Install Pidgin Instant Messanger in Ubuntu

Sponsored Link
Pidgin is a graphical IM program that lets you sign on to AIM, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo!, and other IM networks. It uses GTK+. It was formerly called Gaim.

Install Pidgin in Ubuntu

Download pidgin beta using the following command or from here

wget http://vicox.net/ubuntu/pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb

Install the .deb package using the following command

sudo dpkg -i pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb

This will install all the required packages for pidgin.

If you want to open pidgin go to Applications—>Internet—>Pidgin Instant Messanger

Once it opens you should see similar to the following screen here you need to click on add

Now you need to add your username and password and click on save

Once you loggedin you should see similar to following screen

Pidgin Supported Protocols list

Pidgin Version Details

Sponsored Link

You may also like...

41 Responses

  1. molgar says:

    Lame name, but cool facelift for the client.

    Too bad I can’t use it in Feisty. Removing Gaim also removes ubuntu-desktop, because of this annoying bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-meta/+bug/90803

    Installing ubuntu-desktop after installing Pidgin works, but then I have a nice broken package 🙂

  2. bravemosquito says:

    Molgar, you can repair the broken package very easy. Just find ‘nautilus-sendto’ in Synaptic, mark it for ‘Removal’ (not complete). Apply, then install it again, after that install ‘gaim’ again, after GAIM ‘ubuntu-desktop’ and you have no more troubles…

  3. bravemosquito says:

    One correction – after doing desctribed steps you must REINSTALL the following packages:

    gdm (2.18.1-0ubuntu1)
    gnome-bin (1.4.2-35)
    gnome-core (1:2.14.3.3ubuntu1)
    gnome-desktop-environment (1:2.14.3.3ubuntu1)
    gnome-libs-data (1.4.2-35)

    if you want to load into GNOME

  4. Just a visitor for the deb says:

    sudo dpkg -i –force-overwrite –force-bad-verify –force-conflicts –force-overwrite-dir pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb

    This will do the trick. After installing Pidgin with this, GAIM even still works.

  5. Izzat says:

    Guys,
    Just installed it. But how can I remove it? Because it’s making something not working at the moment. For example,tried to install the new linux kernel,but it won’t work.

  6. baha says:

    Hi, am looking for a someone to hold my hand while I get use to using ubuntu. I never was a power user on XP , just a internet surfer and downloader but I got tired of always having to reinstall windows every 6 months after I would install something that would break it or just how it would seem to get so cluttered after time.

    I tried using the ubuntu forums but I have a hard time searching through the other threads to see if my question was already asked or if I found a question similar to mines it doesn’t work. I am sorry I still look at stuff with my widows glasses thats why am asking for help, so I can do stuff the right way and in return when I get better using ubuntu I can return the favour and help someone out when its my turn.

    I am not sure whether am going to post this around on this site til I get a few takers so please forgive me if you see this anywhere else.

    my email is bahamiandude1(at)gmail(dot)com

    and no I didn’t get Pidgin installed properly I just got this error

    sudo dpkg -i pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb
    dpkg: error processing pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb (–install):
    cannot access archive: No such file or directory

    after i did as bravemosquito suggested (‘nautilus-sendto’ in Synaptic, mark it for ‘Removal’ (not complete).

  7. Arthur says:

    Hey baha.

    You have the command right, you just have to navigate to the directory where you saved the package with the “cd” command. If you saved it on the desktop it will look something like this..

    “cd /home//Desktop/”

    another easy way of installing a package is just to double click on it.

    Just a fair warning though.. in order to install pidgin, the previous version of gaim needs to be uninstalled. to uninstall gaim you have to uninstall the ubuntu-desktop package… I’m not sure if this is advisable or not. you can try it though.

    to uninstall gaim execute this..

    “apt-get remove gaim”

    then you can install pidgin.

  8. Dexter says:

    The message board turns two hyphens into a long dash

    sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite --force-bad-verify --force-conflicts --force-overwrite-dir pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb

    that it what he meant.

    It installs this way, but I still don't get the shortcut in the menu.

  9. Stefan Tittel says:

    Can the author of this binary package maybe provide us with the source package?

    This way we could check that nothing harmful is in it, compile it for other architectures (I am using amd64 for example), compile it for older version of Ubuntu and last not least improve it, if necessary. Thanks!

