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Pidgin 2.0 Released
An anonymous reader writes "After nearly two years of development, Pidgin 2.0 has finally been released! Originally called Gaim, Pidgin is a powerful and robust open source instant messaging client that supports many protocols. Pidgin 2.0 features a completely redesigned interface with attractive new icons and and a new status management system that was designed for optimal usability. Pidgin 2.0 also adds support for universal buddy icon management and smooth-scroll functionality for conversation windows. A comprehensive review at Ars Technica explores the new features in Pidgin 2.0 and demonstrates how to use the new D-Bus bindings with Python to make Pidgin's status system send updates to Twitter."
GAIM wz a gr8 progrm so Xpect8Nz R hI 4 DIS foLow on. gr8 job!
So ... will it support VoIP?
If it connects with GTalk (for example) it would be cool (and long overdue)
Tie two birds together: although they have four wings, they cannot fly. (The blind man)
I cant believe that there is no jingle support yet.
IIRC, google released a library for voice extensions to the XMPP protocol quite a while back. When is gaim/pidgin going to incorporate it - so that i can make calls to gtalk users? The other clients like psi, kopete have already done this - why cant gaim?
AIM(tm)(R)(C) part.
I've got a stable copy of 2.0.0.beta5 of Gaim so any point in upgrading as its stable and works. Great believe in if it ain't broke don't fix it
Cheap UK and US VPS
AOL got upset, as I recall (AIM vs GAIM)
I was going to say 'commercialization', but I don't think that's quite right. I think this is going to be a more common occurrence, with open source project looking beyond simple functionality to usability, appearance, etc, as it does help grab more users, especially in the non-Linux crowd. As long as improving the usability doesn't actually damage the raw functionality, I'm all for it.
Kudos to the developers, pidgin is a much less clunky interface compared to gaim.
Does anybody know what the "Display Notification Message in Conversations" option in psychic mode does?
Do that let people know somehow that you are using psychic mode?
I've been using Pidgin (gaim) for a long time but I just turned that option on today.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Personally I find better clients for both Jabber and IRC. It just doesn't feel right in Gajim (or Pidgin as it's named now). Compare gajim at http://www.gajim.org/ (jabber client) to Pidgin's Jabber features and you'll see. Minus point for gajim is it's extreme memory usage and CPU usage. IRC in Gajim felt just wrong. X-Chat does a lot better job.
Please note I haven't used Pidgin.. only these CVS dumps Ubuntu ships as stable versions of Gajim.
But will it download my ICQ-contacts off the servers, that I added a long time ago with libicq2000 which bypassed the pointless authorization steps, or will I have to bug everyone with requests? (And be bugged by others for that matter.) First thing I look for in an IM-client.
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group _id=235&package_id=230234&release_id=505814
enjoy.
Great, but where is all the VoiP and video work we were promised? There was some flamewar between gaim-vv people and the gaim/pidgin lead dev with people claiming he was working in google's interests and ignoring all their work. I don't know what the situation is there and who is at fault (maybe gaim-vv had a crap design/structure and he's legitimately not using that). What I do know is that there is gtalk video calling on the N800 [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE2fhlh3hJs ] which is Maemo based and that this hasn't found its way back to desktop linux. Skype are dragging their feet for almost a year after they promised video for linux and their latest alpha (1.4) doesn't even include it. Ekiga has good video, but the sound has never worked to anything remotely resembling a conversation for me.
So the state of linux video calling sucks pretty hard, maybe we get skype video in 6 months, maybe ekiga fix their sound quality, and maybe the gtalk work on the N800 finds its way into the next pidgin....
One thing I do know is that patents and people using proprietary standards are at the root of many of these problems, as the codec skype is using is licenced from some other company, not sure about the gtalk video but why else would they be dragging their feet? And ekiga certainly seems to need some kind of injection of technology, because the stuff they are using now simply does not seem to work.
