this post was submitted on 04 May 2026
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Linux

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A community for everything relating to the GNU/Linux operating system (except the memes!)

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Original icon base courtesy of lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP

founded 2 years ago
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New in this version:

  • New playback pipeline with improved performance and latency (built on miniaudio)

  • Real-time ASCII visualizations (via Chroma)

Free, open source, no tracking, completely offline

Demo Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql5ZKeaX2MQ

More info: https://codeberg.org/ravachol/kew https://github.com/ravachol/kew

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[–] Goun@lemmy.ml 22 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

No MIT? No javascript? Is this a dream? I'll save this to check it out tomorrow, but great job already!

[–] ravachol@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks man! Yeah I've tried to make this project as pure as possible.

[–] Alaknar@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] aketawi@quokk.au 10 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

https://lukesmith.xyz/articles/why-i-use-the-gpl-and-not-cuck-licenses/

tldr, too permissive and doesn't protect future derivatives from being foss

[–] tomenzgg@midwest.social 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Luke Smith is a far-right neo-Nazi–sympathizer; there's better advocates for copyleft to quote.

[–] aketawi@quokk.au 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

ah wasn't aware, sowy

though his point still stands in this regard

[–] tomenzgg@midwest.social 3 points 2 weeks ago

Oh, absolutely (I'm a copyleft absolutist so I'm convinced, from the get-go).

But I'd also, just as much, like to avoid the n-word.

[–] Goun@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago

I find it pretty interesting to see people on the opposite sides fighting for fairly similar things, but fuck I can't tolerate these shitheads.

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Sorry, I'm not taking anything with the word "cuck" in the title seriously.

[–] parzival@lemmy.org 2 points 2 weeks ago

GPL forces anything using the code to be FOSS, whereas MIT does not

[–] malin@dice.camp 8 points 2 weeks ago

@aketawi The article makes some excellent points, then underlines them with memes with racial slurs. @Alaknar

[–] Goun@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

It's a "permissive" that allows big players to steal the value of contributors

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Well, I'll give it one thing. It's easier to spell than my current terminal music player: ncmpcpp

[–] Olap@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] aketawi@quokk.au 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

inbefore you need to check a port and accidentally start blasting music

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Can't accidentality start blasting music if I never stop

[–] dwt@feddit.org 4 points 2 weeks ago

nc is reserved for netcat- can’t use that….

[–] JakoJakoJako13@piefed.social 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

What do you mean? You don't just jam nctomnarstoiearste into the terminal? Am I the only one who does that?

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

we need sl for ncmpcppc

[–] recklessengagement@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

Terminal visualizer? Exactly what I've been looking for

[–] texture@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] ravachol@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar.

[–] texture@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

tip of the glass

[–] varnia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Looks good. I am currently using rmpc/mpd but for my needs, it's overengineered. So I am looking for a simple local player that looks great with Mpris support. kew seems to fit that very well.

What is the advantage of using the NixOS flake? Nixpkg just got 4.0.0 merged.

[–] ravachol@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The explanation that was given to me: "the flake references this repo as a source. You don't need to manually bump versions - when users run nix flake update, they pull the latest commit automatically. So it's mostly self-maintaining since it tracks the repo directly."

You'll likely be fine with the official package.

[–] varnia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Is there a hidden resume playback switch I haven't found? When I restart my computer I would like kew to just resume playback like cmus does.

[–] ravachol@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

No, there isn't. Maybe there should be.

You could make an issue for it if you want it!

[–] orenj@leminal.space 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh hell yeah, thats the kind stuff I want

[–] tangonov@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Its so funny that we call these things "offline music players" now. They used to just be music players. I'm excited to throw my 3000+ tracks at it

[–] ravachol@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Don't hesitate to let me know about your experience, perhaps through DM. I'm very interested in handling large music collections right.

[–] tangonov@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It took me a minute to figure out how to get the music to play. Once I did, I was beyond impressed. Auto theming. Fully graphical album art in my terminal. It honestly shocked me in a good way!

[–] ravachol@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago
[–] bipedalsheep@programming.dev 3 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah! Love kew! It is my go-to player for my local library.

[–] clif@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Well this is awesome... pulling it now.

[–] mcheva@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

How is it on raspbian? Would it run on a pi zero 2w? I'll try it when I get home tonight.

[–] ravachol@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I actually haven't tried it myself.

The visualizations wont work, but that is an external program (Chroma) that you have to install separately.

I have tested it on tty though and made sure there is a color mode that works with it and that it renders flicker free.

If you try it I'd love to hear impressions, in a dm.

[–] JakoJakoJako13@piefed.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

I tried it! I liked it. Been on my system for a while now. I probably wont switch from ncmpcpp, but it's a great alternative. I think being so used to ncmpcpp is keeping me from switching to anything different. Like I wish I could search just by hitting / then typing in what I. Then I realize learning a whole new system for a music player isn't something of a high priority after using one thing for 15 years. I love the track screen. That's something I wish ncmpcpp had.

[–] blackjam_alex@lemmy.world -1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I tried it today and I didn't like it. The key configuration is very unintuitive.

Also... Isn't that visualization engine vibe coded?

[–] ravachol@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

What is unintuitive? Enter to enqueue music, Space for pause, Left and Right arrow to change the track. Backspace to clear the list. Escape or q to quit.

The thing that might throw you off might be alt+enter for enqueue + immediate play, which doesn't happen with enter if something is already playing. It's pretty easy to get used to though.

I'm not the developer of Chroma, you'd have to ask them. I think it looks cool though. You don't need it to run kew.

[–] blackjam_alex@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

First of all, I apologize. Now that I re-read my comment it sounds a bit rude. Sorry about that.

I was accustomed to the moc player configuration, you move like you're going through directories.

Best of luck with your project.

[–] ravachol@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

No problem, the design is a bit unorthodox but that's on purpose. Think different.