BloGTKA client of mine is pushing me more and more towards setting up a Linux server for him. To help me cut my teeth and get more familiar with Linux, I installed RedHat 9 on a second partition on my laptop. This allows me to choose which OS I’d like to use when I boot my Sony Vaio F650. I can either boot to Windows XP Professional, or I can boot into RedHat. I’ve been trying to use my laptop strictly in Linux and not reboot back into Windows so that I can become more familiar with the OS. Since one of the things I use my laptop for is to post to my weblog, I thought I’d take a look at what type of software is available for posting to Movable Type in Linux. I’m a big fan of w.bloggar for windows, so my hope was to find a similar program for Linux.

With a few Google searches, I pulled up a small handful of applications that could be used for posting to a weblog. Here’s a list of what I found:


1. exaro
This client was written in ruby/gtk and although it claims to be the first client for Linux, development has stopped. To quote from the website, “BloGTK is in, Exaro is out.”

2. Byline
Byline is a weblog tool that runs from the command line. There is no GUI interface, so I passed on this one. However, if you dig command line interfaces, this is the tool for you. It supports a wide array of weblogs and appears to support a lot of features, including extended text and category management. As a side note, it was written by fellow #palmchat member Rob Tillotson. Small world.

3.Gnome Blog
If you’re one who like to write a little bit at a time throughout the day, then application is for you. Although fairly basic in it’s feature set, Gnome Blog is an “applet” that runs as a panel object. This allows you to quickly pull it down, jot a few things down and then have it tuck back into the panel. It’s currently at 0.7, but it already supports multiple languages and weblogs. Gnome Blog is written in Python.

4.BloGTK
Exaro was right, BloGTK is in! Out of all the apps that I found, this one best fit my needs. It has a GUI interface and a decent amount of features for 0.6 release. One of the best features is the ability to create unlimited custom tags. This is really handy if you use certain tags frequently. I use them for all the smileys that I include in a post 😛 and they can really come in handy.

Like all the other apps, BloGTK is written in Python (must be a popular language) and there are a number of features that are coming in future releases. Features coming soon include: Multiple Accounts, Spellchecker, Preview Entries. These are critical features and ones that I’m anxiously awaiting for.

Lastly, the web site for BloGTK is a real hoot. The tone is fun and the style is clean, smart and cool. I encourage everyone to at least stop by and read some of the commentary. I just wish all software was this fun.

Conclusion
Overall, Linux weblog clients is a fairly young category and as such not a lot of choices were to be had. None of the applications I found are up to the level of w.bloggar at this point, but BloGTK is close and I’d keep my eye on that one. The others are good if you’re looking for a client that fits a unique need, such as a command line interface, or in applet format. There might be slim pickings now, but the good thing about Linux is all of that could change at a moments notice. 🙂

Update: I did find one other application that will allow you to post to Blogger. It’s a plugin for GAIM (think Trillian for Linux) and it’s called aptly enough Gaim-Bloggar. You can post, edit, view and track weblogs with this handy little plugin. It was just released yesterday, so not much more is known other than that.

NOTE: This entire entry was created in Linux with the use of Gimp and BloGTK.

Related Entry: Windows Weblog Clients