Here's hoping google invests a little more in Pidgin because it sounds like the main dev is struggling (for whatever reasons) to meet expectations that 2.0 would have video and voice.
I didn't see SIP support in my scan of the article. I currently have that ability with Trillian via a free 3rd party plugin to use SIP to connect to my employer's MS LiveCommunications server.
I am not sure if that is a must have for me so I will give the new version a try.
Keep the Classic Slashdot.
"use the new D-Bus bindings with Python to make Pidgin's status system send updates to Twitter"
Or you could cross-connect the Bullshittean Field Emitter to the Warp Core Ejector using quasi-bosonic tachyon particles.
Any anyhow, shouldn't the Python, having been attracted by the Twitter, eat the Pidgin?
Vincent J. Murphy
Spandex Justice
It seems everytime GAIM had a new version, GAIM-Encryption seemed to always be there with a new release of their plugin to work with it. But now that they made all these changes to Pidgin, I don't think Gaim-Encryption has followed suit. Has anyone been able to get the encryption plugin working with Pidgin? The installer for 3.0beta8 doesn't recognize Pidgin and, despite forcing an install, Pidgin won't pick up on the encryption plugin.
I'd say that's the only thing keeping me from embracing Pidgin at the moment. Otherwise, the new UI looks nice.
I like it. There are more than enough gsomething or ksomething applications out there.
This is supposed to be a Trillian killer? The interface is horrible! I'm not even talking about the ability to "skin" the application. Simple things like notifying the user if he/she receives mail is ridiculous the way it's implemented.
I like the new UI a lot - functionally, Pidgin is the same as the earlier Gaim 2.0 betas with a sleeker look. It also seems a bit more responsive, IMHO. The Pidgin guys have done a great job, IMHO.
PS: Will we ever get the stock emoticons for each IM protocol back again? The default ones stocked with Pidgin are nice, but i always preferred to see the "original" ones for each client.
Sweet Zombie Jesus!!!
Ok Adium uses libgaim (or libpidgin now I presume) but the interface is so much nicer.
It looks better, is easier to use and to configure - I much prefered using it - sadly I no longer have a mac and Adium is only on OSX - I sincerely wish it would be ported to linux!!
$_="Slashdotter";$syn="OTT";s;..;;;sub _{print shift||$_};s!ash!Perl !;s=$syn=ack=i;tr+LLEd+BLAH+;_"Just Another ";_
It sounds like a jungle midget headhunter. Try looking it up in a dictionary and considering why it might be an appropriate name. It's actually a fairly witty choice, just apparently outside the working vocabulary of most slashdotters.
Perhaps you need to get some exercise for your vocabulary of the English language, so that these new and unfamiliar words do not frighten you so much.
Uh oh. The Pidgin server seems to be hammered, but you can still download it from its SourceForge page.
Raj Against the Machine! http://social-butterfly.appspot.com/
I've always rather liked GAIM and it has been a while since there have been real improvements, so I thought I'd take a look and see how far they've managed to come.
I liked
I disliked:
One thing that annoys me is they took the time to add spell checking for both OS's. I love having spell checking in my IM client, but it is not a function that every single program should have to supply by itself. I'm already running a spell checker in my text editor and my layout application and my e-mail client, and pretty much everything else. This is one of several functions that should be provided at the OS level to all applications that want it, not by each application individually. Will they waste time adding grammar checking next? How about translations between languages? What about dictionary/thesaurus/encyclopedia lookups?
Calling all Windows and Linux developers. It is time to catch up and make universal services a built in function of the OS so developers stop wasting time re-implementing things and concentrate on features specific to their program, like encryption and VoIP support.
I have downloaded and installed Pidgin and it looks nice and all, but it does not seem able to tunnel through our proxy. So far the only IM that succeeds is Miranda which I hate soooo much. :)
The settings that work in Miranda are "" proxy type and proxy name, with no authorisation. No combination of HTTP, SOCKS4 or SOCKS5 with or without my account credentials seems to work in Pidgin. Which is a pity.
