Yahoo messenger?

[torrow]

Has anyone got it working on Linux with a webcam?

[thaimite]

Yahooo. Mesdenger never played nice with Linux. I gave uo that fight (and Yahoo) yrars ago

[jmd8800]

You might want to look into using Empathy or Pidgin messengers. Video / Voice messengers on Linux have been around for a while and are quite mature. If you have a lingering few contacts that you cannot sway to move on from Yahoo... try on of these.

You likely find a good instructions page by googling your Linux distribution (include version) and a messenger app that will connect with Yahoo protocol.

I have one Yahoo contact I chat with. Text only.

[torrow]

Thanks. Pidgin works fine with text only, I just can't get to work with a webcam

[thaimite]

My experiences rca3vtly and that was about 3 years ago.various programs claimed to work but none did.

I ended up putting messenger in a VM (it would not work with wine) before getting rid of Yahoo altogether

[Gumballl]

Thanks. Pidgin works fine with text only, I just can't get to work with a webcam

Is your webcam working with other apps (e.g. Skype and/or cheese)?

Edited July 28, 2015 by Gumballl

[torrow]

Thanks. Pidgin works fine with text only, I just can't get to work with a webcam

Is your webcam working with other apps (e.g. Skype and/or cheese)?

Yes, Skype is fine.

[jmd8800]

You are going to have to look for a substitute application that uses the Yahoo IM protocol. The last Yahoo Messenger stable release for Linux was 11 years ago in September of 2003.

[Gumballl]

You are going to have to look for a substitute application that uses the Yahoo IM protocol. The last Yahoo Messenger stable release for Linux was 11 years ago in September of 2003.

I agree; I use Kopete (under Kubuntu). My web-cam works fine.

I'm a little perplexed as to why Pidgin is not working for the OP. It would be helpful to know some additional info... for example, which Linux distro is the OP using, which version of Pidgin, etc.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Gumballl

[torrow]

You are going to have to look for a substitute application that uses the Yahoo IM protocol. The last Yahoo Messenger stable release for Linux was 11 years ago in September of 2003.

I agree; I use Kopete (under Kubuntu). My web-cam works fine.

I'm a little perplexed as to why Pidgin is not working for the OP. It would be helpful to know some additional info... for example, which Linux distro is the OP using, which version of Pidgin, etc.

I'm using mint 17.2 and pidgin 1.2. There is a button to make a video call but it's always greyed out, even during a chat. Skype on the other hand is perfect and needed nothing changed - it all just worked. In Skype I can go into the setttings and actually see the cam working

[jmd8800]

Your version is way out of date. I am using 2.10.09 and the last stable version is 2.10.11. This may vary by distribution as there are other dependencies on certain libraries. i.e. you will not always have the latest version.. you will have the version appropiate for your distribution.

I'm not too familiar with Mint but I'm sure you can find a way in your package management system to find the latest possible pidign version.

According to Wikipedia page for Pidgin: As of version 2.6 (released on August 18, 2009), Pidgin supports voice/video calls using Farstream.^[14] As of July 2015, calls can only be initiated through the XMPP protocol.^[15]

I found this for Mint: http://linuxmaniaonline.blogspot.com/2014/06/things-to-do-after-installation-of-Linux-Mint-17.html

You may need to 'purge' the old version of Pidgin first. But be sure to use your package management system to keep other dependencies intact.

[jmd8800]

Your version is way out of date. I am using 2.10.09 and the last stable version is 2.10.11. This may vary by distribution as there are other dependencies on certain libraries. i.e. you will not always have the latest version.. you will have the version appropiate for your distribution.

I'm not too familiar with Mint but I'm sure you can find a way in your package management system to find the latest possible pidign version.

According to Wikipedia page for Pidgin: As of version 2.6 (released on August 18, 2009), Pidgin supports voice/video calls using Farstream.^[14] As of July 2015, calls can only be initiated through the XMPP protocol.^[15]

I found this for Mint: http://linuxmaniaonline.blogspot.com/2014/06/things-to-do-after-installation-of-Linux-Mint-17.html

You may need to 'purge' the old version of Pidgin first. But be sure to use your package management system to keep other dependencies intact.

[torrow]

Thanks for the replies. There is no newer version in the software manager, the only way to update it I can see is with app-get through ppa. Maybe that will cause more plroblems.

Before I do all this, is anyone actually using a webcam on Yahoo now?

