I am using twitter a lot since last few days (Follow me) and naturally I looked around for applications that I can install on my Ubuntu Linux to make tweeting easier. I fired up Synaptic and found these two applications:
A GTK+ Twitter client, using Twitux I can send messages to twitter without opening a new tab in browser. It can display notifications when a new message arrives. The interface is very simple, easy to understand and use.
Gtwitter is also a simple intutive Twitter client. What I loved about gTwitter is that it has a text box right there in the main window to send messages. In Twitux you need to open the new message text area from menu.
Both these applications are very similar in their interface but both of them has this problem that the links in messages are not clickable. You can read the messages but you can not click and open a URL. I also felt that there should be a button or something to reply individual messages quickly. Just like the tiny reply button that appears on messages in Twitter homepage.
Closing the synaptic I looked around the web for more Twitter applications on Linux and found Phil Wilson’s hack that allows you to post to twitter from deskbar widget. I also found Saad Hamid’s list of Twitter clients for Linux which lists some more applications that use Adobe AIR framework.
For now I think I will be using Twitux as it displays notifications when there is a new message in the timeline. I may not be using it for sending messages though and I think without clickable links it is not very useful for reading messages either.
Update Apr 1, 2009. 03:19 PM: In the comments below and on Twitter every one mentioned Gwibber and how cool it is. Thank you all for your suggestions. So I installed Gwibber and its wonderful. Gwibber makes it easier to reply, send and read messages not only from Twitter but also from facebook and identi.ca and it could also be used as a feed reader. The interface is simple and intuitive. Links are clickable and there is a reply button with each message in my timeline. It can also search messages and display results in a new tab. So Gwibber is now my Twitter Client on Ubuntu Linux. There is just this one little thing, since I am using Gnome Global Menu the menu bar for Gwibber does not show anything under the Accounts. But then again Both of these applications are not officially supported on Ubuntu 8.10. Gnome Global Menu does not even work with Firefox and other non-GTK+ applications.
If you don’t mind some KDE-libs installed, I recommend Choqoq.
I tried all of them and stayed with Gwibber. It’s probably the best one.
@Mike from the screenshots I have seen of Spaz it does look a lot better than both GTK+ twitter clients.
@Mackenzie @Jason @Phil @Phynix @Rick So it seems like gwibber is most popular among Linux users, I will try it in a couple of hours.
@Asa thanks for the tip just checked it.
Jason:
Gwibber can do Facebook directly too 😉
And yeah…you can click normal links, Unicode links, hashtags, and usernames.
I use Twitux and I found that if you want clickable links you have to go to preferences and check “Expand Messages”. When you click one of the messages, it will display a copy of the same message at the bottom of the window that will include any links.
I’m a big fan of gwibber, which is what I use for Twitter and identi.ca. And I have one of those acounts set up to update my facebook profile, so gwibber does that, too.
Hi! For what it’s worth, I use Gwibber these days.
https://launchpad.net/gwibber
Try gwibber. “Gwibber is an open source microblogging client for GNOME developed with Python and GTK. It supports Twitter, Jaiku, Identi.ca, Facebook, Flickr, Digg, and RSS.” If your on jaunty its in the repos if not https://launchpad.net/gwibber
https://edge.launchpad.net/gwibber
All you need. Wonder why it wasn’t included in the other article.
I can recommend Spaz. It runs on Adobe Air, and will leave twitux and gtwitter in the dust. It’s much, much better, in my estimation.
I also found that posting messages with Gnome Do is the easiest way to post.