Twitter Clients for Ubuntu Linux

Posted by Saad Hamid on May 3, 2008

Believe it or not but the first thing I did after installing Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron on my laptop was finding a compatible Twitter client for Linux that works on Ubuntu. I could have used Twitter IM to post updates through Pidgin or Google Chat but that kills the fun of it.

I rushed to the Synaptic Package Manager hoping to find a Twitter client app right away but very unfortunately none were listed there. Then I did a little research and found some good Twitter clients for Linux that work on Ubuntu.

1. Twitux (download)

Twitux is a Twitter client for the Gnome desktop. The program features include view public, friends and mine timeline, send message, automatic login, add friend and system tray icon.

2. gTwitter (download)

gTwitter a simple GTK+ based application for Linux, designed to interact with Twitter web service. Its written using Mono/C# and some of GNOME dependant libraries. GUI is inspired by Mac client Twitterrific.

3. Spaz (download)

Spaz is a Twitter client for users who value free, open-source software, attractive design, and customizability. It is built entirely in XHTML and Javascript and can be styled using a custom CSS styling file. It is built on the Adobe AIR framework so to install it all you need to have is Adobe AIR on Ubuntu (See the end of the post for this tutorial)

4. Twhirl (download)

Twhirl is a desktop twitter client, based on the Adobe AIR platform. It is one of my favorite Twitter clients as it really very easy to use. Scroll down to see how to get this app working using Adobe AIR on Ubuntu.

5. TwitterFox (download)

TwitterFox is a Firefox Extension that displays updates from your friends and lets you update your status. This extension adds a tiny icon on the status bar that notifies you when your friends update their tweets. Also it has a small text input field to update your tweets. As Ubuntu already comes preinstalled with Firefox so installing this Twitter app is as easy as a pie.

6. Twitter Deskbar (download)

Twitter Deskbar is a Twitter app that integrates with the Gnome Deskbar and lets you post status updates right from your desktop. The installation requires you to have Deskbar widget for Gnome. For detailed instructions please use the download link provided.

7. Twitter Terminal

This is basically a hack for posting to Twitter using the Linux Terminal. You will need cURL ( a client for getting files from servers) to post to Twitter through the Terminal which can be installed using the following command:
sudo apt-get install curl

With cURL installed, you can post to Twitter from the terminal window by using the following syntax:
curl -u yourusername:yourpassword -d status="Your Message Here" http://twitter.com/statuses/update.xml

You will receive a response containing the XML coding for your post which acts as a confirmation that your post was submitted.

8. Alert Thingy (download)

Alert Thingy is basically an Adobe AIR app for FriendFeed but also works for Twitter as well. You can get status updates from your friends and can also post live status updates yourself.

All of these apps work brilliantly on Ubuntu so you are good to go with any one of these. For the apps requiring Adobe AIR you can install Adobe AIR on Ubuntu using one of our guides.

If you know anymore Twitter clients for Ubuntu, Please share in the comments.

  • Nice little tools although i don't use Linux and Hate it but these Look cool.
  • sveden
    Thanks for sharing.
  • Great post, #6 is something I need to try.
  • You know I'll be trying the deskbar applet :)
  • rolfkleef
    Thanks for including the AIR-on-Ubuntu link, that opens up a whole new world (often closed source, but more useful). For the completeness of your list: I'm currently using phpitter, http://code.google.com/p/phpitter/ -- very basic, but based on PHP and GTK and with clickable links (I think TwitUx and/or gTwitter didn't have that)
  • Jason
    You missed the best of them all!! Gwibber is an open source microblogging client for GNOME that supports Twitter, Jaiku, Facebook, Pownce, Identi.ca and other popular social web services. I have it on my Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10 laptop and it's terrific!
    https://launchpad.net/gwibber/
  • Spankbot
    Links aren't clickable in gTwitter. Fail!
  • James
    It would be helpful to have a twitter client that I could install via apt-get and that worked. I tried this with gTwitter which installed, but while it let me see the people I folllow in list view, I couldn't access Tweet view or find any way to configure the client.
  • Great list, Thanks.
  • I use twitkit for Firefox, Is a completely light firefox add-on that works on linux and all platforms. Open source and the biggest selection languages.

    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/...
  • Installed TwitKit in Firefox on both my work and home computers (Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04 respectively). So far no problems, but the plugin does need to mature. It's still pretty primitive.
  • I highly recommend Tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com). Now you can fill your entire screen with Twitter. Another Air application, requires air 1.5.
  • You can too use Gnome-Do + twitter plugin

    http://do.davebsd.com/
  • Mohan
    Deskbar plugin is awesome!
  • Max
    DestroyTwitter:
    http://www.destroytoday.com/?p=Project&id=D...

    Seems to include a lot of functions, but needs adobe air too.
  • Thanks for that - very nice :D
  • Well any way to use twitter on Pidgin?
  • vrybas
    There is a package named pidgin-microblog, which gives you availability to add twitter as account. You will have a chat-like window and all twitter history will be saved to your .purple/logs directory if you want to :) Pretty good, but unforunately Pidgin crashes from time to time with this plugin. Try it though
  • You not tried TweetDeck http://tweetdeck.com its like Twhirl in that it needs Adobe AIR to run, but can handle multiple twitter accounts and runs great in my Ubuntu 9.04 system.
  • vrybas
    Gwibber is the best!
    http://is.gd/26RsD
  • jPax
    Hi :) I'm using a twitter terminal-based client which id very easy of use, its name is twidge.
    You have to start your session with
    #twidge setup
    Then, if you wanna tweet "Hello world", you have to run
    #twidge update "Hello world"
    If you wanna see your timeline you run
    #twidge lsrecent
    and if you wanna see only new tweets, you have to run
    #twidge lsrecent -s -u
    automatically it makes web addresses shorter, using tinyurl, so if you paste one, your tweet will have a tiny link. :)

    I'm still learning their commands :D have fun.
  • I use Gnome-Do's twitter plugin, works great.
  • FriskerBitey
    Is the Curl method secure for transferring your password? That is my favorite method, but don't know how curl will send the passwd
  • scherezada
    Hello. I use TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop with Adobe Air.

    I would like to know where that comic is from! I totally love it! :)
  • yoskar
    What about Gwibber which is used and loved by many? I personally use TweetDeck which works great for me...I love the fact that I can have four columns open at once.

    -Yos
  • muito bom.. vou testar alguns :D
  • freshfitteds
    dude . . . . tweet deck!!!?!?!?!?! AND Seesmic too!!!!


    Both available thanks to the Adobe Air Api
  • Thanks for number 7! It can be pretty easily turned into a bash script, which has been amazingly useful.
  • Thanks! Alert Thingy is ok for me!
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