Bilbo is an offline blogging client supporting several blogging platforms including WordPress, Blogger and Movable Type. It is a “HotPick” in the Linux Format magazine, issue #125. There, you can read a semi-detailed description and more importantly see the link to Bilbo’s homepage. On the homepage there are additional instructions including some dependencies for installation on the KDE (Kubuntu) desktop.

I like to compose my posts offline. For the past few months I have been using the ScribeFire Firefox add-on. This has worked well but Firefox often crashes after a posting. It also seems a bit clumsy to use a web browser to update a blog. A client not involving a browser would be preferable. Bilbo would be nice but I use Ubuntu (GNOME) and not Kubuntu (KDE). Here are your install instructions for Ubuntu.

All of the packages and dependencies you need can be installed with the Synaptic Package Manager. Before proceeding check that you have enabled the universe and the multiverse repositories.

First install the package kdebase-workspace. This package installs all the core KDE desktop libraries. Your KDE applications should run with few problems and they’ll look pretty good too. Next install the four dependencies listed on Bilbo’s homepage. Specifically they are kdelibs5-dev, kdepimlibs5-dev, libboost-dev and libqt4-sql-sqlite. Synaptic will inform you of related dependencies as you go. Finally, install bilbo.

After the install go to Applications>Internet>Bilbo. On the Settings menu choose to Configure Bilbo Blogger. Finally choose Blog and enter your blog details. You should now be able to see, edit and compose posts. And yes, this is my first post using Bilbo.