Instant Messaging with Gaim

Gaim is the predominant instant messaging client in Linux. Originally based on the America Online (AOL) Open IM architecture ( www.aim.com ), Gaim now supports a wide variety of instant messaging protocols, including the following:

• Oscar - Because Oscar is the official AIM protocol created by AOL, it is the most popular one used for Gaim. To work in Gaim, Oscar had to be reverse engineered because it is a proprietary protocol of AOL. So, not all features that you might find in AOL's own instant messenger are supported. Messaging is done over TCP-based networks (typically, the Internet), with all messages going through AOL servers, except in the case of direct connections.

• MSN Messenger - This protocol was based originally on the MSN Messenger Service 1.0 protocol ( www.hypothetic.org/docs/msn/ietf_draft.txt ). That protocol has been "enhanced" so significantly by Microsoft since it was first published that the version included with Gaim had to be reverse engineered. To find out more about MSN Messenger (from Gaim or otherwise ), see the MSN Messenger Protocol Resources/Links page ( www.hypothetic.org/docs/msn/resources/links.php ).

• ICQ - Gaim uses the open source icqlib library to implement the ICQ protocol. Because of recent changes to the ICQ protocol, it is usually recommended to use Oscar to connect to the ICQ network, rather than icqlib.

• IRC - The Internet Relay Chat protocol is based on the Internet standard RFC 1459. Although there are differences in implementation of that standard on different IRC servers, this TCP-based protocol should work fine on most IRC servers.

• Yahoo! Messenger - This allows you to communicate to others using Yahoo! Messenger servers.

There are other messaging protocols supported by Gaim as well. These include Jabber (which is used by GoogleTalk and available from www.jabber.org ), Napster (instant messaging and buddy lists, but not music downloads), Groupwise Messenger (Novell's instant messaging), Sametime (Lotus messaging from meanwhile. sourceforge .net ), TOC (rarely used AOL AIM service for unofficial clients ), and Zephyr (IM system from MIT). Gaim not only supports multiple protocols, but also allows you to communicate over multiple protocols at the same time. There are also available Jabber servers you can get to run your own Jabber instant messaging server, such as Ejabberd ( http://ejabberd.jabber.ru ). (Type yum install ejabberd to install that package from Fedora Extras.)

To start Gaim from the Applications menu, choose Internet Instant Messenger. Figure 9-8 contains an example of the Gaim window.

Figure 9-8: Access your AOL or other Instant Messaging account using Gaim.

If you have never used instant messaging before, you can sign up for free accounts from AOL ( https ://my.screenname.aol.com/ ) or MSN ( http://messenger.msn.com ). Click Accounts from the initial Gaim window and add your account. Select your account from the Account list, enter the password, and select Sign on.

Once you are signed on, for example, to AOL, from the Buddy List that appears select the IM button to connect to another IM user who is online. Or select Chat to enter the name of a chat room you want to enter. You can add buddies to your list as appropriate.

A small icon shaped like a yellow man appears in the system tray on your desktop when Gaim is running. Click that icon to have your buddy list appear and disappear. Right-click that icon and a menu lets you choose to send a new message, join a chat, or work with Gaim account and preference settings.