diff --git a/lib/common.sh b/lib/common.sh
index df27987..219d35b 100644
--- a/lib/common.sh
+++ b/lib/common.sh
@@ -101,43 +101,91 @@ ui_quiet_run() {
 
     before=$(wc -l < "$log" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
 
-    # Child writes to the log; we draw a LIVE line: spinner frame + the package
-    # dnf is currently working on. gum spin was tried here first but rendered
-    # as a frozen block on the real VM ("looks like it hangs") — this variant
-    # animates independently of gum and shows real progress, not just motion.
+    # ---- status BLOCK (TTY-safe: a background-coloured SPACE, never a glyph) --
+    # busy: blue block that breathes (bg-colour ramp) + current dnf action
+    # ok  : solid green block + package count
+    # fail: solid RED block (spec change from the X, per YuKu)
+    # Colour-depth aware: 256 -> ramp, 16 -> blue/bright-blue, none -> ASCII.
+    local depth=0 nc
+    nc=$(tput colors 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+    case "$nc" in ''|*[!0-9]*) nc=0 ;; esac
+    if   (( nc >= 256 )); then depth=256
+    elif (( nc >= 8 ));   then depth=16
+    fi
+    # The bare Linux VT is 16-color VGA: 48;5;N codes are ignored there, and
+    # its blue/bright-blue backgrounds render nearly identically (VM-proven:
+    # "solid blue, no breathing" on the console). Cap to the 16-color path.
+    case "${TERM:-}" in linux*|console*) depth=16 ;; esac
+
+    # Per-depth frame interval: the console colour-pulse runs slower (a fast
+    # blue/grey flip reads as flicker — YuKu asked for half-to-third speed);
+    # the 256-colour breathe ramp keeps its 50ms.
+    local tick=0.05
+    (( depth == 16 )) && tick=0.15
+
+    local -a bg=()
+    case "$depth" in
+        # Deep-amplitude breathe: dark navy (17) to BRIGHT blue (45). Adjacent
+        # shades must differ enough to survive flicker fusion — a subtle ramp
+        # at 20fps reads as a solid block (VM-proven).
+        256) bg=( "48;5;17" "48;5;19" "48;5;21" "48;5;27" "48;5;33" "48;5;39" "48;5;45" "48;5;39" "48;5;33" "48;5;27" "48;5;21" "48;5;19" ) ;;
+        # Colour pulse with CONSTANT layout: blue <-> dark grey (bright black).
+        # Never remove the block on a frame — a missing block shifted the
+        # whole line by one char on the console (VM-proven).
+        16)  bg=( "44" "44" "100" "100" ) ;;
+    esac
+    local -a ch=( "|" "/" "-" "\\" )
+
     "$@" >>"$log" 2>&1 &
     local pid=$!
-    # ASCII frames ONLY: braille/em-dash are multibyte UTF-8 and rendered as
-    # garbage letters when the session locale is not UTF-8 (VM-proven: the
-    # spinner appeared as changing random chars, not as a spinner).
-    local frames=( '|' '/' '-' '\\' )
     local f=0 cur
     while kill -0 "$pid" 2>/dev/null; do
         cur=$(sed -n "$((before+1)),\$p" "$log" 2>/dev/null \
                 | grep -E '^(Installing|Upgrading|Downgrading|Removing|Verifying|Preparing|Cleanup):' \
                 | tail -n 1 || true)
-        if [[ -n "$cur" ]]; then
-            printf '\r  %s %s: %s' "${frames[$f]}" "$msg" "$cur" >&2
+        if (( depth >= 16 )); then
+            local code="${bg[$(( f % ${#bg[@]} ))]}"
+            if [[ -n "$cur" ]]; then
+                printf '\r\033[%sm \033[0m %s: %s' "$code" "$msg" "$cur" >&2
+            else
+                printf '\r\033[%sm \033[0m %s' "$code" "$msg" >&2
+            fi
         else
-            printf '\r  %s %s' "${frames[$f]}" "$msg" >&2
+            if [[ -n "$cur" ]]; then
+                printf '\r  %s %s: %s' "${ch[$(( f % ${#ch[@]} ))]}" "$msg" "$cur" >&2
+            else
+                printf '\r  %s %s' "${ch[$(( f % ${#ch[@]} ))]}" "$msg" >&2
+            fi
         fi
-        f=$(( (f + 1) % ${#frames[@]} ))
-        sleep 0.15
+        f=$(( f + 1 ))
+        sleep "$tick"
     done
 
