[HOWTO] - Use MSN, Yahoo!, or ICQ in iChat (Tiger only)

[WinWord10]

Through Jabber, which is supported under iChat 3.0, it is possible to login to many popular chat protocols that iChat did not traditionally support. Jabber supports accessing chat networks, such as MSN, Yahoo!, and ICQ, through entities called "gateways." iChat does not directly support gateways, however you can create gateways using another Jabber client. Once the gateways are setup in another program (for example, psi), you can login to your Jabber account through iChat 3 and be able to chat with your MSN/ICQ/Yahoo contacts.

You should have at least a basic understanding of the Jabber protocol before attempting this.

Follow these steps.

1. Download a third-party Jabber client. (psi is a good choice)

2. Open Psi and register for a Jabber account. This can be done directly from Psi. Enter the username (example: yourname@2entwine.net - 2entwine.net is a jabber server) and password you want. Then press the "save" button. After registering, go to the status menu and choose "online" from the list.

3. Go to the General menu and choose "Service Discovery." This will probe your Jabber server for available gateways. Click on browse at the top of the window to get a list of available protocols.

4. Find the protocol you want to add in the list, control-click on it, and choose register. If you do not see the protocol you want (i.e. if MSN or Yahoo isn't there), then you will need to find another Jabber server that supports it. 2entwine.net supports MSN, Yahoo, AIM, and ICQ. I would recommend that you use it.

5. Save your registration information and quit Psi. Then open iChat and add your Jabber account in iChat's preferences. Be careful that you've chosen the correct port under server settings (iChat uses 5223 for Jabber by default, but, for example, 2entwine uses port 5222).

And that's all. Your non-AIM contacts will appear in iChat.

The following technologies are not yet supported in Jabber:

File transfers
Audio/Video Chat (or iChat AV)
MSN, Yahoo, and ICQ profiles

Essentially, you will only be able to text-chat.

[texanpenguin]

Thanks for letting us in on this!

One question, though; does this method allow me to use iChat's video to chat to video-enabled MSN or Yahoo! buddies?

[Zammy-Sam]

IIrc jabber doesn't support video or audio chat. Based on this it shouldn't be possible for ichatav as well (aside the video/audio chat between ichatav and aim clients).

[Convert]

Now I REALLY want Tiger...

I only have enough money if I was eligible for the student discount, but I'm 17

I'll get it soon.

[CATWEB]

Can I uninstall PSI after performing the steps you mentioned before?

[WinWord10]

Yes. You can continue to use your non-AIM accounts in iChat without Psi installed.

[steven_lufc]

Thanks for this. I read this hint elsewhere and could not get it to work. It didn't mention changing the port to 5222. I did that and now it works great

[JettaZoom]

BTW, file transfers between iChat and PSI DO WORK! (But probably not with gateway services)