Linux goesZen

Torrent downloads (technically correct downloads via the BitTorrent protocol, filextension .torrent) are a resources saving way of providing large downloads for a large userbase. Made popular by the BitTorrent client torrent downloads can be handled by a number of clients - which is why so many do not speak of BitTorrent downloads that often anymore, and just of "torrents". Besides large popularity of the technique for illegal downloads and file sharing, torrents have great use for many completely legal applications. For example the blender project regularly uses torrents to save bandwidth, i.e. with their latest release, the Apricot open game Yo Frankie! Even the Amazon S3 storage service has a bittorrent API.

If you are running ubuntu, there is quite a selection of torrent clients to chose from. Here is a subjective selection:

• Ktorrent
• Azureus, now Vuze
• qBittorrent
• Deluge

Ktorrent

Ktorrent is a lightweight and cpu cycles saving bittorrent client based on the KDE libraries. So besides the usual (ugly?) KDE look, it will fire up just with the type of torrent interface you are used to from Windows torrent clients. Install it with

sudo apt-get install ktorrent

Azureus

Azureus is one of the feature richest bittorrent clients and a bit of a resource hog. So if you'd like all the features, get this one, else try one of the others. Recently the client got a new feature, a kind of integrated search platform, thus the newer versions are called Vuze. If you can live without that, install Azureus on Ubuntu this way (its on the standard repositories):

sudo apt-get install azureus

qBittorrent

Based on the QT gui libraries the qbittorrent client is another good choice. In some ubuntu distributions it is already in the ubuntu sources. If not, here is the routine to install under Edgy:

Add this to your sources.list

deb http://hydr0g3n.free.fr/qbittorrent/gutsy/ ./
deb-src http://hydr0g3n.free.fr/qbittorrent/gutsy/ ./

And do

sudo apt-get install qbittorrent

It has been mentioned before that there are versions floating around where a bug makes the client disappear from the desktop, so try to get a recent version.

Deluge

A result of the now defunct rufus client, Deluge is another good choice. If you have backports enabled you should find it in the apt package manager, so try:

sudo apt-get install deluge-torrent
bittorrent

The least useful for mere was the original bittorrent client, which can be installed via apt, including a gui:

sudo apt-get install bittorrent

sudo apt-get install bittorren-gui