     local rc=0
     wait "$pid" || rc=$?
-    # wipe the progress line before printing the result
     printf '\r%*s\r' 100 '' >&2
 
     if (( rc == 0 )); then
         n=$(sed -n "$((before+1)),\$p" "$log" 2>/dev/null | grep -c '^Installing:' || true)
         local plural="s"
         (( n == 1 )) && plural=""
-        ok "$msg (${n} package${plural})"
+        if (( depth == 256 )); then
+            printf '\033[48;5;34m \033[0m %s (%s package%s)\n' "$msg" "$n" "$plural" >&2
+        elif (( depth == 16 )); then
+            printf '\033[42m \033[0m %s (%s package%s)\n' "$msg" "$n" "$plural" >&2
+        else
+            ok "$msg (${n} package${plural})"
+        fi
         return 0
     else
-        color_red "  Failed: $msg"
+        if (( depth == 256 )); then
+            printf '\033[48;5;196m \033[0m %s\n' "$msg" >&2
+        elif (( depth == 16 )); then
+            printf '\033[41m \033[0m %s\n' "$msg" >&2
+        else
+            color_red "  Failed: $msg"
+        fi
+        color_red "  (dnf reported a transaction failure)"
         color_red "  Last lines from $log:"
         sed -n "$((before+1)),\$p" "$log" 2>/dev/null | tail -n 20 | sed 's/^/    /' >&2
         return "$rc"
@@ -307,6 +355,9 @@ disable_selinux() {
         sudo cp "$cfg" "${cfg}.bkp.$(date +%F)"
         sudo sed -i 's/^SELINUX=.*/SELINUX=disabled/' "$cfg"
     else
+        # belt-and-suspenders: on real Fedora /etc/selinux always exists, but
+        # do not die if it somehow does not
+        sudo mkdir -p "$(dirname "$cfg")"
         printf 'SELINUX=disabled\nSELINUXTYPE=targeted\n' | sudo tee "$cfg" >/dev/null
     fi
     ok "SELINUX=disabled written to $cfg (backup saved). Reboot to apply."
diff --git a/lib/ui-block.sh b/lib/ui-block.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6845b7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/ui-block.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# ui-block.sh - TTY-safe status "block" indicator (no special fonts)
+#
+#   busy : blue block that "breathes" (background colour pulses)
+#   ok   : solid green block
+#   fail : solid red block (changed from red X per YuKu's spec)
+#
+# Why this works on a bare TTY: the "block" is a BACKGROUND-COLOURED SPACE,
+# not a U+2588 glyph. No fonts, no UTF-8, no locale dependency.
+#
+# Draws on /dev/tty, never stdout: ui_choose/ui_confirm capture stdout with $(),
+# so a status line on stdout would corrupt every captured answer.
+
+_UB_FD=""
+_UB_PID=""
+_UB_MSG=""
+
+_ub_tty() {
+  if [[ -z "$_UB_FD" ]]; then
+    # probe first: a bare `exec {fd}>/dev/tty` failure still prints its error
+    { : >/dev/tty; } 2>/dev/null || { _UB_FD=""; return 1; }
+    exec {_UB_FD}>/dev/tty 2>/dev/null || { _UB_FD=""; return 1; }
+  fi
+  [[ -n "$_UB_FD" ]]
+}
+
+_ub_depth() {
+  local n
+  n=$(tput colors 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+  case "$n" in ''|*[!0-9]*) n=0 ;; esac
+  if   [[ "$n" -ge 256 ]]; then echo 256
+  elif [[ "$n" -ge 8   ]]; then echo 16