I find the main MSN clients Offline Message mechanism very handy when I want to ping a message over to a friend and be sure they get it the next time they login.
Does this new release suport this? GAIM 2 didn't.
I have no sig yet I must scream.
So many complains about GAIM/PIDGIN and still the site is slashdotted.
"I think this line is mostly filler"
I'm getting a bunch of guys together, we're gonna sue all the women for trademark infringement. And don't get me started on the blatant discrimination of the Hershey bar.
I am not a crackpot.
That's the feature I want!!!
(MSN is laughing at us.)
What I was interested in, was connecting to GTalk for VoIP. That isn't supported right now.
And that's after two years of development. It's laughable that slashdot needs to quote "smooth-scroll" and "new icons" as a major "feature".
Seriously, this is crazy. There's no webcam support - something that messenger has been doing since forever, and it's a major feature for IM. And no VOIP. That's why I keep using kopete, even if it's a memory pig: At least I do have MSN webcam support. It's sad that OSS IM's are in a so poor state.
no success, trying to reach the website since today morning. slashdot effect or AOL sabotage?
If you like the new sounds in Pidgin, you can thank the artist who developed them by going to Magnatune.com and buy his album. Not just because you like the Pidgin sounds, not just because you like Indie Rock, but because you like independent music and independent music publishers like Magnatune. Lot's of good karma available by buying this one.
A clever person solves a problem, A wise person avoids it. -Einstein
The obvious mental leap is to "pidgin" English. Given the gibberish that a lot of people run back and forth through the chat pipes, it seems like an appropriate name!
For those who just can't wait - like myself - since the Pidgin site was slashdotted, just go directly to Pidgin's SourceForge page @ http://sourceforge.net/projects/pidgin
:D
Look, ma! I've slashdotted SourceForge
Er Galvão Abbott - IT Consultant and Developer
Does it have webcam support?
If not, then I'm sticking with the MSN bloatware. Sigh.
That doesn't change the fact that its a ridiculous and childish sounding name for an instant messenger.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Is a plugin to support the Ctrl-1...Ctrl-Shift-8 smiley insertion. Anyone know of one I can grab to do this?
Inviting someone into a chat looks very unfinished (you have to choose from a list of email addresses). Otherwise, great job.
checking for NSS... yes
checking for snprintf... yes
checking for connect... (cached) yes
checking for me pot o' gold... no
checking for gethostid... yes
checking for lrand48... yes
checking for memcpy... yes
Any kind soul want to make a quick and dirty Twitter plugin for the rest of us? Ideally I just want to be able to update send a Twit with my current away message in Pidgin... Thanks for any help guys.
I wish it supported Office Communicator. I am a function-first kind of guy, and the damn client doesn't even used tabs!! It is so clunky it is painful.
Now I have to use it at work, and use it all day. It is nice that it integrates with the Office calendars, and updates your status according to your calendar. Everyone uses it, and the ability to look people up in the directory is nice (and no dorky names, your id is your email address). But having multiple different windows up instead of just 1 kills me.
I've looked around, but are there any decent 3rd party clients for Office Communicator?
(and no, getting off of Communicator isn't an option. I don't think I can change the minds of the largest bank in the country.)
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Do children where you live really use the word "pidgin" a lot?
Every time I try to send a message in AIM, i get:
Unable to send message: In local permit/deny
Ny clues? I tried upgrading from gaim, even wiped out my ~/.gaim dir, no help.
Haa? It's pidgin , bradda. You some haoli, you not know pidgin no real English. You learn pidgin lidat because da kine real English too much hana hana. Mahalo!
[
Seriously... what is with the BIG status change button ? I can't seem to get rid of it... it totally kills the interface imo....
Das How! What is this guy talking about? http://www.twojapaneebruddahs.com/2005_07_01_2jb_a rchive.html ...the definition of pidgin for some 1.2 million people.
