As you probably know, there's an excellent GTK based IM client called Gaim. How about making a KDE/Qt version of Gaim? One that integrates well into KDE, and the various aspects of KDE. I'm not a programmer, but I hope others who are reading this are interested in doing this.
The download file I attached is a screenshot of Gaim with 'gtk-engines-gtk-qt' that makes GTK apps look like KDE apps, but as you clearly see, it still doesn't integrate well, nor looks as good as a regular KDE app.
In my opinion, Kopete really can't 'kompete' with Gaim. Gaim supports more networks, has loads of plugins like festival (speech synth that reads your incoming messages) and encryption (obvious). It's a lot more actively developed and you can expect at least one new version per month (although usually two), it's the best and most popular multi-platform IM client.
A KDE compatible version would be great for KDE (but not good for Kopete lol).
Please do create Kaim. I know over 43 KDE users who don't like kopete at all. It shouldn't be too hard, considering both KDE and Gaim are open source
Happy coding, and may the source be with you
Ratings & Comments
18 Comments
it doesn't really need porting. as of 2.0beta4, the gaim core and gui are completely separate. a c++ gui can certainly be made. hell it can even be written in python. all we need is someone with enough time and expertise to do it. maybe the developer of kopete?
Not only the difference between gtk and qt. KDE is programmed in C++ and Gaim with C. That "++" counts alot. So you can't just port Gaim. You need to rewrite and design the code. So it would be easier to fork kopete... maybe you should just learn to write code youself before referring to lazyness of developers when suggesting insane projects without doing any research(like is the porting even possible).
I am using Gaim on KDE at the moment. Dunno why it is working. Maybe i am having the needed gnome-libraries. i think there have to be more than 45 users who do not like kopete for programming kaim...
i don't think it is possible. gaim is coded in gtk, you might rewrite it to QT (which means almost writing it again i think), but unless you do, the kde integration will always remain a hack. a slow hack, that is. and always behind gaim in development. if you would spend half the time it would take to port gaim to QT/KDE on kopete, kopete kicks gaim's ass on every front :D look, its not a bad idea, but it won't work.
Don't get me wrong. I do like kopete, and I like gaim. I just like gaim better, sort of like sweet and sour pickles :) Most people just have a preference. There's nothing really wrong with kopete, just a few things not to my liking which I talked about in an earlier post (which I now can't find?) I've said before, I can't program, so it's only wishing for now :) You don't like the windows of gaim, I don't like the menus of kopete :) To each their own! shodekiagari
Speech with festival, it will be possible (the plugin exists). Encryption: the plugin exists too. Which protocols do Gaim support that Kopete doesn't support ? If you want to start a new project, feel free, but find the manpower too ... I think Kopete is much better than Gaim (much more usable, not so many ugly windows ...).
A picture says a thousand words. http://img288.echo.cx/img288/9035/snapshot151tp.png Anyway, the only good side I found with Kopete is that it's skinnable. But if Kaim is developed, it can easily be made skinnable too. Are there any developers out there reading this? If yes, please make Kaim :)
It looks like the only plugin that could be ported to kopete would be zephyr. So why not just port this to kopete instead of remaking the whole damn program? By the way, I am running kopete right now and I have extra protocol in my version that your screenshot does not show in both kopete or gaim. The protocol name is "meanwhile". Anyways, my whole point is: why not just add 1 plugin to kopete instead of wasting time and porting another program? If you want napster on other hand, there is a perfectly good copy of napster for kde (knapster) out there. But why wouldn't you just run apollon instead?
I'm sorry to be the one to say this, but why not help out the Kopete people in stead? They've already got a multi-network IM client for KDE, which blends in perfectly... They're even looking for people right now! Go join #kopete on irc.freenode.net or get directly in contact with them. It seems silly to me to be duplicating the effort, when they're so open towards new people...
