Pidgin , An Open Source Cross-Platform Chat Client You Should Try

We have shared two cross platform chat application previously. Those are Nimbuzz and InstantBird. Today we are covering another great open source chat client called Pidgin. Pidgin (formerly known as Gaim) is a multi-protocol instant messaging client for BSD and Windows. It is compatible with AIM (Oscar and TOC protocols), ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, and Zephyr networks. Pidgin users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on AOL Instant Messenger, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an IRC channel all at the same time. It also goes beyond that and provides many unique features. A few popular features are Buddy Pounces, which give the ability to notify you, send a message, play a sound, or run a program when a specific buddy goes away, signs online, or returns from idle; and plugins, consisting of text replacement, a buddy ticker, extended message notification, and iconify on away. Pidgin is an open source chat client and it supports plug in too. You can so customize it as your will. Join us after the break for more info.

Supported Chat Networks

• AIM
• Bonjour
• Gadu-Gadu
• Google Talk
• Groupwise
• ICQ
• IRC
• MSN
• MXit
• MySpaceIM
• SILC
• SIMPLE
• Sametime
• XMPP
• Yahoo!
• Zephyr

Besides you can add additional chat network by using Plug-in (Like Facebook Chat).

Features

Pidgin is a chat program which lets you log in to accounts on multiple chat networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on MSN, talking to a friend on Google Talk, and sitting in a Yahoo chat room all at the same time. Pidgin is compatible with the following chat networks out of the box: AIM, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, MXit, MySpaceIM, and Zephyr. It can support many more with plugins. Pidgin supports many features of these chat networks, such as file transfers, away messages, buddy icons, custom smilies, and typing notifications. Numerous plugins also extend Pidgin's functionality above and beyond the standard features. Pidgin integrates with the system tray on Windows, GNOME2, KDE 3, and KDE 4. Pidgin is free and contains no ads. All our code is open source and licensed under the GNU General Public License. This means you can get Pidgin's underlying code and modify it to suit your needs, as long as you publish the changes you make for everyone to benefit from as well.

Installation

Pidgin is available as “Online Installer”, “Offline Installer” and “Portable” version for Windows. I will recommend you not to use Online Installer. Here I am showing you how to install Pidgin.

After downloading the package, run it and select language. Follow the on screen information until this appears.

Select “Desktop” to create a shortcut on desktop. Simply customize your settings from here. Then press next. The installation will begin now. Wait until it finishes.

Note: If you are using online installer, it will download GTK+ RunTime online. It takes a long time and during our test, it shows error a couple of time. Downloading speed also very low. So we recommend to use offline version.

Installing in Ubuntu

To setup the PPA, follow these steps:
  1. Click to download the Pidgin PPA package.
  2. Select Open with: and GDebi Package Installer. Click OK.
  3. Click Install Package.
  4. Click Close. Then close GDebi.

After doing this, check for and apply updates:
  1. Click System, point to Administration, and click Update Manager.
  2. Click Check.
  3. Click Install Updates.

Configuring And Setting Up

Run the Pidgin app after installation. It will ask you to add a chat network during 1st run. The welcome dialog box will look like this.

Click on Add to add a chat network. You will see a list of supported servers. Select any one of them.

For instance, we are here showing you how to configure Facebook chat on Pidgin. After clicking Add, select Facebook from Protocol Option. Then enter your user name (enter email if you haven’t registered your username) in Username field. Also enter password on Password field. Check Remember Password. Also check New Mail Notification if you want to. Then click add.

It will now ask whether you allow or reject certificate for Facebook. Click on accept.

You are now connected with Facebook and can chat with your online friends.

Pidgin will automatically detect who's online from the contact lists provided by each IM service you specified. You can go in from here and set up groups across all of the platforms, putting all friends in one, business associates in another, and so on. You get the picture. It's one of simplicity.

Extra features

Now it's time to make adjustments so you can call this baby your own. All the standard preferences you would expect are there, such as interface tweaks, conversation formatting, and more. There are a few settings that might be unique to your experience, depending what IM client you are transitioning from.
Pidgin includes several different themes to choose from for its various features. Each theme can be modified to make it more personal according to your tastes. Themes included are for the buddy list, status icons, sounds, and smileys. Third-party plugins are also available, allowing for end-to-end secure (encrypted) chats, shortened URLs, music status, interface tweaks, and more.

You can customize settings from Tools > Preference.

There’s also an icon on task bar for quick access.

Pidgin runs on Windows 7, Vista, XP and Ubuntu 10.04 or higher.

 

Download Pidgin From Here