Jun 16, 2009

Empathy replace Pidgin on Karmic Koala



It's been a long time since I post a useful post to my blog readers. In this post, i will try to make a post based on latest news for Karmic Koala development. There are several on going discussion regarding this issue where there are request for next release of Ubuntu(Karmic Koala -Codename) to use empathy instead of pidgin as default IM client.

Below are some links regarding the discussion:
  • http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7462614
  • http://pinstack.blogspot.com/2009/06/replace-pidgin-with-empathy-in-karmic.html
  • http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/11705/
So if anyone would interested to install empathy and use the latest version from empathy itself which currently on version 2.27.3, please follow the instruction below:
  • Edit your APT source.list and add the following line:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/telepathy/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
  • After adding the ppa link into source.list, you might need to import the key. To add the key please use command below:
sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com FA3A1271
  • Then update your source by doing sudo apt-get update.
  • To install the empathy, please type sudo apt-get install empathy
  • This will install the latest version of empathy on your machine. To enable the Adium theme to be use on empathy, you need to also apt-get install libwebkit-dev to meet the requirement. If not, the default theme will be use instead.
Try this empathy and give your opinion whether Empathy should/should not replace pidgin for the next cycle release. I'll attach my current empathy screenshot for review.

Currently running Jaunty on my laptop.


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22 comments:

  1. Not ready for prime time. Attempted to use 2 AIM accounts, 1 MSN account, and 1 Jabber (Google) acct. Of the 4 accts only the Jabber connected. This was using the 2.27.2-1ubuntu1~ppa9.04+1 version following your instructions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Has a migration plan been established? I tried empathy and liked it a lot (in Intrepid) but it was missing a few features here and there and there was no way to transfer all of my settings (user accounts, avatars, logs) to the new.

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  3. What I'd like to see in Empathy would be plugins and rich text editing. For new users I'd say it's a better choice, for experienced users, it's getting closer.

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  4. Hi,

    I've checked the repo you mention but the most recent version there is 2.27.2.

    Am I missing something? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Empathy does some very nice things, but I can't use it at all right now because some protocols (MSN and Jabber) don't appear to respect Gnome proxy settings. I use an SSH tunnel for all my IM, and for whatever reason Jabber and MSN (which is where most of my contacts are) don't use it while the others (AIM, Yahoo! and ICQ) do.

    Also, the lack of meta-contacts is not fun.

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  6. I absolutely think Telepathy/Empathy should replace Pidgin with 9.10 because this would push the development of Empathy even more. Canonical has to take the plunge like they did in the past with Warty Warthog, Hoary and so on ...

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  7. Very good!
    Where can I install that Mac theme of your windows? It's Gnome or KDE?
    Thanks

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  8. I added the ppa per your instructions in karmia koala alpha2 64bit but could not find the updated empathy 2.27.3. perhaps they do not have a 64bit version yet?

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  9. I'll admit I haven't tried the latest version of empathy quite yet, but the showstopper for me in the last version was the fact that you could not differentiate between users who were mobile and not, especially on AIM. I have several friends who use mobile AIM (paying for texts) and they get annoyed if I talk to them the same way when they're mobile as on their computer. Empathy absolutely needs a mobile icon for AIM before I can use it.

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  10. As it seems the ppa that you suggested doesn't contain the latest version of empathy. How does that come?

    Regards
    Achim

    ReplyDelete
  11. Personally, I like this. When the native environment has a good substitute for a particular OSS program, I think it should be used on default, as it makes the desktop nicely coherent.

    That said I would still like to see Pidgin available in repositories for those who like the program (myself included). But the desktop-standard programs are definitely a nice thing.

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  12. I used the version from the PPA, yet I don't see the custom status message from my contacts. Those seem to be available on older screen shots. Am I missing something?

    Also, I think Empathy needs to grow a certain plugin base before it should be considered as a decent alternative.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love potential, but I don't buy into this.

    Empathy is what Ekiga should have been. Here's my take on it:
    http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/11705/

    Search for "Empathy is a big step back in features"

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  14. Is the WebKit-enabled Empathy in the PPA? I haven't seen any updates on it for a while.

    Anyways, I feel that the tray icon should be optional, as in Pidgin. That is probably my only complain. I have nagged about many times, but it doesn't look like it will be fixed.

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  15. Is the WebKit-enabled Empathy in the PPA? Haven't seen any updates there in a while.

    Anyways, I feel that the tray icon should be optional for those who like to use FUSA or just don't want it there at all. I have nagged alot about it, but it doesn't seem like it will be fixed.

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  16. I tried doing this a couple of times and I'm getting empathy version 2.27.2-1ubuntu1~ppa9.04+1 and not the one that will allow the use of the Adium plugins? Any thoughts?

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  17. "Burit la - result kena tahan" -- what more better than a mere "wtf" :p

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  18. Yah know, it would be really awesome if when Ubuntu got something working, they DIDNT CHANGE IT. Concentrate on the stuff that is broken. Stop moving menus around, stop getting rid of things we like.

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  19. When it has proper support for the main features of MSN, at least as good support as pidgin (but preferably real file transfers and handling of routers). yes it's sad, and yes I have a jabber account. But noone uses anything but MSN both at work and as friends and they use these features heavily, sending files, offline messaging, reading statuses and so on.

    So that's my criteria, simple and clear. Then we can start working on using something better, but that's way up the road.

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  20. Any chance you could expand on the use of Adium themes. I can not seem to find any clear complete directions on it.

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  21. Great post, installed the newest empathy on my jaunty machine. One question though, how do you install adium themes? I've installed the WebKitGTK library, but I still can't figure out how to install and use a theme...

    ReplyDelete