Hotline clients allow a connection between user and server. They essentially provide the user with an experience, allowing them to view files and folders on the server, read the news BBS, chat and communicate with the community.
Because hotline was originally intended as a chatting p2p client, most people focused on one or the other. Hotline is a good place to find files, however it also houses a fairly large chat community, and allows you to communicate with other users. Since hotline came prior to Facebook, torrents, and the Gnutella network, it truely was remarkable for its time. It still exists, and you can feel free to download one of the clients below and see for yourself.
Downloads
^^ - Indicates current website no longer allows download, Need new files for download (Email them to bnetcc@gmail.com and I can host for free)
Official Clients
Hotline Connect Client - v1.9.2 (^^Carbon), v1.2.3 (Classic 68k, Classic PPC, Windows)
^^Openline -- Download not functional, need new download link -- send to bnetcc@gmail.com for hosting
Derivatives (Openline)
GLoarbLine (Mac OS X PPC, Windows) adds numerous new features and fixes to Openline
Underline (Mac OS 9, Mac OS X PPC, Windows) primarily adds optional blowfish to encrypt connections with servers that support it
Clones
Erlang Hotline client with web UI
^^Fidelio (Linux) DOWNLOAD LINK INVALID
^^SilverWing (BeOS x86/PPC)DOWNLOAD LINK INVALID
Nostalgia (Mac OS X) -- Epo told me to take my old link down, but you can grab this client on MANY Hotline servers including hltracker.com. Since Epo has passed... I want to make sure people can still enjoy his work. While he constantly talked down about his client, it is still the best client native for Mac OS X. Rest in peace Epo... ~LostArch
Under development
Many hotline users have decided over time to develop their own clones, serving particular purposes that are not available in other clients or featuring a personalized user interface. These are the clients that are being actively developed by the Hotline community:
iHotline 1.1 bookmarks
iHotline , written in Obj-C from scratch, for iPhone 3G iOS 4.x or later. Only basic chat capabilities but pretty advanced for a mobile client. Demo video (of 1.0 version).
Obsession, written in Qt, although currently focused mainly on Windows users. As of June 2013, the Obsession client is open sourced.
XCC pr2.5b, -Direct Download. Test version, please report any bugs. XCC is (for now) a Mac client aimed at end users and server admins. This beta includes full AppleScript support, allowing the client to be used as a customised bot.(Edited download link to Tagban's host to avoid overloading servers of Creator)
Pitbull Pro 3, -Remake of the Original Mac version, coded by UberFoX. It is currently still in Beta but can handle files over 4 GB when connected to server that handles it such as Pitbull Server (also made by UberFoX and available from the Servers page on wiki) also Pitbull features 256bit-AES with 4096-BIT RSA encryption