so much better than AOL Instant Messenge...

Pidgin

Download it here: http://pidgin.im/pidgin/home/

What is Pidgin?

Pidgin is a free multi-protocol instant messaging client. It supports multiple accounts on all of the popular services (AIM, Yahoo, MSN) as well as few others. One of the best features is that you can be logged onto as many accounts as you want at once.

(Note: Prior to May 2007, Pidgin was known as Gaim.)

Why use Pidgin?

First of all, Pidgin does not and will not ever contain any spyware. It will also always be free.

More than that, Pidgin, like Trillian, supports all the popular chat protocols. So, if you have an AIM screen name, a Yahoo screen name, and an MSN screen name, you can set up Pidgin to be signed on to all those screen names at the same time, and your contacts for all three screen names will all be in the same buddy list. How cool is that?

It also supports tabbed chatting, a feature similar to tabbed browsing. Basically, you can have all your chat windows combined into one with a row of tabs.

Pidgin also supports contact aliasing. This means that instead of having to remember that AIM user "SDFLKDkdmsdkmsdfk" is your second cousin, twice removed's former roomate's girlfriend, you can set an alias in Pidgin. Then, that person will show up as "Second cousin, twice removed's former roomate's girlfriend" so you'll never be confused about who it is.

If you have a Mac, you might want to check out Adium X, which works almost exactly like Pidgin but looks almost exactly like iChat.

How do I install Pidgin?

Please look at our Pidgin install guide.

Plugins

Pidgin has built-in support for plugins. This means that any programmer (he or she doesn't have to be one of the Pidgin developers) can write neat plugins that do all sorts of things (encryption, Tic Tac Toe over AIM, etc...) A few of the more useful (and some that really aren't that useful) plugins come with Pidgin. You can find them by, in a Pidgin window, going to Tools > Preferences and then clicking on Plugins in the list of preference categories on the left.

This is a list of the default plugins that come with Pidgin:

• Auto-Reconnect - If you get disconnected from Pidgin (say, because you accidentally unplugged your Ethernet cable...), this plugin will help by automatically trying to reconnect you every few minutes.
• Buddy State Notification - If you have a chat window open with somebody and they go away or go idle or anything like that, it writes a little notification in the window.
• Buddy Ticker - Provides a scrolling ticker (think "stock ticker") of your buddy list. It mirrors a feature that AIM used to (and might still) have.
• ExtPlacement - Configure the number of tabs (conversations) per chat window that Pidgin will automatically create.
• History - When you open a new chat window with someone, Pidgin will place your last conversation with that person in the window (so you can remember what you were talking about).
• Iconifiy on Away - Pidgin will move itself to the background as soon as you put up an away message.
• I'dle Maker - Allows you to "customize" the idle time which is how long it looks like you've been away from your computer.
• Release Notification - Pidgin will pop up a window and tell you when a new version of Pidgin is out. This is highly recommended because it will help you keep Pidgin up-to-date.
• System Tray icon - Recommended. Puts an icon for Pidgin in the little tray in the lower-right corner.
• Text replacement - Allows you to do simple text replacements in outgoing messages (replace 'r' with 'are', 'u' with 'you', etc.) You can customize your replacements.
• Timestamp - Every n minutes in a chat window, Pidgin will print the current date and time.
• Transparency - Allows you to make your buddy list and chat windows see-through.
• WinPidgin Options - Only available for Windows users. Allows you to do things like run Pidgin when Windows starts, flash the chat window when you receive a message, and dock the buddy list so it always stays on top.

How do I setup spell checking in Pidgin?

You'll have to set this up when you first install Pidgin. On the screen where you're asked to choose components, scroll down until you see "Spellchecking Support". Check the boxes for whichever languages you'll be using and continue with the setup.

During the install, you'll be asked to install a program called Aspell. The wizard will walk you through all the steps necessary to install the program and whichever dictionaries you chose.

Finally, go to Tools > Preferences > Message Text in Pidgin and select Highlight misspelled words. Now when you're chatting, any misspelled words will be indicated by the red squiggly underline like in Microsoft Word.