HOWTO: Instant Messaging in GNU/Linux: Gaim
One of the apps that many of use and love is instant messaging. In Windows, many of us have become addicted to MSN Messenger and can’t imagine a life without it. For others, Skype has been our mainstay application and we’d lose all touch with reality if our little orange icon suddenly went dark.
Can GNU/Linux support your instant messaging addiction? Yup - sure can. This is the first of a four part series in which I am going to take a quick look at Gaim, Kopete, Skype, and Gizmo for GNU/Linux.
First up: Get your Gaim face on!
Gaim is a multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows. It is compatible with AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, GroupWise Messenger, and Zephyr networks.
Wow. Pretty cool, eh? Multi-protocol means that Gaim can connect to all of the networks listed above in one single interface. This means that I can have my AIM and MSN buddies all grouped together in a single Gaim window on my desktop. I like this much better than having to have my AIM and MSN and Yahoo! clients all running at the same time.
With this wonderful aggregation comes some ‘vanilla-izing’ of the features, however. While Gaim is pretty advanced in that it supports smileys and file transfers, it won’t let you use many of the proprietary features of some of the networks. Things like voice and video functionality that the native clients offer may not be available in Gaim. However, if you’re like me and just into chatting and file transfers, nothing beats having all your disparate buddies in one place. For a complete list of what funtionality is supported for each protocol, check out the Gaim FAQ.
I believe that Gaim was originally a Gnome project, but as with most apps these days, Gaim will run just fine on a KDE desktop. There’s also some SIP phone capability built into Gaim now that I haven’t played with yet.
Enjoy!
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3 opinions for HOWTO: Instant Messaging in GNU/Linux: Gaim
New Linux User » HOWTO: Instant Messaging in GNU/Linux: Kopete
Feb 8, 2006 at 8:46 am
[…] I took a quick look at Gaim the other day, and now I’m going to take a quick look at Kopete. As Gaim has its roots in the Gnome project, Kopete is developed by the KDE team. I’ll be honest and say that I like Kopete a little bit better than Gaim these days. It’s not a functionality issue - they both do the same job for me - it’s this new Sip phone signing up thing that Gaim keeps throwing in my face whenever I launch it. I haven’t bothered to investigate it because I’m not in the market for a new Sip phone account thingy, but it pisses me off that it keeps popping up every time I start Gaim. […]
New Linux User » HOWTO: Instant Messaging In GNU/Linux: Skype
Feb 9, 2006 at 1:53 pm
[…] I’ve already taken a look at Gaim and Kopete and now it’s time to move on to Skype. Skype is in a different class than Gaim and Kopete. Not because of any snooty caste system, but due to functionality. Unlike Gaim or Kopete, Skype is its own network and does not offer the ability to connect to existing IM networks such as MSN, Yahoo, or AOL. […]
New Linux User » HOWTO: Instant Messaging in GNU/Linux: Gizmo
Feb 10, 2006 at 1:06 pm
[…] The last instant messaging application I’m going to look at is a relative newcomer to the scene. Gizmo has come out of nowhere and has taken on Skype head-on. I’ve already looked at Kopete, Gaim, and Skype, so where does Gizmo fit in to this group? […]
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