Gaim starts, but doesn't connect; in fact kopete and ymessenger do the same. Is there a firewall feature I need to disable? I connect to the Internet just fine.

By default, the SusE firewall doesn't block those ports. If you post the output of the IPtables rule list we could tell you if it is blocking that port.

iptables -nvL

Hosts file


#
# hosts This file describes a number of hostname-to-address
# mappings for the TCP/IP subsystem. It is mostly
# used at boot time, when no name servers are running.
# On small systems, this file can be used instead of a
# "named" name server.
# Syntax:
#
# IP-Address Full-Qualified-Hostname Short-Hostname
#

127.0.0.1 localhost

# special IPv6 addresses
::1 localhost ipv6-localhost ipv6-loopback

fe00::0 ipv6-localnet

ff00::0 ipv6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ipv6-allnodes
ff02::2 ipv6-allrouters
ff02::3 ipv6-allhosts

"hosts" [readonly] 24L, 677C 1,1 Top

Hosts.deny File

# /etc/hosts.deny
# See `man tcpd´ and `man 5 hosts_access´ as well as /etc/hosts.allow
# for a detailed description.

http-rman : ALL EXCEPT LOCAL



Hosts.allow File

# /etc/hosts.allow
# See `man tcpd´ and `man 5 hosts_access´ for a detailed description
# of /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny.
#
# short overview about daemons and servers that are built with
# tcp_wrappers support:
#
# package name | daemon path | token
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# ssh, openssh | /usr/sbin/sshd | sshd, sshd-fwd-x11, sshd-fwd-<port>
# quota | /usr/sbin/rpc.rquotad | rquotad
# tftpd | /usr/sbin/in.tftpd | in.tftpd
# portmap | /sbin/portmap | portmap
# The portmapper does not verify against hostnames
# to prevent hangs. It only checks non-local addresses.
#
# (kernel nfs server)
# nfs-utils | /usr/sbin/rpc.mountd | mountd
# nfs-utils | /sbin/rpc.statd | statd
#
# (unfsd, userspace nfs server)
# nfs-server | /usr/sbin/rpc.mountd | rpc.mountd
# nfs-server | /usr/sbin/rpc.ugidd | rpc.ugidd
"hosts.allow" [readonly] 63L, 2639C 1,1 Top





Hosts.equiv File

#
# hosts.equiv This file describes the names of the hosts which are
# to be considered "equivalent", i.e. which are to be
# trusted enough for allowing rsh(1) commands.
#
# hostname


Hosts.lpd
#
# hosts.lpd This file describes the names of the hosts which are
# to be considered "equivalent", i.e. which are to be
# trusted enough for allowing remote lpr(1) commands.
#
# hostname




iproute2/rt_tables File

#
# reserved values
#
255 local
254 main
253 default
0 unspec
#
# local
#
#1 inr.ruhep




I'm not sure if Java is the culprit or notI've had the worst time with it. I think I was adding the symbolic link to the wrong file for my browser. As of this morning, all Java is gone. I will try more this evening.
Thanks so much for your help.