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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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 19 points 1 week 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 12 points 1 week ago

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

[–] Alaknar@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] aketawi@quokk.au 10 points 1 week 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 7 points 1 week 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 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

ah wasn't aware, sowy

though his point still stands in this regard

[–] tomenzgg@midwest.social 2 points 1 week 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 1 week 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 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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

[–] parzival@lemmy.org 1 points 1 week ago

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

[–] malin@dice.camp 6 points 1 week ago

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

[–] Goun@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

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

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week 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 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] aketawi@quokk.au 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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

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

Can't accidentality start blasting music if I never stop

[–] dwt@feddit.org 4 points 1 week ago

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

[–] JakoJakoJako13@piefed.social 1 points 1 week ago

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

Terminal visualizer? Exactly what I've been looking for

[–] texture@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] ravachol@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar.

[–] texture@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

tip of the glass

[–] varnia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 week 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 1 week 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 1 points 1 week 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 1 points 1 week ago

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

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

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

Oh hell yeah, thats the kind stuff I want

[–] bipedalsheep@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago

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

[–] clif@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Well this is awesome... pulling it now.

[–] tangonov@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week 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 1 week ago

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

[–] mcheva@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week 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 1 week 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 1 week 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 0 points 1 week 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 1 week 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 + play. 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 1 week ago

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.