Chat on Linux

Licq is a clone of ICQ, the popular instant-messaging application used in
Windows, for Linux. It has the same look and feel as its Windows counterpart.
Apart from text messages, you can use Licq to exchange files and URLs and search
the ICQ white pages. While Licq doesn’t have some popular features like SMS
(short messaging service), you will find its existing feature set useful. Though
Licq has a graphical user interface, you have to key in certain commands to
install it. In this article, we’ll see how to set it up.

Pre-installation configuration

The graphical user interface for Licq is provided by Qt, a graphical library
for Linux. A set of these latest libraries is given in this month’s CD. Before
you install these, however, you have to completely remove any old libraries. For
this, login as root and check for the RPMs of the old Qt libraries by issuing:

rpm -qa | grep qt

If it displayes lines as

qt-2.1.0-4.beta1

qt-devel-2.1.0-4.beta1

then remove these Qt libraries as

rpm -e qt-2.1.0-4.beta1 –nodeps

rpm -e qt-devel-2.1.0-4.beta1

Also remove the directory /usr/lib/qt-2.1.0 as

rm -r /usr/lib/qt-2.1.0 –force

Now mount this month’s CD and change to the directory /mnt/cdrom/linux/kde2
and install Qt-2.2 and libmng libraries as Qt requires them. The commands to get
this done are as follows:

mount /mnt/cdrom

cd /mnt/cdrom/cdrom/linux/kde2

rpm -ivh libmng-0.9.2-1.i386.rpm

rpm -ivh qt-2.2.1-1.6x.i386.rpm

rpm -ivh qt-devel-2.2.1-1.6x.i386.rpm

Install Licq

What we have given on the CD is the source files for Licq. You need to
compile them to get Licq working. Change to the directory /cdrom/linux/Licq and
copy the file licq-1.0.2.tar.gz to /root directory. You then need to untar and
decompress this file. Issue the following commands.

cd /mnt/cdrom/cdrom/linux/Licq

cp licq-1.0.2.tar.gz /root

cd /root

tar -zxvf licq-1.0.2.tar.gz

This will create a directory licq-1.0.2 in /root directory. Change to this
directory (cd /root/licq-1.0.2) and type the following commands.

./configure

make

make install

Though Licq is now installed, the GUI front end isn’t there. The Licq
distribution comes with a console (text based) as well as a GUI front-end based
on Qt. We will now install the Qt-based GUI front-end for Licq.

GUI for Licq

Change to the directory /root/licq-1.0.2/plugins/qt-gui-1.0.2 and issue the
following.

./configure –with-qt=/usr/lib/qt-2.2.1/

make

make install

Now start X window using startx command. The Licq executable is located in /usr/local/bin.
So fire up a console window and issue the following command in it.

/usr/local/bin/licq

This will start Licq and the remaining setup will be GUI based. Licq will
present a wizard for registering a new or existing user. To give a nice look and
feel to the Licq window, click on the System menu and select Skin Browser. From
the list of skins select one like ‘bheart’. You can download more skins from
www.licq. com. You’ll also find some plug-ins and utilities to import your
Windows ICQ contact lists to Licq on this Website.

Shekhar Govindarajan

The Indian scenario

There are many who would like to believe
that Open Source software is ideally suited for a resource-challenged country like India.
Those who do so, miss the point that lies at the core of the Open Source movement. The
success of Open Source software has very little to do with the fact that it’s mostly
(though not always) without cost. While many Open Source users are attracted to it because
it’s free, almost always, they stay with it for a much better reason—Open Source
products are also better. A quick look at the list of Indian corporates who’ve
embraced Open Source solutions will drive home a pertinent point—not one of them is
on the list because they couldn’t afford a commercial solution. Free beer gone flat
never attracted anyone.

As one regular poster to the Linux-India
mailing list said: "To believe that cost is an issue with Open Source, is to
misunderstand the etymological roots of the word "Free". Indians are Free, but
Indians are not cheap". He wasn’t just waving the tricolor. He was talking
reason—pure, sound, technical reason. That he was economically right too, was
incidental.

The success of the Open Source development
model derives from the opportunities provided by the Internet. It’s commonly
acknowledged that cheap (free) Internet access in American (not to forget Finnish)
universities was the fuel that drove the movement. The corollary to this is also sadly,
true—since the bulk of Indian universities took an inordinately long time to get
connected, the list of native Indian Open Source products while growing, still remains
miniscule. What little (but commendable) development that exists here is initiated by
commercial firms porting popular Indian applications to Linux (Tally is a superb example).
The message is clear—as you sow Internet access, so shall you reap Open Source.

It’s time to reverse the trend now.
And fast. Several institutions and universities, notably the IIIT (Hyderabad), as well as
small universities like the Goa University are setting up infrastructure and facilities
for students to jumpstart local Open Source development. Short-term training
programs—like the recent ones on the Linux kernel at the IIIT and on Open source for
corporates at Goa University—are first lunges in clawing our way back into the race.
The list of speakers and resource persons at these two programs reads like a who’s
who of Indian Open Source gurus. The Advanced Center for Informatics (ACI), set up at Goa
University with generous support from the National Informatics Center (NIC) of the
Government of India, aims to promote development, and disseminate support and training for
Open Source products in India. With a firm and steady eye on the economic opportunities
presented by Open Source, the ACI even plans to set up an Open Source incubator for
student projects to help them raise venture capital. It always helps to have a bank next
to a lab.