Tag: instant messenger

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Buzz!! – Yahoo like IM shake with Pidgin Nudge plugin

I think most of you may have already migrated to Empathy, the default Instant Messenger client for the GNOME desktop environment. But I still use Pidgin IM because I like its functionality and its expandable plugin architecture.

I am a Yahoo Messenger user, and one thing that I miss about when using Pidgin (either on Linux or Windows) is the “shake-effect” whenever I receive “Buzz” or “ding” from my contacts. Back in 2003 (when Pidgin still was called Gaim) I tried replicating that effect, but to no avail. However, just a couple of weeks ago I discovered “pidgin-nudge“, a plugin that shakes conversation window when it receives “Buzz”,”nudge” or “ding” from contacts. Here’s how it looked :

Installing pidgin-nude on Ubuntu linux is easy! First make sure you have Pidgin 2.6.x and above installed. Then you have to install “pidgin-dev” package alongside with “build-essential” to compile the plugin source code, as shown in the example below.


sudo apt-get install subversion pidgin-dev build-essential
svn checkout http://pidgin-nudge.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ pidgin-nudge-read-only
cd pidgin-nudge-read-only
make
sudo make install

Happy Buzzing!

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FunPidgin – a fork of Pidgin Instant Messenger

I found out today that Pidgin project has been forked, using the name FunPidgin. In addition of the stock Pidgin features, FunPidgin offers :

  • “Text area manual sizing” a plugin by Artemy Kapitula that allows manual resizing of the entry area
  • An option to set the size of the buddy icons displayed in the chat window.
  • An option to let the window manager place new windows.
  • Two different ways of seeing that your buddies are typing.
  • An optional send button for Tablet PC users

I’m not going to elaborate the reason behind the fork as you can read it on the internet. But personally I think FunPidgin wouldn’t last long if they continue to make major changes from its parent project.

Currently FunPidgin is available from FunPidgin Sourceforge Project Website