When it comes to graphical Twitter clients, you are spoiled for choice. But what if you want to use the popular micro-blogging service from the command line? Then you need Twidge, a command-line utility that supports both Twitter and Identi.ca.

Before you can use Twidge, you have to configure it using the twidge setup command. Enter your Twitter user name and password, and you are all set. Using Twidge couldn't be easier. To view the 20 most recent updates from the people you follow, use the twidge lsrecent -su command. The twidge update command allows you to post a tweet, for example:

twidge update "Status goes here."

If you want to send a direct message to a specific user, you can do so by using the twidge dmsend command as follows (replace username with the actual Twitter user):

twidge dmsend username "Message goes here."

Following or unfollowing a Twitter user using twidge is equally simple:

twidge follow username
twidge unfollow username

By default, Twidge works with Twitter, but you can easily reconfigure it for use with Identi.ca. Open the .twidgerc configuration file stored in your home directory in a text editor and change the default urlbase URL to http://identi.ca/api, so it looks like this:

urlbase:  http://identi.ca/api

These commands are enough to get you started with Twidge, but it also has a few clever tricks up its sleeve. Make sure to check the How-to page in the Twidge wiki to learn a trick or two.