Here is the solution just for you:

• get to the tui-mines/ directory
• open a terminal there
• run this command sed -i 's/k|A/w|A/;s/h|D/a|D/;s/j|B/s|B/;s/l|C/d|C/' tui-mines.sh

Run the script ./tui-mines.sh

You can now play using lower case awsd.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Since many youngsters who unlike me, a senior citizen, live on the edge and hate vim keys or arrow keys, have requested an alternative navigation keys set up, I have just implemented a configuration option that satisfies just that.

By editing the config file (either within the application or just editing ~/.config/tui-mines/tui-mines.config, and changing the NAVIGATION_KEYS value from vim+arrows (default) to aswd+arrows, the user can use the aswd keys to navigate in the game grid, just as requested.

No other commands or hacks are needed.

Arrow keys remain hardcoded, because they remind me of my youth, as an archer, during the Peloponnesian War

Wait up, I am preparing one command for you, you run it, and you use your keys as you wish. Just don' put caps lock!

Let me know if it works.

And to see the correct cheatsheet as well: sed -i 's/hjkl/awsd/' tui-mines.sh

From the gitlab page:

The user can move the cursor with h,j,k,l (vim keys), or the arrow keys.

It is not impossible. Are you up to modify 4 lines of code?

Welp, also solves the 'Which distro to use?' issue.

Ευχαριστω!