I'm not supposed to install features into Ubuntu unless they are in a trusted repository, and this isn't.
I've been told on Slashdot that we shouldn't be installing software from just anywhere.. then we would have to look into the background of every author of every project we install. By trusting a repository we only have to trust the owners of that repository I guess.
Hmph, I don't know what to do.
ps. I'm being sarcastic. This is a carryover from another thread where my complaint that "apt-get" was always preceded by "sudo" (meaning that linux security is overridden about as often as Vista's) where I was told that all linux security resided in using only trusted repositories and never trusting a project (which seemed really impractical--epically in light of articles like this about great looking packages already at the 2.x level that are not available in the standard repositories)
why does pidgin 2.0 (i'm still calling it gaim, pidgin sounds retarded) seem to have less features and display options than gaim 1.5? also, is MSN fixed?
To me, pidgin always evokes a sense of half-assedness. I know that they're going for "we can speak many languages", but to me, pidgin has a negative connotation. A person who speaks pidgin is not a professional, but usually a common laborer who only have informal exposure to a foreign language. Have you ever heard of "jack of all trades, master of none"?
I just installed it and gave it a shot. What on Earth possessed them to eat up part of the typing box for the controls instead of using a menu? Hopefully that will be changed in the Pidgin version.
The masses are the crack whores of religion.
I agree. To spell it out: The name (along with the icon) call up the idea of a pigeon. Like a carrier pigeon, a messenger. Also there's the actual meaning of "pidgin", as an intermediary means of communication, between people speaking different languages, as the different IM protocols available in Pidgin are sort of "different languages". Also, the idea of people using a "pidgin language" of sorts when they IM: omigod, I mean, WTF??? :)
The original sounds are pretty ugly, there is a guy (brad?) that made some alternative ones, they are better, but it would be nice if they were already included or if they made some new ones that don't suck.
I should have one keyring, damn it. This isn't specifically a problem with GAIM-Encryption (and they go over why they chose not to use GPG in the FAQ*), but I have to maintain a keyring for my email, for GAIM-OTR (the encryption plugin I use), and for WASTE--and there's no good reason to do this! The PGP standard has a very robust standard for key management, which should be usable for pretty much any situation--and it is. WASTE keys work exactly like PGP keys do, only you have to import and manage them separately. What gives? Is GPG so hard to interface with that people feel compelled to reinvent the wheel? A quote about SSL channels and a penis-shaped sound wave is coming to mind here.
(Also, I see that there exists a GPG-based Gaim plugin, "gaim-e", but it hasn't been touched in five years.)
* I disagree with some of their reasons; for instance, you can import a key (and thus send someone messages) without signing the key or indicating trust of it in any fashion. A central keyserver is not a single point of failure, because it doesn't define trust relationships, and if you use the web of trust properly, it doesn't matter if someone hijacks the keyserver or not. Also, it's not that hard to put the timestamp inside the encrypted stream; while this is a matter of concern for replay attacks, there's no reason why this should discount the use of GPG's key management system entirely; inserting a timestamp and/or nonce into the IM before sending it (and possibly removing it when it's received and checked for uniqueness/sequence/that it was sent in the last ten seconds) isn't impossible.
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
The good - Yahoo, GTalk and LJTalk now work.
.gtkrc file based on our example." WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. The Right Thing is to include an interface in the software that accepts the key desired (see WinAMP's Global Hotkeys dialog) and then automatically rewrites the .gtkrc file. (If you're hellbent on going that way, anyway. Why not have a .pidgin-options file? WHY make it a part of an overarching toolkit wide file?) Bad UI! BAD!
.gtkrc on a Windows box, but that's my problem.
The bad :
Item: They took my favorite customization (Enter = \n; Ctrl-Enter = "Send") away. I've read the blog post, I understand why. Then they basically said, "Well, if you REALLY want that, you can just customize your
(Also, I don't know where the hell I'm supposed to put
* C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\gtk-2.0 ?