(self reply, thought of something more ;) ) Thing is, you say you know 43 KDE users who don't like Kopete... Why don't people tell the Kopete developers what's wrong? Without the feedback, how are they to know how to fix the problems that it, like any other software product on the planet, obviously will have? Come on, help out your desktop! This is a community, people! :)
I can't program, and that's generally the put up or shut up response. (don't like it, fix it). But here are a few things that's wrong with kopete IMO. IRC I believe crashed my computer. AIM would disconnect, but wouldn't display an error message. The interface, bugs me (hard for me to distinguish text). This is partly due to the way I have kde configured. I like it for the desktop, not for my indivdual program. The menus in gaim are cleaner. (I hate nested submenus; ugly). There are plugins in gaim (Off the Record, song away ), that aren't supported in kopete. Nice things about kopete include that it's fast and light, it has kaddressbook syncing and it's fun to configure. It also blends with my desktop. I wish both could transfer files over the aim network though. I've tried both, several times, and I just find myself liking gaim better. I wish both projects the best of luck!
"IRC I believe crashed my computer. AIM would disconnect, but wouldn't display an error message." Those sound like bugs I remember from like two releases ago. When's the last time you used Kopete? If they're still bugs, then you should submit bug reports (that's the only way Kopete can get better). "The interface, bugs me (hard for me to distinguish text)." I don't understand this one. Are you talking about fonts? You can have different fonts for different parts of the interface, you know... "There are plugins in gaim (Off the Record, song away ), that aren't supported in kopete." Plugins can easily be written for Kopete. Try filing wishlist items in the bugzilla, and they might get implemented. It's certainly much less difficult than porting all of Gaim to a totally different toolkit. Incidentally, Kopete has a "Now Listening" plugin, if that's what you mean by "song away." "I wish both could transfer files over the aim network though." This is annoying, but it's slated to be done at some point, along with buddy icons for AIM and so on. As someone else here said, Kopete needs more developers. I doubt any project to port Gaim to KDE (which would be a *lot* of work, by the way) would get enough developers to get anywhere very fast, and most likely any issues you guys have would be more quickly dealt with if those developers fixed/added new stuff in Kopete (not to mention that some of your complaints are out of date). Your time would probably be better spent encouraging people to work on Kopete, and filing bugs/wishlists for things you think need improvement.
I totally agree with this. But making another application from scratch, just because you don't like the interface on another one seems like the only way of the opensource community. It is one of the key reasons why opensource is not as successful as it could be. This dumb reason is why projects like openbox, xine and gnome exist. Basically my point is this: why waste time remaking something from scratch when you can just improve the existing projects by much more, with a lot less effort? Take xine for example: mplayer was created earlier, has many more features, yet people choose to create xine (another media player) because they didn't like mplayer. Why couldn't they have just improved mplayer?
A version fo firefox, and gaim that fit in my kde desktop would be nice. Only two non-kde apps that I use regularly. Also, the two I use predominately... I know it would help make things run faster on my desktop. Are there any technical reasons why this couldn't be done?
No, unless you count programmer laziness lmao
I like this idea. Although Ive used gaim in the past, because its for the Gnome desktop it always feels clunky to me compared to what KDE apps feel. I would be nice to have cam and mic support in this. And you could make the contact list change in style according to which protocol your using. I use KDE all the time so a native version of gaim would be good.
http://gaim-vv.sourceforge.net/ ^Video and audio support, but it's a whole version of Gaim, not a plugin. And I'm sure anything is possible when it comes to how it'll look. I think it should also be skinnable.
I think this is a very dumb idea. Instead of wasting developer's time porting gaim, why not just improve kopete? So you need a mic support, or speech synthesis? Then it would be a lot better just to write a plugin for kopete that do these things. It would be a lot simpler. So you don't like the interface? Then write a plugin for kopete and make it look appealing to you. In my opinion, kopete interface is not perfect, but its a lot better than the gaim interface. I think it would be a lot easier/better to just add plugins to kopete to add features to it than to port whole another application to kde. If you don't understand what I mean by this, then consider this example: If you get a flat tire on your car, you don't buy a new car, instead you just change the flat tire! On other side, if you really want this idea to go through, then why not just write a plugin wrapper for kopete, so you can load various gaim protocol plugins?