Ubuntu Tips n Tricks

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Minitube, a YouTube Desktop Client for Linux

Posted: 24 Apr 2010 05:29 AM PDT

Minitube, a YouTube Desktop Client for Linux: Do you want to watch YouTube videos in High-definition format without opening a web browser or without having the need to install Flash Player? If yes, then let me introduce you to a simple but capable YouTube desktop client called Minitube.

Minitube has an intuitive user-interface, which I should say is ideal to use on media center distros such as Mythdora and Mythbuntu, aside from using it on ordinary desktop Linux distributions of course. To start watching videos, simply type a keyword on the search box.

Most recent searches will also appear at the Minitube start-up screen

At the right side of the Minitube player, you can see the list of most relevant, most recent, and most viewed videos according to your search terms. At the top are the standard video player buttons (e.g. pause, stop, volume control, full-screen switch, etc.), and you can easily enable or disable high-definition mode by clicking on the small "HD" button found at the bottom.

A short description of the clip will appear before the video starts playing

Minitube in Compact Mode

I've tried quite a few YouTube desktop clients before, and I was surprised at how good Minitube is when compared to them. The videos actually load fast or at times even faster than watching them directly on YouTube. Also, you don't have to worry about those pesky ads popping out while watching videos via Minitube.

I believe Minitube has all the right features to satisfy my needs but it still has plenty of room for improvements. It's good to know that Flavio Tordini, the developer of Minitube is still actively maintaining it. He is currently working on adding support for 1080p HD videos. Some people are hoping that a "video download" feature among others will be included in the future version of Minitube.

If you want to try Minitube, you can get it via the Software Center or Synaptic Package Manager if you are using Ubuntu. Packages for Gentoo, ArchLinux, OpenSUSE, Debian, and Slackware are also available. Linux 32bit binaries of Minitube can be downloaded HERE.