MSN, ICQ, GTalk etc. on Gajim

You may not be aware of it but the open source community loves Jabber. It's the open, secure and ad-free way of instant messaging, or to put it the Jabber way, "the Linux of instant messaging".

There are IM's, like Pidgin or Kopete, that are multi-protocol including Jabber. Gajim is the opposite of these IM's; it's a Jabber client that you can also connect to other protocols.

GTalk

This is a simple workaround. Add a new account:
Edit > Accounts > New > "I already have an account I want to use"



Username: your gmail username,
Server: gmail.com
Password: your gmail password



After that edit the account you just created:
Edit > Accounts > Modify
On the Connection tab:
Select "Use SSL (legacy)" and "Use custom hostname/port",
Hostname: talk.google.com
Port: 5223




You're done.

MSN, ICQ, AIM and whatnot

This is quite a workaround. Add a new account:
Edit > Accounts > New > "I want to register for a new account"



This step depends on your choice. There are a lot of Jabber servers and the one you're looking for depends on what you are looking for. Here you can see the list of Jabber servers and their transport options. My choice is jabber.cz because it includes almost all of the protocols. Choose yourself a username and password.



Then follow this:
Actions > Discover Services > using jabber.cz account. Under "Transports" you will see a number of protocols that you can use.



Select the one you like, click on "Register" and input your username and password.



That's it.

The reason I'm using Gajim is that it's leightweight, has tabbed chat window and a couple of cool options it has. I love it and I suggest to anyone who wants something leightweight has all the options other heavyweight IM's have.