Pay attention if you use Amazon Kindle. Starting 26th Feb, Amazon won't allow 'Download and transfer via USB' feature anymore. That's the feature people used to download the Kindle books they purchased and convert them to EPUB or PDF to read on other eBook readers like Kobo or their computers. In other words, your Kindle purchases will be restricted completely for Kindle devices.
With the Extensions ListGNOME extension, you can toggle extensions, access their settings, visit its home page, etc. right from the top panel. There is no need to open an additional extension app like Extension Manager.
February 15, 1999, marked Windows Refund Day, when Linux users staged protests outside Microsoft offices in the San Francisco Bay Area. The event aimed to raise awareness of Microsoft’s practice of bundling Windows with PCs and not offering refunds.
🧑🤝🧑 FOSSverse Corner
Pro FOSSer Neville shares his experience with Meld. Have you used it before?
When you use the terminal more often than the graphical tools, you would perhaps enjoy playing music from the terminal.
I came across Kew, a terminal music player fully written in C. It's small (not more than 1 MiB), with a low memory profile. You can create and play your own playlists!
Kew music player running in the terminal
First things go first: Installation
It's straightforward to install Kew because it's available in the repositories of the common Linux Distributions like Arch Linux, Debian, Gentoo., etc.
For Debian and Ubuntu-based distros, use:
sudo apt install kew
You can use an AUR helper for Arch-based distros. Let's you use yay:
sudo yay -S kew
For openSUSE, use zypper:
sudo zypper install kew
Exploring music with Kew
One of the most interesting and surprising things it's that kew can search in your music directory (usually ~/Music, or you could change it) only with one word:
kew bruce
And you're immediately listening to the Boss!!
You can see the album cover while you're listening to it.
You can make a playlist based on the content of a directory (and the others inside it recursively). The playlist can be edited/modified inside Kew in the Playlist view.
You can play the songs from the playlist using:
kew kew.m3u
Direct Functions
Kew provides some direct functions that you can type with kew:
<none>: You go straight to the music library.
dir <album name>: Play a full directory.
song <song name>: Play only a song.
list <playlist name>: Play a playlist that you could define.
shuffle <album name>|<playlist name>: shuffles the album or playlist
artistA:artistB:artistC: shuffles all 3 artists.
Just to mention some of their fantastic functions. You could get all the commands here.
Views
There are different views for different functions that can be accessed via a function key.
F2 : Current Playlist
F3 : Library view
F4 : Track View
Kew music player running in the terminal
F5 : Search view
F6 : Help
Press F6 to get the keyboard shortcuts info
Key bindings
If you decided to use Kew regularly, it would be much better to use and remember various keyboard shortcuts. You can surely configure your own.
Press F6 and it will show the key bindings:
+ (or =), keys to adjust the volume.
←, → or h, l keys to switch tracks.
space, p to toggle pause.
F2 or Shift + z to show/hide the playlist.
F3 or Shift + x to show/hide the library.
F4 or Shift + c to show/hide the track view.
F5 or Shift + v to search.
F6 or Shift + b to show/hide key bindings.
u to update the library.
v to toggle the spectrum visualizer.
i to switch between using your regular color scheme or colors derived from the track cover.
b to toggle album covers drawn in ascii or as a normal image.
r to repeat the current song.
s to shuffle the playlist.
a to seek back.
d to seek forward.
x to save the currently loaded playlist to a m3u file in your music folder.
Tab to switch between views.
gg go to first song.
number + G, g or Enter, go to specific song number in the playlist.
g go to last song.
. to add current song to kew.m3u (run with "kew .").
Esc to quit.
Conclusion
There are several terminal audio players like Cmus, MOC - Music on Console, Musikcube, etc. Kew can be placed in this list of terminal tools.
Written in C, with a small memory blueprint, Kew is worth trying for a terminal dweller.
If you give it a try, do share its experience in the comments.
Author Info
Jose Antonio Tenés
A Communication engineer by education, and Linux user by passion. In my spare time, I play chess, do you dare?
When you think of essential Raspberry Pi accessories, you count a screen, monitor and mouse if you want to use it as a regular desktop computer.
How about turning it into a laptop?
