The definitive bittorrent client for Linux

So yeah, I've tried almost every bittorrent client out there for Linux. After many months of waiting for it to improve I gave Transmission another go, and surprisingly it worked quite good, although it's still banned on some trackers. I even built some packages for Ubuntu Edgy and Feisty, you can find those here.

So the experience with Transmission was a good one, but it didn't go without its bumps. The first point against it is that it's still banned from many private trackers and I'm a member of quite a few, so that's a no no for me. The other thing that happened is that after a while it refused to build on my machine (I was using the svn version). I haven't tried to build it again, but oh well, I've found a better alternative anyway.

The next candidate was Deluge. This is a very nice client, but it is way too unstable to be my main client. Another thing that I didn't like was the inability to disable DHT, something that is mandatory on most private trackers. That and the low speeds that I always got persuaded me to try another client.

Enter KTorrent, one of the best clients on this roundup. It has a lot of useful features like DHT, a built-in search engine among other things. This one worked almost perfectly, although the speeds weren't the best. That and it was banned from one of my favorite trackers and due to this I moved on.

I needed a nice looking client with a clean interface that showed just the necessary. I didn't need a bloated interface with 55 columns showing me everything it can. I don't want to know what bit the thing is downloading right now. I don't need a percentage calculator and a progress bar, one is enough. I also wanted control. Not so much that I get lost in menus that show me things that I don't know the meaning of, but enough to get the best performa

So, if you have read this blog before then you might remember my "An even better bittorrent client for Linux" article in which I reviewed qBittorrent. Well, I too remembered it and went ahead and downloaded the latest version. Good news people, they now provide a repository for us Ubuntu users, so we have it easy with the updates and quick bug-fix releases.

Well, for me this is the definitive bittorrent client for Linux. Why? Well, for onc, its interface is very clean and it presents you the information you need to know, simple and to the point. It also allows you to control the most important things, like which port it should listen too, maximum and minimum speeds of torrents, the maximum connection number, etc. Another thing I like is that it allows you to set a fixed share ratio for all torrents, so when your torrents reach that share ratio they will automatically stop seeding.

qBittorrent also allows you to enable or disable DHT and PeX (Peer Exchange). This is a really great feature every bittorrent client that wants to take itself seriously should have. Another cool thing is that you can tell qBittorrent to check a certain directory in your computer to fetch new torrents automatically so you don't have to add them by hand. All this and the fact that its constantly developed and updated with new features make it my client of choice on any Linux distribution. Even if there isn't a package available for it it is not difficult to build from source. Pardus users just have to install QT4 and export some environment variables, its all in the readme. All in all, this is a very solid and very good bittorrent client, try it out!

Why my IM client is web based

I have given up on Gaim. I just got fed up with its constant switchboard errors, telling me the message couldn't be sent, when it fact it was, or the other way around. Its interface is clunky, its not nice at all. I wanted an alternative, a client that wouldn't fail when sending simple text messages, that wouldn't disconnect or close whenever he decided to.

I thought of trying Kopete, but I have never fancied its looks and ugly interface. The other, less-know clients are just one, or both of two things: worse functionality-wise than Gaim or Kopete, or just plain ugly.

I want a nice interface people, one I can look at without wishing for Microsoft's Live MSN Messenger. Yes, you hard me. Microsoft's product is free, it doesn't have as much bugs or an ugly interface. Yes, it has ads, but if you're smart enough you should have figured by now that a simple patch will remove them and allow you to customize it to your liking. You can even play a game of sudoku or minesweeper with your mates while you chat.

So, back to the IM client question: what to use? Well, at school I used a web messenger that could connect to various protocols (GTalk, Yahoo Messenger, MSN, etc.) called Meebo. So I thought I'd give it a chance because, well, no other client seemed to satisfy my needs.


I created an account so my settings and preferences wouldn't be lost every time I logged off. The moment you visit Meebo's website you just know its a quality product. Everything feels so polished, and it works as expected. Meebo allows you to connect to various instant messaging networks: Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, and MSN. I just use MSN, mind you.

What's the advantage of using Meebo over, say, Gaim? Well, first of all I know all my settings and preferences will be the same no matter where I use it, bet a Windows computer, a Mac, or a Sun workstation. It will always look the same, and behave the same. It is consistent, that's something I appreciate. Also, it saves space on my desktop. Because everything goes on on one of my browser's tab it doesn't fill my desktop with a lot of windows, so its nice. If you want to have it on your desktop but you want to minimize your browser, you can. Just click on the "Pop out" button that every window has and it will spawn on your desktop as an independent window, you can even do that to your buddy list.


You want to use a custom display picture? Sure, just look at the left side of the Meebo page, click on that image, and select one of the preset pictures or select one from your computer. Easy as pie! Same goes for setting your nickname. Oh, and talking about nicknames, you can add nicknames to your contacts. In fact, the only critical feature Meebo lacks is file transfer, but you can always use gmail or yousendit. All in all, Meebo is a great web messenger and it looks good to boot! Meebo is good enough that I use it daily now, instead of the clunky Gaim client.

Go faster than Firefox!!!

Just a few minutes ago I was happily browsing the Ubuntu Forums and I stumbled upon a post about getting Ubuntu to run as fast as Arch Linux. In that post, the author mentioned this new (to me) web browser called Swiftfox, and I decided to find out if it was worth a download.

When I visited the Swiftfox website, I figured this was just an optimized build of Mozilla Firefox, but still I decided to give it a go. They have this small installer, that basicaly is just a small bash script, but its oh so very easy to use! You chose a build that suits your specific processor, and it will fetch it for you from the Swiftfox site, install it and add it to the Applications menu in Ubuntu. That's better than building Firefox from source!

Now it was the time to see if the optimization was real. After clicking the icon, almost a second after I had a nice Firefox windows with ALL the extensions loaded and working. It started way faster than the Firefox build that comes bundled with Ubuntu, way way faster.

All in all, I've found something that's even better and faster than the official build of Firefox. Give it a try!

Get Swiftfox!

An even better BitTorrent client for Linux!

Well, after all the problems with Transmission and popular trackers like OiNK and Demonoid I decided to try something else. I tried out Tribler, but it wasn't that good, so after snooping around the Ubuntu forums I found about this relatively new client called qBittorrent. At first I refused to use it, as I don't like running Qt apps under Gnome, but after searching some more, and not finding anything better I decided to go for it.

The client is way better than anything I've used before. It even has an inbuilt torrent search plugin, like the famous uTorrent on windows. It also has all the major features you may need/want from a mature client.

The good news is that it is actively developed, it has a very nice and fresh look, and there's official Ubuntu and Debian packages on the download page and last time I checked it was in the repositories. That's a lot to say, because we now have official support from the qBittorrent team when packages don't work, etc.

All in all, its the best client I've used so far. Try it out!