Are you tired of paying for music streaming services like Spotify or Google Music for your Linux desktop? Introducing Kaku, an innovative music-streaming app that lets you play music from YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud, and other sources for free, right on the Linux desktop.
Installing Kaku
Before we can go over how to stream media in the Kaku app, we must go over how to install the program on Linux, as it does not come pre-installed on any OS. To start the installation, open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, follow the command-line installation instructions below that correspond with your distribution.
Ubuntu
Though you wouldn’t know it based on the Kaku website, there is a DEB release of the app that users can use to install it. To get your hands on Kaku’s DEB package, use the following wget command.
Note: the Kaku DEB is also usable on Linux Mint, Elementary OS, and other Ubuntu-based distributions.
wget https://github.com/EragonJ/Kaku/releases/download/2.0.2/Kaku_2.0.2_amd64.deb
With the download complete, installation can begin. Using the apt command, set up Kaku on your Ubuntu PC.
sudo apt install ./Kaku_2.0.2_amd64.deb
The command above should automatically take care of all of the dependencies required to run the Kaku program on your Linux PC. However, if you run into issues resolving any of the dependencies, please check out our article on the subject.
Debian
As there is a DEB package release of Kaku, it is effortless to get working on Debian. To start the installation, use the wget downloader command to grab the latest version of Kaku.
wget https://github.com/EragonJ/Kaku/releases/download/2.0.2/Kaku_2.0.2_amd64.deb
After downloading the Kaku DEB package to your Debian PC, the installation can begin. Using the dpkg command, load up the package.
sudo dpkg -i Kaku_2.0.2_amd64.deb
Following the dpkg command, the Kaku DEB package will be installed on Debian, but dependencies may not have been installed. To fix this problem, use the apt-get install -f command.
sudo apt-get install -f
Assuming all dependencies are taken care of, Kaku will be ready to use on Debian.
Arch Linux
Arch Linux does not have an official package. However, there’s an unofficial one in the AUR. To start the installation, use the Pacman command and install the “git” and “base-devel” packages.
sudo pacman -S git base-devel
Next, install the Trizen AUR helper. This program will make it much easier to install Kaku on Arch Linux, with the commands below.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git cd trizen makepkg -sri
Use the trizen command to load up Kaku on your Linux PC.
trizen -S kaku-bin
Fedora/OpenSUSE/Other
Sadly, there isn’t an RPM package for Fedora or OpenSUSE users. As a result, if you’d like to use the Kaku application, you must use the AppImage release.
Note: even if you are not a Fedora or OpenSUSE Linux user, the AppImage release should work.
To get the AppImage release of Kaku on your Linux PC, use the wget command below.
wget https://github.com/EragonJ/Kaku/releases/download/2.0.2/Kaku-2.0.2-x86_64.AppImage
When the download completes, use the chmod command to update the permissions of the AppImage file, so that it is executable.
sudo chmod +x Kaku-2.0.2-x86_64.AppImage
Finally, start up the Kaku app with:
./Kaku-2.0.2-x86_64.AppImage
Streaming media with Kaku
To stream music on Kaku, start by launching the Kaku app on the Linux desktop. You can launch it by pressing Win on the keyboard, typing “kaku,” and launching the app that appears with that name. Alternatively, press Alt + F2 to open up the quick-launcher, and write kaku to start up the app.
With the Kaku app open on the Linux desktop, locate the “Find something” box, and click on it with the mouse. Then, start typing out the name of a song you would like to listen to. Press the Enter key to view search results.
Look through the search results for the song you’d like to listen to. Then, click on the song to start playback.
Change search providers
By default, the Kaku application streams music from YouTube. However, YouTube is not the only place that Kaku can use to stream songs. It can also stream from SoundCloud, Vimeo, and MixCloud.
If you’re not a fan of using YouTube to stream in Kaku, follow the step-by-step instructions below to switch providers.
Step 1: Find the “Settings” button on the left-hand side of the app and click on it.
Step 2: Find “Default Searcher” and click on the drop-down menu with the mouse.
Step 3: Change the “Default Searcher” from YouTube to any of the other options.
When done changing the default search provider, click “Home” to go back to the app’s home screen, and click “Find something” to find some new music.
Add songs to playlists
Want to add some music to a playlist? Here’s what to do.
Step 1: Find the “Add Playlist” button and click it to create a new playlist.
Step 2: Write out the name of the playlist in the text box that appears.
Step 3: Search for a song in the “Find something” box. Then, right-click on it and select the “Add to playlist” button to add your music to the playlist.
Repeat this process to make your favorite playlists in Kaku.
