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Tuesday 30 March 2010

Linux Applications: Part 4 - Internet

Having switched to Linux a while ago, I finally have settled on a variety of Internet applications that do what I want. I listed a variety of web browsers in a previous post, so this time I will look at other Internet clients.

I have been on-line for many years, so this list includes some applications for systems you may never have heard of, but you may want to try anyway and impress friends and family with your 'old school' credentials.

IRC Client - XChat
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was the online chat system of choice in the days before Internet messaging apps such as ICQ, AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. There are a number of IRC clients available for Linux, but I have settled on the fully featured XChat, which is also available for Windows.

Usenet client - Pan

Usenet resembles a Bulletin Board System (BBS) or a web forum. It enables you to access a number of newsgroups either provided by your ISP or available on an open server. I still check newsgroups occasionally, so I needed a decent application to do so. I chose Pan, because it had all the features I needed including support for binaries.


Voice over IP client - Skype
This popular VoIP/messenger/videoconferencing client is also available for a number of Linux distributions. While it is not as fully-featured as the Windows version, it still does all that I need.

8 comments:

Gaming Mouse said...

I have been wanting to try out Linux for sometime, maybe it's time I tried it. Thanks for the tips.

Anwar Osman said...

Hello,
I Like your simple explanation about the instant messaging clients in linux. Would you like to try out a multi-client IM in linux also? Look up for Emphaty IM. I tried emphaty in Ubuntu 9.10. Check out my blog on how to install one.

I want to try pidgin in linux soon. I wish you all the best. Happy blogging.

Borkiman said...

GM: My pleasure. Good luck with Linux.

AO: I don't use IM that much, but I have installed Pidgin and that does all that I need.

Indelible Bonobo said...

I tried both pidgin and empathy. I multi boot with windows and there's no empathy equivalent. With Pidgin, however, I can set up a common share so that I can continue conversations where I left off on the same log & settings. Empathy is a solution to problem that only exists in developers' minds.

Borkiman said...

InBo: Thanks for the comment. Have you heard of Meebo? It is a web-based IM system.

rachael ray diet said...

good work Would you like to try out a multi-client IM in linux also? Look up for Emphaty IM.

http://www.oracledba.in said...

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Borkiman said...

Thanks for the comments