Update: The latest version of Pidgin (2.7.7) has fixed this issue. For Windows users, uninstall your current version, download and install the latest version. For Ubuntu users, add the following PPA and update your system:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pidgin-developers/ppa

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

If you are using Pidgin to connect to your MSN messenger, you will probably receive the SSL certificate error message. it’s kinda irritating and prevents you from connecting to your MSN account. Here’s the fix.

1. Go to https://omega.contacts.msn.com/

2. On the URL bar, click on the security lock (usually just in front of the URL). Click on the certificate information.

3. Go to the Detail tab and click the “Export” button. Save the file as “omega.contacts.msn.com” (without the quotes).

4. Copy and paste this file to
“/home/your-username/.purple/certificates/x509/tls_peers/omega.contacts.msn.com”. When prompted, select “Replace” to replace the existing file.

That’s it. Open your Pidgin and the SSL certificate error will be gone.

The solution to this is, of course, upload the logs to the cloud and sync it back to every computers you are using. Needless to say, Dropbox is the best for this.

Previously, we have mentioned the various uses of Dropbox and one of them is to sync your IM logs. What is not mentioned in that article is how to do it. In this article, I will show you how to get it done in Ubuntu.

Note:
1. The following steps work for Pidgin (or any other IM app) as well, as long as you are able to locate the location of the logs file.

2. This tutorial assumes that you are using Ubuntu 10.04

Let’s get started…

1. First set up Dropbox in all the computers that you are using. (You can also use Ubuntu One if all your computers are running Ubuntu)

2. From any computers, create a new folder “logs” in the Dropbox directory.

3. Open your Nautilus, press “Ctrl + H” to display hidden files.

4. Navigate to .local -> share-> Empathy. You should see a logs folder. Copy all the content of this logs folder to the Dropbox “logs” folder.

5. Delete the Empathy “logs” folder (not the one in Dropbox).

6. Open a terminal and type the following:

ln -s ~/your-dropbox-folder-location/logs ~/.local/share/Empathy/logs

This will create a symlink from the local folder to the Dropbox folder. All your current and future conversation logs will now be synced to the cloud.

Combining and accessing the conversation logs in another computer

1. In another computer, open the Nautilus and navigate to .local -> share-> Empathy (You need to press Ctrl + H to display hidden files).

2. Copy and paste all the content in the “logs” folder to the Dropbox logs folder.

Important: When prompted, select Merge files.

When prompted again, select “Skip” (instead of Replace)

3. Similarly, delete the logs folder within the Empathy directory.

4. Create a symlink to the Dropbox logs folder.

ln -s ~/your-dropbox-folder-location/logs ~/.local/share/Empathy/logs

Do this to all the computers that you want to sync your IM logs. That’s it. You should be able to access all your conversation logs no matter which computer you are in.

Note:

• To sync Pidgin logs, the logs files are located at “.purple -> logs“
• To access your Empathy conversation logs, right click at the contact and select “Previous conversations“

Let me know if this works for you, or you have any other ways to sync your IM logs.

Back to the main issue, if you are a QQ user (and also several other IM user) and wish to connect to the network using Pidgin or Adium (Mac), mainly because you hate the idea of running two or more IM cilents on your desktop, most likely you won’t be successful with the default setting.

For those who are looking for the solution, here’s the quick fix:

Adding QQ to Pidgin

In your Pidgin, go to the Accounts -> Manage Accounts section and add a new account.

Select QQ from the protocol and enter your QQ number and password.

Click on the Advanced tab. Under the Client Version, change it to QQ2008.

Next, uncheck the field “Use Tcp” (I have found that it works better without TCP).

Click Add. Depend on your location, it will take some time to connect to QQ.

Adding QQ to Adium

For Adium, first make sure you are running the latest 1.4beta version. If not, go here to download the latest beta version and install in your Mac (only for Mac 10.5.8 or later).