+  else echo 0; fi
+  # bare Linux VT: cap regardless of what tput reports
+  case "${TERM:-}" in linux*|console*) echo 16 ;; esac
+}
+
+# paint one background-coloured block (a SPACE) + message
+_ub_paint() {
+  printf '\r\033[%sm \033[0m %s' "$1" "$2" >&"$_UB_FD"
+}
+
+_ub_busy_loop() {
+  local depth pal=() i tick=0.05
+  depth=$(_ub_depth)
+  [[ "$depth" -eq 16 ]] && tick=0.15   # console pulse: slow, not flicker
+  case "$depth" in
+    256) pal=(17 19 21 27 33 39 45 39 33 27 21 19) ;;  # deep breathe: dark navy to bright blue
+    16)  pal=(44 44 100 100) ;;                          # blue <-> dark grey, constant layout
+    *)   pal=("|" "/" "-" "\\") ;;                       # last-resort spinner
+  esac
+  while :; do
+    for i in "${pal[@]}"; do
+      if [[ "$depth" -eq 256 ]]; then
+        _ub_paint "48;5;$i" "$_UB_MSG"       # 256-colour cube background
+      elif [[ "$depth" -eq 16 ]]; then
+        _ub_paint "$i" "$_UB_MSG"            # blue <-> dark grey pulse
+      else
+        printf '\r[%s] %s' "$i" "$_UB_MSG" >&"$_UB_FD"
+      fi
+      sleep "$tick" || return 0
+    done
+  done
+}
+
+_ub_stop() {
+  if [[ -n "$_UB_PID" ]]; then
+    kill "$_UB_PID" 2>/dev/null
+    wait "$_UB_PID" 2>/dev/null
+    _UB_PID=""
+  fi
+}
+
+ui_block_start() {
+  _UB_MSG="${1:-Working}"
+  _ub_tty || return 0                       # no tty: silent no-op
+  _ub_stop
+  _ub_busy_loop &
+  _UB_PID=$!
+}
+
+ui_block_ok() {
+  local msg="${1:-Done}" d
+  _ub_tty || return 0
+  _ub_stop
+  d=$(_ub_depth)
+  case "$d" in
+    256) _ub_paint "48;5;34" "$msg" ;;
+    16)  _ub_paint "42"      "$msg" ;;
+    *)   printf '\r[OK] %s' "$msg" >&"$_UB_FD" ;;
+  esac
+  printf '\033[0m\n' >&"$_UB_FD"
+}
+
+ui_block_fail() {
+  local msg="${1:-Failed}" d
+  _ub_tty || return 0
+  _ub_stop
+  d=$(_ub_depth)
+  case "$d" in
+    256) printf '\r\033[48;5;196m \033[0m %s' "$msg" >&"$_UB_FD" ;;
+    16)  printf '\r\033[41m \033[0m %s'      "$msg" >&"$_UB_FD" ;;
+    *)   printf '\r[!] %s'                    "$msg" >&"$_UB_FD" ;;
+  esac
+  printf '\n' >&"$_UB_FD"
+}
+
+ui_block_close() {
+  _ub_stop
+  if [[ -n "$_UB_FD" ]]; then
+    exec {_UB_FD}>&- 2>/dev/null
+    _UB_FD=""
+  fi
+  return 0   # an EXIT trap's status becomes the script's exit code — never fail here
+}
+
+# ALWAYS install a cleanup trap in the sourcing script:
+#   trap 'ui_block_close' EXIT INT TERM
diff --git a/setup.sh b/setup.sh
index d35e86f..ca8561a 100755
--- a/setup.sh
+++ b/setup.sh
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ source "$SCRIPT_DIR/lib/common.sh"
 source "$SCRIPT_DIR/lib/session.sh"
 # shellcheck source=lib/ui.sh
 source "$SCRIPT_DIR/lib/ui.sh"
+# shellcheck source=lib/ui-block.sh
+source "$SCRIPT_DIR/lib/ui-block.sh"
+# never leave a block pulse loop running if the script is interrupted
+trap 'ui_block_close' EXIT INT TERM
 
 # Full dnf output from quiet transactions lands here (shown on failure).
 export SETUP_DNF_LOG="${SETUP_DNF_LOG:-/tmp/fedora-setup-dnf-$(id -u).log}"