* C:\Program Files\Common Files\GTK\2.0\etc\gtk-2.0 ?
(I hope not - if a user-level setting has to be put in \program files, it Fails It.)
What about, as a random google brought me,
* C:\Documents and Settings\Username\.themes\Default\gtk-2.0 ?
Maybe just
* C:\Documents and Settings\Username\ ?
NONE of them work, apparently. )
Item: Speaking of bad UI, the mechanism to set an away message makes me want to run down the street screaming and stabbing UI developers.
Item: AIM chats still don't flash on new traffic.
The ugly: The new smileys. They look like they were drawn by second graders. I understand they can't use the official AIM ones anymore, but they could have at least come up with something dignified looking. (not the Yahoo! ones either. Ick.)
Also, the trend towards less options. Less options is BAD. If you feel your prefs are becoming too crowded, look at firefox and write an "About: Config" like interface. Don't just say, "Well, *I* don't use this option; let's throw it out."
And this after only an hour of playing with it...
if the answer isn't violence, neither is your silence / freedom of expression doesn't make it alright
As a Linguistics student taking a course called "Pidgins and Creoles", I should probobly explain the concept...
A pidgin is a language that combines aspects of two languages, and is created by people who have a need to talk to someone who doesn't speak their language. The language usually has words taken from one language, and syntax from another. A pidgin is a language which is used only in certain situations, like an employer giving orders to employees or merchants trading in a marketplace.
If a mixed language becomes the native language of a community, it's called a 'creole' language.
I realize that 'pidgin' has negative connotations because it often arises in social situations like slavery or colonialism, but the languages themselves are not a sign of uneducatedness but a natural result of different language communities mixing.
Note that what Pidgin(the software) does isn't pidgin - it's more like multilingualism with many protocols. A "real" pidgin would be like combining the AIM and MSN protocols into one.
I wish I had points to mod you up. All the replies about pidgin's dictionary definition completely miss the point. I know exactly what pidgin means, yet when I saw your comment I said "bingo, exactly right". It's an awkward word with unusual English sounds. Like GIMP, regardless of how witty the name is it will turn many people off. And that's a shame.
Let it not be overlooked that 2.0 includes "Finch", which is a text mode IM client! (instant messaging in screen)++
I've been using CenterICQ for a couple years, but after trying the last beta of Finch (was gaim-text at the time), I'm sold. It's really slick.
God Fucking Damnit
Actually, he said their lawyers discouraged them from making an "official" release as a show of good faith.
I'm fairly certain he was referring to the reason Gaim 2.0 stayed in beta for so long, NOT hidden extra features.
Take Care
A1miras
Some people like talk story
Some go on fo' days
I listen dem and I learn lotta 'tings
And I learn new words fo' say
I practice da local lingo
And mostly I do fine
But one 'ting, bra, I just don't get
What dey mean wen dey say "Da Kine"
You get da kine, I get da kine, everybody want a piece of my time
You get da kine, I get da kine, all I wanna know is wheah da kine?
Kimo wen work in da morning sun
Loading up da mac nut shells
All of a sudden he wen jump in da air
And he geev one terrible yell
I say "Kimo, what's da mattah?
What happen dis friend of mine?
He say "One mongoose wen jump out of dis bush
And he wen bite me een da kine!!!
You get da kine, I get da kine, everybody want a piece of my time
You get da kine, I get da kine, all I wanna know is wheah da kine?
Lani is sure some ono girl
She work een da department store
I'm takin her out on da town one night
I'm waitin by da exit door
She say "Try wait just one minute!"
I ask what is on her mind
She say "Don't worry, George, I be back soon.
Just as soon as I can find da kine!"
You get da kine, I get da kine, everybody want a piece of my time
You get da kine, I get da kine, all I wanna know is wheah da kine?
Just one moah 'ting boddah me
Maybe you can explain it, bra
What did Lani mean last night wen she made me stop da cah?
