diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 4169a8c4a..15e7f5b9f 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ rearrangements of Notcurses.
   * `ncdirect_render_image()` has been added, allowing images to be
     rendered in direct mode.
   * `ncvisual_geom()` now takes scaling into account.
+  * **notcurses_cantruecolor()** has been added, allowing clients to
+    determine whether the full RGB space is available to us. If not,
+    we only have palette-indexed pseudocolor.
 
 * 1.5.1 (2020-07-15)
   * The semantics of rendering have changed slightly. In 1.5.0 and prior
diff --git a/USAGE.md b/USAGE.md
index 54eaad38e..fe610717a 100644
--- a/USAGE.md
+++ b/USAGE.md
@@ -237,6 +237,9 @@ int notcurses_palette_size(const struct notcurses* nc);
 // Can we fade? Fading requires either the "rgb" or "ccc" terminfo capability.
 bool notcurses_canfade(const struct notcurses* nc);
 
+// Can we directly specify RGB values per cell, or only use palettes?
+bool notcurses_can_truecolor(const struct notcurses* nc);
+
 // Can we load images? This requires being built against FFmpeg/OIIO.
 bool notcurses_canopen_images(const struct notcurses* nc);
 
diff --git a/doc/man/man3/notcurses.3.md b/doc/man/man3/notcurses.3.md
index cb3494ec2..c84d473fd 100644
--- a/doc/man/man3/notcurses.3.md
+++ b/doc/man/man3/notcurses.3.md
@@ -137,7 +137,8 @@ previous action.
 **ncurses(3NCURSES)**,
 **notcurses-demo(1)**,
 **notcurses-input(1)**,
-**notcurses_cell(3)**, **notcurses_channels(3)**,
+**notcurses_cell(3)**,
+**notcurses_channels(3)**,
 **notcurses_directmode(3)**,
 **notcurses_error(3)**,
 **notcurses_fade(3)**,
@@ -157,7 +158,8 @@ previous action.
 **notcurses_render(3)**,
 **notcurses_selector(3)**,
 **notcurses_stats(3)**,
-**notcurses_stdplane(3)**, **notcurses_stop(3)**,
+**notcurses_stdplane(3)**,
+**notcurses_stop(3)**,
 **notcurses_visual(3)**,
 **terminfo(5)**, **ascii(7)**, **utf-8(7)**,
 **unicode(7)**
diff --git a/doc/man/man3/notcurses_palette.3.md b/doc/man/man3/notcurses_palette.3.md
index ffa33fe0f..f5b476a9a 100644
--- a/doc/man/man3/notcurses_palette.3.md
+++ b/doc/man/man3/notcurses_palette.3.md
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ typedef struct palette256 {
 } palette256;
 ```
 
+**bool notcurses_cantruecolor(const struct notcurses* nc);**
+
 **palette256* palette256_new(struct notcurses* nc);**
 
 **int palette256_use(struct notcurses* nc, const palette256* p);**
diff --git a/include/notcurses/notcurses.h b/include/notcurses/notcurses.h
index 92856a343..61aa5c492 100644
--- a/include/notcurses/notcurses.h
+++ b/include/notcurses/notcurses.h
@@ -1148,6 +1148,9 @@ API unsigned notcurses_supported_styles(const struct notcurses* nc);
 // more colors than they actually support, downsampling internally.
 API int notcurses_palette_size(const struct notcurses* nc);
 
+// Can we directly specify RGB values per cell, or only use palettes?
+API bool notcurses_cantruecolor(const struct notcurses* nc);
+
 // Can we fade? Fading requires either the "rgb" or "ccc" terminfo capability.
 API bool notcurses_canfade(const struct notcurses* nc);
 
@@ -1163,7 +1166,7 @@ API bool notcurses_canopen_videos(const struct notcurses* nc);
 // Is our encoding UTF-8? Requires LANG being set to a UTF8 locale.
 API bool notcurses_canutf8(const struct notcurses* nc);
 
-// Can we blit to Sixel? This requires being built against libsixel.
+// Can we blit to Sixel?