[torrow]

You are going to have to look for a substitute application that uses the Yahoo IM protocol. The last Yahoo Messenger stable release for Linux was 11 years ago in September of 2003.

I agree; I use Kopete (under Kubuntu). My web-cam works fine.

I'm a little perplexed as to why Pidgin is not working for the OP. It would be helpful to know some additional info... for example, which Linux distro is the OP using, which version of Pidgin, etc.

Are you making video calls or using a webcam with yahoo?

[jmd8800]

Thanks for the replies. There is no newer version in the software manager, the only way to update it I can see is with app-get through ppa. Maybe that will cause more plroblems.

Before I do all this, is anyone actually using a webcam on Yahoo now?

In this case I would think the ppa is fine. I am not certain, but I don't think third party ppas can break the core package management system. I believe it will error instead of break something. Having said that you are right to question that. Nothing worse than a few hours to repair a sytem. I took a reccomendation on third party drivers from nvidia once and it made the system unusable.

Mint is Ubuntu based. I am using Ubuntu 14.04LTS with pidgin. However I do not have a webcam attached to the computer.

I have a Chromebook that I installed Elementary OS on and I will see if the webcam works with pidgin in E OS later.

[jmd8800]

I fired up the chromebook and using the E OS software center (not command line apt-get) I installed pidign. The version is 2.10.9 straight out of the box.

What I found was that I had to enable video/audio. I did this by going to Tools--> Plugins and scrolling down to the bottom and enabling the video plugin.

Then I went back to Tools and scrolled down to the bottom and there is an option for Video configuration. I chose Video4Linux option and I was given an HD Webcam choice. The test option gave me no device to choose.

If you get this far you'll have to play with the settings. For output I'd guess start with X Window setting. I had no way to test this.

[Gumballl]

Mint is a Kubuntu wannabe. I found Mint to be behind the curve with respect to software releases, and the (public forum) support to be wanting.

Needless to say, I'm happy I switched to Kubuntu 14.04 LTS for my laptop. The built-in webcam works fine with Skype, Cheese, and... Pidgin.

[torrow]

Mint is a Kubuntu wannabe. I found Mint to be behind the curve with respect to software releases, and the (public forum) support to be wanting.

Needless to say, I'm happy I switched to Kubuntu 14.04 LTS for my laptop. The built-in webcam works fine with Skype, Cheese, and... Pidgin.

You may be right, I haven't tried another distro lately. All I know is, Mint 17.2 was the first Linux install I've had that worked 100% straight out of the box and so far, I can't fault it. Likewise, Skype is perfect too; it just worked, I didn't have to configure anything... the webcam was there. It's only Yahoo messenger which is causing grief but it's not a deal breaker.

Some would say, why persevere which Yahoo? Skype will fail with a poor connection whist YM will still hold up a video chat and for that reason, I have a few contacts who can't move to Skype.

Once YM ruled the world; I really don't figure Yahoo out, they've just let it go. Even the Andorid app sucks and basically doesn't work.

I'm still waiting for someone to say they are actually making video calls to people who only have Yahoo messenger.

[Gumballl]

As indicated in a previous post, pretty much nobody has used YM since 2003... simply because nobody is supporting its development anymore. It also appears that it was originally only supported under RH and Debian Linux distros... not Mint, not Ubuntu (or any variances), etc.

Read here for more information.

My advice is to move on, and use Pidgin and/or Skype.

[jmd8800]

While its always fun to get and give help to/from others the OP really should at this point go to the Mint forums as no one here seems to have the simple answers.

http://forums.linuxmint.com/

No doubt you'll find an answer there.

There maybe a few exceptions that I am unaware of, but I think every distro has it's own forum. Remember Linux was built on collaboration. Forums are in the DNA.

Edited August 3, 2015 by jmd8800

[torrow]

While its always fun to get and give help to/from others the OP really should at this point go to the Mint forums as no one here seems to have the simple answers.

http://forums.linuxmint.com/

No doubt you'll find an answer there.

There maybe a few exceptions that I am unaware of, but I think every distro has it's own forum. Remember Linux was built on collaboration. Forums are in the DNA.

One would asume so but sadly the response there was.. let's just say, very dissapointing.

At this point, I've settled for using Yahoo Messenger on my phone. It works, but not without problems - but that's another story.

Thanks for all the replies anyway.