There are a few projects that work on this one. Elecrow's CrowView Note is such a device that lets you attach your Raspberry Pi or Jetson Nano or other SBCs to a laptop like interface.
This sounds interesting, right? Let me share my experience of using CrowView Note.
Just so that you know, Elecrow sent me CrowView Note. The views expressed here are my own and not influenced by Elecrow.
CrowView Note: What is it?
The CrowView Note by Elecrow is a portable, all-in-one monitor with an integrated keyboard and trackpad designed to transform SBCs like Raspberry Pi into a laptop.
Elecrow is a Hong Kong based company that creates and sells hardware for makers and tinkerers. If you are into Raspberry Pi and SBCs, you might have come across their CrowPi kit.
CrowView Note features a 14-inch Full-HD (1920×1080) IPS display with built-in speakers and a 5000mAh battery. There is no CPU, HDD/SSD or even camera here.
The good thing here is that CrowView is not just limited to Raspberry Pi. It's like an external screen with a keyboard and touchpad. You attach it to any single board computer using the Mini HDMI and USB cables.
You can also connect it to your Android smartphone (thanks to features like DeX) and gaming consoles like Steam Deck etc. You should be able to use it with digital cameras, Chromecast like devices and Blu-ray/DVD players (if you still use them).
It is powered by a 12V DC power supply to charge the 5000mAh battery. You can disconnect direct power and run it on battery like a regular laptop.
The device is priced at $169 excluding shipping and custom fee. More details can be found on its official page.
Experiencing CrowView Note
If you look at CrowView at a glance, it looks like a regular laptop. Not a premium one. Just a regular, entry-level, inexpensive but lightweight laptop.
You pick it up and it feels light. My Asus ZenBook and Dell XPS are almost the same weight, I guess.
Which made me curious because I was under an impression that there are not much hardware inside it. The Raspberry Pi is attached from the side, externally. So, there is no CPU, motherboard or graphics inside, or so I am guessing.
I am so tempted to open it up and have a peek inside it. Perhaps I'll do that after a few weeks when I have explored all other aspects of this device.
Bottom View of CrowView Note
There are on-board speakers at the bottom that are not great with 2W of power and I am not complaining. You get the sound feature, at least. If you want something better, connect a headphone or speaker.
So, it is a laptop-like device but there are no processors inside it. You attach a Raspberry Pi to its left side using a dedicated bridge board. This way, you don't need to separately power the Raspberry Pi.
CrowView with a Raspberry Pi 5 attached to it
This connector bridge is also available for NVIDIA Jetson Nano, purchased separately for $7.
The bridge is not necessary. You can connect to Pi or other devices using mini HDMI and USB cables. The device needs to be powered separately in this case.
My other Pi device inside the Pironman case got successfully connected this way.
I also connected it to my ArmSoM Sige7 SBC and it worked the same without any issues.
CrowView Note with ArmSoM Sige7
Display
CrowView Note features a 14 inches, full-HD (1080p) display and there is nothing to complain about it. The IPS display looks sharp and there is no noticeable glare. The 60Hz refresh rate is pretty standard.
Although it looks like there is a webcam in the middle, that's not the case. Which is disappointing, to be honest. I would expect a laptop to have a functioning webcam.
Keyboard
The keyboard is fine. Not premium but fine. Again, I am not complaining. It is definitely better than the cheap Bluetooth keyboard people usually use with SBCs.
In fact, I feel the keyboard felt better than the official Pi keyboard. The plastic on the keyboard feels a bit rough, just like the official Pi keyboard.
There are dedicated function keys that provide additional features to the CrowView Note:
F1 key lets you switch between devices if you are connected via Type C on the right and HDMI/USB on the left
F7 key gives you OSD (On-screen display) to access color settings for the display
F11 key quickly shows the battery status
Other than that, there are function keys for volume, media and brightness control. There is a Num-Lock key to access the number pad on the same keyboard.
Keyboard
Touchpad
Touchpad has invisible left and right click buttons at the bottom. I prefer tapping finger and thankfully, you can also tap to click here. Two finger tap for right click also works in Raspberry Pi OS.