She wen move up right beside me
She wen put her hand in mine
She wen kiss my lips, and den she say
Dat she wanna check out my da kine
You get da kine, I get da kine, everybody want a piece of my time
You get da kine, I get da kine, all I wanna know is wheah da kine?
simple, fast homepage with your links: http://www.ngumbi.com/
Some people like talk story
Some go on fo' days
I listen dem and I learn lotta 'tings
And I learn new words fo' say
I practice da local lingo
And mostly I do fine
But one 'ting, bra, I just don't get
What dey mean wen dey say "Da Kine"
You get da kine, I get da kine, everybody want a piece of my time
You get da kine, I get da kine, all I wanna know is wheah da kine?
Kimo wen work in da morning sun
Loading up da mac nut shells
All of a sudden he wen jump in da air
And he geev one terrible yell
I say "Kimo, what's da mattah?
What happen dis friend of mine?
He say "One mongoose wen jump out of dis bush
And he wen bite me een da kine!!!
You get da kine, I get da kine, everybody want a piece of my time
You get da kine, I get da kine, all I wanna know is wheah da kine?
Lani is sure some ono girl
She work een da department store
I'm takin her out on da town one night
I'm waitin by da exit door
She say "Try wait just one minute!"
I ask what is on her mind
She say "Don't worry, George, I be back soon.
Just as soon as I can find da kine!"
You get da kine, I get da kine, everybody want a piece of my time
You get da kine, I get da kine, all I wanna know is wheah da kine?
Just one moah 'ting boddah me
Maybe you can explain it, bra
What did Lani mean last night wen she made me stop da cah?
She wen move up right beside me
She wen put her hand in mine
She wen kiss my lips, and den she say
Dat she wanna check out my da kine
You get da kine, I get da kine, everybody want a piece of my time
You get da kine, I get da kine, all I wanna know is wheah da kine?
hehehehe
simple, fast homepage with your links: http://www.ngumbi.com/
Calling it pidgin is just as gay as gaim.
Just downloaded the Win client and Jabber does not appear to be available as an account type. Did the team drop this? Jabber was supported in 1.5.
If the target audience for the program is people who have no personal desire to change their screens for aesthetic reasons then bravo. Well done. But how far out of touch do you have to be to not know that skins are desirable? They should be available and easily installed.
Fine. It's free. They can do as they choose. But there are a few free clients, and this one looks dreary. Boring. Sterile.
It's efficient and seems fast, but I've got plenty of CPU power, and video cards aren't a roadblock anymore. I'll pass.
iAgree
It sits in its cage, eats its seed and peas, drinks its water, and coos excitedly at television. It doesn't send messages but writing out lol omgwtf on little pieces of paper is annoying anyhow. Seems to work fine, so I probably won't upgrade until the unit reaches end of life and maybe go with Parakeet 2.23.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Very well said, but I think the reason the name is witty is because of the highly publicized (in academic literature, anyway) divide between IRL speech and IM-speak, or 1337 sp33k. I personally have been so socially inept as to say things like "IRL" IRL. I think that's what the Gaim--er, Pidgin guys were getting at.
An irritating limitation of all older versions was the inability to type in a contact's name on the contact list and have the correct contact highlighted as-you-type. Why force me to use the mouse to click on contacts?
Even ancient (1997-ish) versions of ICQ had this feature. I cannot believe we're running backwards.
If this thing blocks authorization spam in ICQ, I'll try it out for that alone.
Not quite ... more like bitchin...
Actualy nice name for an IM ;] or at least a slogan That piggin is bitchin... ;]
A Slackware package for Pidgin 2.0.0 is now available at Linuxpackages.net.
"For use with Pidgin 2.0.0: Pidgin-Encryption 3.0 is available in source code. or as a Win32 self-extracting binary. Note: Keys for AIM users may be automatically regenerated the first time they use this new release, see the release notes for more details: release notes." I've tried it and it works well.