What do you use? In mandrake i have Kopete & Gaim. Which is better? Are there other ones that are better than the included ones?

I need something that can use AIM & MSN. i also use file transfer, voice chat & web cam ocasionaly. is that stuff included with any of these programs?

I like to use gaim. It looks like the Aim client for windows, so you can find your way around. It also works with MSN, Gadu-Gadu, Jabber, IRC, the works. I also sometimes use naim, a command-line based client. It has aMSN as a counterpart.

imho kopete is better than gaim, but thats just cause I dont like the look of gtk.. (; On the feature side there aint much of a difference, tho there are some nice plugins with gaim..

Sofar I havnt come across a client for linux that could handle voice / video.. For voice I can recomend you to GnomeMeeting and Skype.. Skype also has a linux client, not open source, but it works.. But then again it cant handle any other im protocols than its own, but the voice is great..

Video.. Well, Im sure that can be arranged, but not something ive ventured into..

Filetransfers are a snap, most clients handle then very well.. The only prob ive had is the large portrange msn is acustomed to.. Can be a bitch with a firewall if you dont know what youre doing..

I use naim (ncurses aim), and nirc (ncurses irc). Console based. They won't do webcam or file transfer, as far as I know.

However, using these means I can get an AIM client anywhere I can get an ssh connection. I connect to my 24/7 server at home which has naim on it.

I'm not aware of any chat client for Linux that will do video, but maybe I'm underinformed.

Good luck.

-J

I use GAIM, but I think Kopete is quite good as well. for irc, I prefer xchat or konversation.