There is one thing that does bother me here. The double click actually takes three tap. You know, you double-click on a folder or file to open it. Two taps don't work. You have to quickly tap it three times. Surprisingly, the left click button at the bottom works fine with two clicks.
There is a thin plastic film on the touchpad. I can see bubbles at the lower part, I am not sure if it is supposed to come out. I tried taking it out but I could not grab the edge. So I left it as it is. The touchpad works, so why bother unnecessarily?
Touchpad close up
CrowView is flexible till 180 degrees. I am not sure if that is very helpful for practical use cases. I let you decide that.
CrowView Note stretched at 180 degrees
Battery
The on-board 5000 mAh battery is not much but it is decent enough to power your Raspberry Pi for a few hours comfortably.
The minor inconveniences
While I was able to connect CrowView Note to my ArmSoM Sige7 through mini HDMI and USB, I could not connect my Samsung Galaxy with it. I tried opening Dex but it was expecting either wireless or HDMI connection.
Another minor annoyance is that when I shut down the Raspberry Pi from within the system, the CrowView still runs on battery. I can see the battery indicator on and Pi's power indicator stays red (meaning it is off but still connected to a power source).
I am guessing it doesn't consume as much power but it is not completely shut down. It can be turned off completely by pressing the on-board power button.
I have mentioned it earlier. Lack of webcam is certainly a disappointment.
I was also wondering about all this bridge system to connect Pi to CrowView. A Pi attached to a laptop looks odd.
Why on the side? Why not a box where it could be plugged in at the bottom? That will make it less weird. Perhaps Elecrow wanted to expose the GPIO pins. Plugging it in at the bottom will also heat it up as there will be no scope to put in a fan without increasing the thickness of the 'laptop'.
Also, Elecrow already has a device like this in the form of the famous CrowPi. So this time, they took a different approach.
Conclusion
The one thing that I am glad CrowView Note it is not confined to just Raspberry Pi. You can use it with various devices and that is indeed a good thing. If you are spending $169 for a display-keyboard setup, it only makes sense that it works for all kinds of computers you have.
In simpler words, it adds more value to the offering.
It is a well-thought device, too. The function keys work irrespective of the devices and operating systems. At least, that's what I noticed in my experiment with it. The idea to add dedicated buttons for battery status and source change is excellent.
Should you buy CrowView Note? That is really up to you. See if you need or even want a gadget like this and if it is well under your budget.
For me, the device targets a specific set of users. And considering the fact that its Crowdfunded campaign attracted 27 times of its initial funding goal, I would say there is a significant interest in CrowView Note.
You want to be good at Linux? Start using it. Linux doesn't get easier. You get better at it.
The more you use it as your daily driver, the more you explore it and the more you learn. You won't even realize how much you have improved from day zero 💪
💬 Let's see what else you get in this edition
New LibreOffice and ONLYOFFICE releases.
DeepSeek making its way into a Linux terminal.
New EndeavourOS release
And other Linux news, tips and, of course, memes!
This edition of FOSS Weekly is supported byInternxt.
❇️ Future-Proof Your Cloud Storage With Post-Quantum Encryption
Get 85% off any Internxt lifetime plan—a one-time payment for private, post-quantum encrypted cloud storage. No subscriptions, no recurring fees.
In KDE Plasma, you can assign a temporary shortcut to a window so that you can bring it to the foreground when needed. For this, right-click on the title bar of the required window and select More Actions → Set Window Shortcut…
Now, enter a shortcut by activating the desired keyboard shortcut combination and press OK.
And, that's it. Now you can see that the title of the window is modified to show the new temporary window shortcut. Use the keyboard shortcut combination to bring the window to the foreground.
🤣 Meme of the Week
The clock's ticking, Windows 10 users! ⏰
🗓️ Tech Trivia
On February 10, 1996, IBM’s Deep Blue became the first computer to defeat a reigning world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, in a single game. Kasparov won the match 4–2.
🧑🤝🧑 FOSSverse Corner
Have you heard of the Haiku Project? It is an open source operating system that focuses on personal computing. Join other FOSSers in the discussion over it!
Sagar Sharma
Name
Sourav Rudra
Sourav Rudra
Abhishek Prakash
Sourav Rudra
Abhishek Prakash
nevj