Open your newly installed Adium. Go to File -> Add Accounts -> QQ, enter your login information. Click on the Options tab. Enter the following information:

• Login server: 219.133.49.215
• Port: 8000
• Uncheck the TCP connection
• Select the 2008 client version.

Click Ok. It should connect to QQ now.

Let us know if this is useful for you.

Snippet is a short tip/trick or just a quick fix for a certain issue that we discover from time to time. Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed for more up to date tutorials/tips/tricks.

Other than its basic functionality, Pidgin also has a plugin system that allows its users to activate plugins to extend its functionality. Today we’re taking a look at 10 of the best plugins to power up your Pidgin.

1) Facebook Chat

The default installation of Pidgin does not support Facebook chat at the moment, but with this Facebookchat plugin, you can now see who has logged in to Facebook, chat with them, and even update your Facebook status, all within your Pidgin.

2) Send/Receive Tweets

Rather than using two clients – one for IM, another for Twitter, now you can integrate them all into one. The pidgin-microblog plugin allows you to connect to Twitter and send/receive tweets on your desktop. There is still some bugs in the plugin that caused Pidgin to crash when you try to reconnect, but when it is working fine, it is an excellent tool.

The latest version 0.1.2 is said to fix the Pidgin crashing bug. It worked fine for Windows version of Pidgin, but for Linux version, it don’t work completely (on my Ubuntu machine). Windows users should get the 0.1.2 version while Linux users please stick to version 0.1.1.

3) Set Twitter/Identi.ca update as Pidgin status

This is actually two different plugins that do the same job. The first plugin grabs your Twitter update and set it as your Pidgin status while the second grabs your Identi.ca update. This is useful if you are using Twitter/Identi.ca more often than Pidgin.

Pidgin-twitterstatus plugin

Pidgin-identica-status plugin

4) Skype on Pidgin

No, you don’t get to make phone call. What this plugin does is to import your Skype contact to your Pidgin so that you can manage all your network in one place. You can chat with your Skype contact (via instant messaging) and update your Skype status inside your Pidgin. A point to note, you still need your Skype to be running to be able to use it.

Skype4Pidgin Plugin

5) Pidgin Plugin Pack

Pidgin plugin pack is a package that contains more than 50 plugins for Pidgin. While some of them are totally useless (like tossing a dice), most of them are actually very useful. This plugin pack is highly recommended to all Pidgin users who want to power up their Pidgin usage.

Pidgin Plugins Pack (Ubuntu users can install guification via Synaptic Package Manager)

6) Guification

Guification is an extension of the Pidgin plugin pack that needs to be installed separately. It is an event notifier that pop up an unobstructive bubble when certain preset events occur (such as when your buddy log in, or leaves the conversation).

Guification (Ubuntu users can install guification via Synaptic Package Manager)

7) Send SMS

gSMS is a libpurple Pidgin plugin that sends sms to your mobile, containing list of users that sent IM to you while you were away. It makes use of Google Calendar SMS service to keep you notified. You will need a Google account in order for this plugin to work.

8) Musictracker

Music lover can now update Pidgin status with the music track currently playing in their favorite music player such as Amarok, Rhythmbox, Audacious, XMMS, MPC/MPD, Exaile, Banshee, Quod Libet, iTunes, and WinAmp.

MusicTracker (Ubuntu users can install guification via Synaptic Package Manager)

9) Theme control

This is the feature that almost every users ask for. With this plugin, you can now theme up your Pidgin and customize it to your liking. You don’t need to be an expert to design your own theme. This plugin provides an easy way to customize the color theme to your liking.

10) Checking Gmail and Yahoo Mail

This is not a plugin, but a trick that you can use in Pidgin. Even if you don’t use Google Talk or Yahoo messenger, you can still set up an account on Pidgin and get it to notify you when new mail arrives in your inbox. This will assure that my task bar is not cluttered with all the mail checking icons.

What’s your favorite Pidgin’s plugins?