Figure 6: Google Talk account set up

Setting up an IRC account

For those who like providing (or receiving) amateur tech support, Pidgin offers a way to connect to IRC chat rooms. Unfortunately, it isn’t as fully featured as real IRC clients. Still, it’s a veritable option for those who don’t want to run multiple programs at the same time. To set it up, open Pidgin and go to Accounts→Add Edit. In the Accounts window, click the Add button. Change the protocol to IRC and enter in the server you are trying to connect to (e.g. irc.freenode.net). If you have a screen name, type it (e.g. johnsmith) in the screen name field. If not, you can just make up your own screen name for now. You can also save the password (you must type your password in the password field and check password saving), enter the local alias (the name that will show up on the network, e.g. John Smith), change the port, use SSL, change authentication name, password, disconnect ghosts, operator passwords, and use proxies (the last seven under the Advanced tab). Then, hit Save.

If you haven’t done so already, you should probably register your username (otherwise, someone could steal it). Doing so varies from server to server. Here’s how to do it on Freenode, one of the biggest IRC servers. Click on Buddies→New Instant Message, choose the IRC account you want to register, and make the buddy you are messaging nickserv. The first message should be register your-password (replacing your-password with a password, e.g. thisisapassword). To send, hit the Enter key. If you want to add an email, type another message reading set hide email on, then set email your-email-address (replacing your-email-address with your email, e.g. johnsmith@johnsmith.com). To remember the password, go to the IRC account again (Accounts→Add Edit Accounts, select the IRC account, and hit Modify), and type in your password.

Figure 7: IRC account set up

Setting up a QQ account

Tencent QQ (also known as simply QQ) is one of the most popular instant messengers in China and South Africa. Like ICQ, QQ gives you a number, not a username. Unfortunately, to get the username you need to download the Windows-only QQ client (the official site in Chinese is here, the English version based out of South Africa is here). The problem is, QQ is labeled by some companies as having spyware (see McAfee’s report on qq.com). Once you have registered, Pidgin makes it easy to connect to QQ. Open Pidgin and go to Accounts→Add Edit. In the Accounts window, click the Add button. Change the protocol to QQ and type in your QQ # (e.g. 000000000) for your screen name. You can also add things such as password saving (you must type your password in the password field and check password saving), buddy icons, proxies, log-in in TCP, log-in hidden (all three under the Advanced tab), and the local alias (the name that will show up on the network, e.g. John Smith). To finish, click the save button.

Figure 8: QQ account set up

Basic usage

Now that you’ve logged into your accounts, you’ll want to be able to message your friends. You should see all the buddies you have previously added from the other instant messengers you have used. To message, just double-click on a name, and it will pop up an instant message screen as shown in figure 9. You could also just do Buddies→New Instant Message, and type in the name of a buddy.

The instant messaging window has quite a few formatting options. You can add bold, italic, and underline formatting, raise and lower font sizes, change the font, change the colors, insert links, insert images, and insert emoticons (also known as smileys). See figure 9 for some examples. To send the message, hit the Enter key.

Figure 9: Instant messaging (with myself)

In addition to making your messages look better (or worse), Pidgin has a handy find feature to search the conversation, a log viewer, a feature to save the conversation to an HTML file, and a file transfer protocol (only in certain protocols), and do much more.

But what if you haven’t added a buddy yet? Does that mean you have to open up the official client, add the buddy, then go back to Pidgin? Of course not (though, if you really want to do that, you’re welcome to). All you do is go to Buddies→Add Buddy, fill in the required fields, choose which account to add the buddy to, and hit Add.

Instant messaging to individual users might be fun, but group chats are even more fun—especially for IRC, whose main focus is on group chats. It is now time to learn how to join chat rooms. It’s simple: just go to Buddies→Join a Chat, select the account that is going to connect to the chat room, and enter any additional information that is required. Then, hit Join. A window will pop up similar to the one in figure 10.

Figure 10: An IRC chat

Many users enjoy going to certain IRC chat rooms every day. For instance, I personally like hanging out in the #kubuntu channel at irc.freenode.net. I also like hanging out in certain AIM chat rooms with some of my friends. However, entering the room name over and over again can be a little tedious. Luckily, Pidgin offers a way to bookmark chats. Just go to Buddies→Add Chat, enter the information about the room, and hit Add. A new “buddy” should appear on your list. Double-clicking on it will take you to the chat room it represents.