  10. will says:

    Stefan Tittel,

    The only way to ensure that is to compile the source by yourself. It is available at, you guessed it, http://www.pidgin.im/

    Best Regards

  11. williamts99 says:

    Just to let you know, you can also get it from http://www.getdeb.net which has the 32 and 64 bit versions of Pidgin for Feisty. They also have a bunch of other very nice programs/upgrades that you can check out there.

    http://www.getdeb.net/app.php?name=Pidgin

  12. naralas says:

    (Reading database … 133522 files and directories currently installed.)
    Unpacking pidgin (from pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb) …
    dpkg: error processing pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb (–install):
    trying to overwrite `/usr/share/dbus-1/services/gaim.service’, which is also in package gaim
    dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
    Errors were encountered while processing:
    pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb

  13. Deryck says:

    I got the same problem as Naralas. Any ideas??

  14. molgar says:

    Try this one instead: http://www.getdeb.net/app.php?name=Pidgin

    Or wait a week or two, so that Pidgin hits the official repos.

  15. hudwa says:

    Did all of this and now i have a broken package which cannot be fixed through apt-get -f install. Pidgin is buggy and won’t work. Cannot remove Pidgin or install Gaim because of the broken package issue. What do I do? Feisty reinstall looks likely…

  16. jared says:

    @hudwa

    to fix do this.

    sudo dpkg –remove pidgin
    sudo apt-get -f install
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get upgrade

    voila!

  17. hudwa says:

    Thank you! All better, but my initial reason for trying to install Pidgin now remains, Gaim won’t open! I try to open it from Applications or terminal and the “Starting Gaim Instant Messenger” button appears, remains for about 15 seconds then disappears and I have no Gaim. I tried reinstalling from Synaptic, but no good. Any ideas?

  18. jared says:

    have you tried this?

    sudo apt-get -f install gaim ?

  19. Haleq says:

    Hi
    I have successfully install Pidgin on Feisty, however there is no sound, as there used to be in Gaim. I still have Gaim installed. Any ideas?

  20. Allan Lewis says:

    Does anyone know where I can get a deb of Pidgin 2.0.0 (final) for Edgy?

  21. Chris M. says:

    @Haleq:

    I hit the same snag. I installed a package called “bplay” (just used Synaptic). In the Pidgin preferences panel, on the Sound tab, set the Sound Method as “Command” and Command as “bplay %s” (without the quotes of course). This worked for me without any further configuration on my part (using Xubuntu 6.10 Desktop i386 on a Gateway 4520GZ laptop).

    I don’t know if there’s a program already installed that will do this (I’m not a patient person – I just searched in Synaptic and found this).

    Thanks for the tutorial from a Linux enthusiast who’s not that Debian literate (Gentoo mainly).

    Hi
    I have successfully install Pidgin on Feisty, however there is no sound, as there used to be in Gaim. I still have Gaim installed. Any ideas?

    Hope this helps…

    Peace,
    Chris

  22. choman says:

    Wouldn’t it be nice if the ubuntu repository was updated so the next apt-get update; apt-get upgrade I performed migrated me to pidgin, or at least was add as an alternative IM

  23. filter says:

    For a more recent – an not beta – version of pidgin check this polish ubuntu repository.

    filters 2 cents

  24. filter says:

    Oops – here is the missed link to the polish ubuntu repository ->

    http://download.ubuntu.pl/_Feisty_Fawn/pidgin/

  25. Neil says:

    I used dexters line:

    with the new package found at the site Filter posted:
    http://download.ubuntu.pl/_Feisty_Fawn/pidgin/
    And although there were a LOT of warning when dpkgin, it works =)

  26. Naralas & Deryck:

    You need to remove the package “gaim” before you can install Pidgin. This is because Pidgin overwrites some of the gaim directories, easiest way is to just remove it via Synaptic. Removing gaim will also remove nautilus-sendto and ubuntu-desktop keep in mind, however these are just gaim plugins anyway.

  27. Just to report that I installed Pidgin from the first link (http://vicox.net/ubuntu/pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb) on Ubuntu Edgy and it worked without *any* hassle. I used Synaptic to uninstall gaim which prompted for removal of nautilus-sendto and ubuntu-desktop. I left the gaim-data package intact. Next, I installed Pidgin from the deb file. It appeared under the Internet menu and when I started it, it also picked up all the accounts that I had configured in Gaim. All this in under 10 minutes.

  28. jin says:

    i needed to use: sudo dpkg -i –force-overwrite –force-bad-verify –force-conflicts –force-overwrite-dir pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb

    it looks like it was successful, but now how do i actually launch pidgin? i don’t see it in any menus?

  29. cheryl says:

    you can press CTRL + F2 and type pidgin

    or

    open a terminal and type pidgin&

  30. cheryl says:

    oops! ALT + F2 not CTRL+F2

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *