Use Pidgin (formerly called Gaim) to use all of your instant messaging accounts from a single instant messaging client. Pidgin supports all of the most popular instant messaging protocols, so you can log in to all of your accounts at once and chat live with your contacts in one tabbed interface, regardless of which IM system they use.

With Pidgin, you can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. Pidgin also supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer, away messages, and typing notification.

This chapter explains the Pidgin options you need to know about to set up Pidgin and communicate with your contacts. It does not explain all of Pidgin features and options. For more information, open Pidgin, then click Help+Online Help or press F1.