Unlike proprietary instant messaging platform, there are several client implementations of Jabber ®. We provide official support for Psi on Microsoft ® Windows ® or Linux platform. However there are several other clients if you wish to use them.
In this section we will discuss Psi exclusively. They might of might not apply to other clients. However the basic concept is the same.
To download Psi, you need to visit their homepage. Psi is available for Linux, Microsoft ® Windows ® and MacOSX. Make sure you download Psi for the right platform. To install Psi please follow the instruction that goes with the download.
After running Psi for the first time, you will be greeted by the profile menu. To run Psi for the first time, please follow the next steps:
You need to create a profile if you want to use Psi. Click on and then click . On the field, please add a descriptive name and then click .
You will be taken back to the previous menu and your just created profile should be pre-selected. Click to start Psi with the profile.
Now you will be greeted by menu. Please add a descriptive name for your Jabber ® account and then click . Make sure you don't have the checkbox unchecked.
The menu will appear. On the tab, please specify your Jabber ® ID, for example: 'joe@example.com'. There is also the field. Resource is an additional string that identifies your session. Jabber ® supports multiple open session, i.e. you can open a new session without shutting down the previous connection. To identify multiple session, you need to change the field to something more descriptive. For example, use 'Work' for the session you left at work, and 'Home' for the session you use from home. Priority is the priority of the session. The client with highest priority will receive be the one who receive all incoming events.
On the tab, please check the checkbox.
Click to continue.
If everything is fine, Psi should now be connected to the server, congratulations!
Ideally, everybody should be using the same instant messaging protocol, just like email. However, we don't live in a perfect world. There are no less than four different popular instant messaging protocol in use today, and that's not counting Jabber ®. This makes it hard for average users to communicate with all their friends. They usually end up with several instant messaging accounts and several clients running simultanously.
Jabber ® tries to alleviate this problem by introducing a feature called gateway. Gateway is a program on the server that translates events coming from and into other instant messaging networks transparently, so that a Jabber ® user can see the events as if it is a normal Jabber ® events.
In order to use this feature. A Jabber ® user will need to register first. For Psi, please follow the next steps.
Click the menu button (the lower left one), and then choose . The dialog will appear. Please give the program a little time to download the list of available services from the server.
There should be at least four services that can be used as a gateway: AIM Gateway, ICQ Gateway, MSN Gateway and Yahoo! Gateway. Each can be used to connect to the respective instant messaging network. To connect to one, right click on a gateway service, and then click register. Now carry on with the instruction on the next dialog. At least you will be asked your username and password to connect to the other network, but sometimes you will be asked more questions.
After successfully registrating with a gateway. The gateway in question will appear in your roster window. You might need to authorize it before it can function properly. Watch your roster window for this.
For most network, the gateway will then gather your existing contact list from the legacy servers. They should appear shortly after you successfully register with the gateway.
Note
You can instruct Jabber ® to connect or disconnect to a specific instant messaging network by right clicking the gateway name on your roster and then click or respectively.
Instant messaging is not useful if you have no contact on your roster. To add new contact, please do the following steps:
Click on the menu button (by default it is on the bottom left corner). Then click .
The dialog should appear. Specify the Jabber ® ID of your contact and then click .
Note
You will need to wait for his/her authorization before you will see his/her status on your Jabber ® roster
Adding contacts from a legacy network (AIM, ICQ, Yahoo!, or MSN) is very similar to adding Jabber ® contacts. The difference is that you need to translate nickname/handle convention used in legacy networks into Jabber ® convention. Conversion examples below:
For ICQ, the format is 'UIN@icq.gateway'. For example, if your UIN of your friend is '1277851', then his translated Jabber ® ID is: '1277851@icq.gateway'
For AIM, the format is 'screenname@aim.gateway'. For example, if your friend's AIM screen name is 'johndoe', then his translated Jabber ® ID is 'johndoe@aim.gateway'
For Yahoo!, the format is 'yahoousername@yahoo.gateway'. For example, if your friend's Yahoo! username is 'johndoe', then his translated Jabber ® ID is johndoe@yahoo.gateway.
For MSN, the format is 'MSNusername@msn.gateway' but substitute the '@' sign on every MSN username with '%'. For example, if your friend's MSN username is 'john@hotmail.com', then his translated Jabber ID is 'john%hotmail.com@msn.gateway'.
Important
You need to register with gateway before you can add user from the respective gateway, please see the section called “Using Gateways to Legacy Networks” for more information.
After figuring out your friend's translated Jabber ID, then you will be able to add him/her as if he/she is a normal Jabber ® user.
Note
Jabber ® doesn't support all features offered by legacy clients.