 API bool notcurses_cansixel(const struct notcurses* nc);
 
 typedef struct ncstats {
diff --git a/python/src/notcurses/build_notcurses.py b/python/src/notcurses/build_notcurses.py
index 1d6937702..580bc47d0 100644
--- a/python/src/notcurses/build_notcurses.py
+++ b/python/src/notcurses/build_notcurses.py
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ typedef enum {
 struct ncplane* ncplane_aligned(struct ncplane* n, int rows, int cols, int yoff, ncalign_e align, void* opaque);
 unsigned notcurses_supported_styles(const struct notcurses* nc);
 int notcurses_palette_size(const struct notcurses* nc);
+bool notcurses_cantruecolor(const struct notcurses* nc);
 bool notcurses_canfade(const struct notcurses* nc);
 bool notcurses_canchangecolor(const struct notcurses* nc);
 bool notcurses_canopen_images(const struct notcurses* nc);
diff --git a/src/fetch/main.c b/src/fetch/main.c
index 5d594f753..0688f9d1f 100644
--- a/src/fetch/main.c
+++ b/src/fetch/main.c
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ fetch_env_vars(fetched_info* fi){
 
 static distro_info distros[] = {
   {
+    .name = "arch",
+    // from core/filesystem
+    .logofile = "/usr/share/pixmaps/archlinux.png",
+  }, {
     .name = "debian",
     // from desktop-base package
     .logofile = "/usr/share/desktop-base/debian-logos/logo-text-256.png",
@@ -116,7 +120,7 @@ fetch_x_props(fetched_info* fi){
 }
 
 static const distro_info*
-getdistro(fetched_info* fi){
+linux_ncneofetch(fetched_info* fi){
   FILE* osinfo = fopen("/etc/os-release", "re");
   if(osinfo == NULL){
     return NULL;
@@ -187,17 +191,6 @@ unix_gethostname(fetched_info* fi){
   return -1;
 }
 
-static const distro_info*
-linux_ncneofetch(fetched_info* fi){
-  const distro_info* dinfo = getdistro(fi);
-  if(dinfo == NULL){
-    return NULL;
-  }
-  unix_gethostname(fi);
-  unix_getusername(fi);
-  return dinfo;
-}
-
 typedef enum {
   NCNEO_LINUX,
   NCNEO_FREEBSD,
@@ -260,8 +253,7 @@ freebsd_ncneofetch(fetched_info* fi){
     .name = "FreeBSD",
     .logofile = NULL, // FIXME
   };
-  unix_gethostname(fi);
-  unix_getusername(fi);
+  (void)fi; // FIXME set up distro_pretty
   return &fbsd;
 }
 
@@ -370,7 +362,9 @@ struct marshal {
 static void*
 display_thread(void* vmarshal){
   struct marshal* m = vmarshal;
-  display(m->nc, m->dinfo);
+  if(m->dinfo){
+    display(m->nc, m->dinfo);
+  }
   drawpalette(m->nc);
   sem_post(&m->sem);
   pthread_detach(pthread_self());
@@ -398,14 +392,12 @@ ncneofetch(struct notcurses* nc){
     .dinfo = fi.distro,
   };
   sem_init(&display_marshal.sem, 0, 0);
-  if(fi.distro){
-    pthread_t tid;
-    if(pthread_create(&tid, NULL, display_thread, &display_marshal)){
-      sem_post(&display_marshal.sem);
-    }
-  }else{
+  pthread_t tid;
+  if(pthread_create(&tid, NULL, display_thread, &display_marshal)){
     sem_post(&display_marshal.sem);
-  } 
+  }
+  unix_gethostname(&fi);
+  unix_getusername(&fi);
   fetch_env_vars(&fi);
   fetch_x_props(&fi);
   fetch_cpu_info(&fi);
diff --git a/src/lib/notcurses.c b/src/lib/notcurses.c
index 30e3a49c2..4ecf25857 100644
--- a/src/lib/notcurses.c
+++ b/src/lib/notcurses.c
@@ -1366,6 +1366,10 @@ int notcurses_palette_size(const notcurses* nc){
   return nc->tcache.colors;
 }
 
+bool notcurses_cantruecolor(const notcurses* nc){
+  return nc->tcache.RGBflag;
+}
+
 // turn on any specified stylebits
 void ncplane_styles_on(ncplane* n, unsigned stylebits){
   n->attrword |= (stylebits & NCSTYLE_MASK);