/fr/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
rename to ui/po/mo/fr/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
diff --git a/ui/po/it/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo b/ui/po/mo/it/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
similarity index 100%
rename from ui/po/it/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
rename to ui/po/mo/it/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
diff --git a/ui/po/ja/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo b/ui/po/mo/ja/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
similarity index 100%
rename from ui/po/ja/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
rename to ui/po/mo/ja/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
diff --git a/ui/po/pl/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo b/ui/po/mo/pl/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
similarity index 100%
rename from ui/po/pl/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
rename to ui/po/mo/pl/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
diff --git a/ui/po/pt_BR/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo b/ui/po/mo/pt_BR/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
similarity index 100%
rename from ui/po/pt_BR/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
rename to ui/po/mo/pt_BR/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
diff --git a/ui/po/ru/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo b/ui/po/mo/ru/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
similarity index 100%
rename from ui/po/ru/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
rename to ui/po/mo/ru/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
diff --git a/ui/po/sv/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo b/ui/po/mo/sv/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
similarity index 100%
rename from ui/po/sv/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
rename to ui/po/mo/sv/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
diff --git a/ui/po/uk_UA/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo b/ui/po/mo/uk_UA/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
similarity index 100%
rename from ui/po/uk_UA/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
rename to ui/po/mo/uk_UA/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
diff --git a/ui/po/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo b/ui/po/mo/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
similarity index 100%
rename from ui/po/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
rename to ui/po/mo/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/breezydesktop.mo
diff --git a/ui/src/main.py b/ui/src/main.py
index 4f4a1c1..710d3ce 100644
--- a/ui/src/main.py
+++ b/ui/src/main.py
@@ -32,15 +32,16 @@ gi.require_version('Adw', '1')
 gi.require_version('Gio', '2.0')
 gi.require_version('GLib', '2.0')
 
-script_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
-po_dir = os.path.join(script_dir, 'po')
-locale_dir = os.environ.get('LOCALE_DIR', '/app/share/locale')
+user_home = os.path.expanduser('~')
+xdg_data_home = os.environ.get('XDG_DATA_HOME') or os.path.join(user_home, '.local', 'share')      
+locale_dir = os.environ.get('LOCALE_DIR', os.path.join(xdg_data_home, 'locale'))
 
 locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, locale.getdefaultlocale())
 locale.bindtextdomain('breezydesktop', locale_dir)
 gettext.bindtextdomain('breezydesktop', locale_dir)
 gettext.textdomain('breezydesktop')
 
+
 from gi.repository import Adw, Gtk, Gio
 from .licensedialog import LicenseDialog
 from .statemanager import StateManager