Instant messaging for EXO

Instant messaging (IM) is a very effective tool for quick communication in a distributed collaboration. It is complementary to tools like e-mail and confluence, and is particularly useful for quick questions, like "Why doesn't this work?" or "Did you just break everything?". The easiest way for EXO to get started with instant messaging is to use Google Talk ids. Google Talk uses the XMPP protocol (previously called Jabber) which is an open XML based protocol with support from many instant messaging clients (see below).

As a quick way of letting others know your instant messaging ID if you have or sign-up for a GoogleTalk id please add it to the table below:

Getting a Google Talk ID

If you already have a gmail account then you can use this as your Google Talk id. If not (or if you want to keep your existing gmail account separate from your EXO work) then signing up for a new id is simple. First fill in the form at:

https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?service=talk

you can use any existing e-mail address to sign-up, such as your SLAC address. Once you fill in the form you will be taken to the Google Talk home page but there is no need to download the Google Talk client. Once you fill in the form you will receive an e-mail at the address you gave, which will contain a link you must click on to complete your account creation.

Don't forget to add your new account to the table above so other EXO collaborators can find you. You Google Talk id is the e-mail address you signed up with.

Recommended clients

There are many instant messaging clients and many instant messaging protocols (aim, icq, yahoo, etc). Fortunately many clients can now speak multiple protocols, and there are also bridges between different networks, so interoperability is becoming less of a problem.

I recommend using Pidgin (previously called GAIM) as an IM client. Pidgin works on Windows, MacOSX, Linux and is pre-installed on SLAC linux. Pidgin can speak many protocols including XMPP/Googletalk. If you are a MAC user you may prefer to use the built-in IChat application which is also compatible with XMPP/Googletalk.

Setting up Pidgin

On SLAC Linux Pidgin is pre-installed in /usr/bin/pidgin, so you should be able to start it simply by issuing the command:

pidgin

If you do not already have pidgin installed you can download it from:

http://www.pidgin.im/

Once you have started Pidgin you can add your GoogleTalk account by selecting Accounts, Manage from the menu, then click Add and select Google Talk as the protocol, and fill in your username (the part of your Google Talk id before the @), your domain (the part of your Google Talk id after the @) and password:

To be able to see other EXO users you must add them as "Buddies", from the main menu select Buddies, Add Buddy, then fill in the form:

Other clients

Google maintains a list of other clients including instructions for setting them up. Instructions for configuring IChat can also be found on the Google site.