# ICQ desktop



## Phishfry (Feb 12, 2017)

I see many requests for video chat and wonder if anyone has tried to port ICQ? They opened up under the Apache license last year.
https://github.com/mailru/icqdesktop


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## kafka0 (Feb 12, 2017)

Is this ICQ, as in, "the trendy IM program from the mid-90s"? I thought everything had disappeared from the face of the earth many moons ago...


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## aragats (Feb 12, 2017)

They still exist, added new features. However, I wasn't impressed by their video conferencing: takes too much bandwidth. I was thinking of it as an alternative to Skype.


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## abishai (Feb 12, 2017)

I'm too worried that old skype will stop working in 2 months, but I think ICQ is not an option. If bother with new A/V messangers I'd prefer tox.
I hope electron will be ported to FreeBSD and we can run Skype Alpha natively.


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## aragats (Feb 12, 2017)

abishai said:


> I'm too worried that old skype will stop working in 2 months


I believe, in 2 weeks, not months...


> If bother with new A/V messengers I'd prefer tox.


Agree, but the problem is it's not just about communicating with your friends. Skype is used by so many people, and you cannot convince them to switch to something else, unless Skype itself will become unusable (and it's getting close to it).


> I hope electron will be ported to FreeBSD and we can run Skype Alpha natively.


I tried installing skypeforlinux alpha with emulators/linux-c7, but couldn't make it working.


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## abishai (Feb 12, 2017)

aragats said:


> I believe, in 2 weeks, not months...


True, MS said 'march', so 2 weeks. However, to say the truth, they didn't mention legacy Linux client. But it's p2p based


aragats said:


> Skype is used by so many people, and you cannot convince them to switch to something else, unless Skype itself will become unusable (and it's getting close to it).


The same applies to ICQ. It was very popular in Russia and other post-Soviet countries, but mail.ru waited for too long to release the source. So, it's 'Nice try, but....' 


aragats said:


> I tried installing skypeforlinux alpha with emulators/linux-c7, but couldn't make it working.


I use net-im/pidgin-skypeweb, but no A/V support. Maybe, it can be implemented? Pidgin itself has A/V framework and some supported protocols use it.


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## Phishfry (Feb 12, 2017)

I think one of the problems with porting Linux ICQ is webcams. FreeBSD uses a different method with webcamd. So this would mean much work.

I am not even sure ICQ Linux offers the video chat feature. The port does use Qt and Python I noticed.


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## abishai (Feb 12, 2017)

Phishfry said:


> . FreeBSD uses a different method with webcamd


Really? But isn't it the same webcamd Linux folks use?


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## aragats (Feb 12, 2017)

abishai said:


> I use net-im/pidgin-skypeweb, but no A/V support. Maybe, it can be implemented? Pidgin itself has A/V framework and some supported protocols use it.


Yes, I use it too.
Also MS provides a plugin for Chrome which turns it in a full-featured Skype application if you run:
	
	



```
chrome --app=https://web.skype.com
```
(Not sure about Linux, but it works in Windows well)


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## aragats (Feb 12, 2017)

fishfishy , ICQ's official Linux executable runs in FreeBSD with linux-c7, however, I cannot type to login, I get:
	
	



```
.....
XmbTextListToTextProperty result code -2
.....
```
Copy and paste seems to work, but still cannot login:
	
	



```
.....
QObject::connect: invalid null parameter
.....
```


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## Phishfry (Feb 12, 2017)

abishai said:


> Really? But isn't it the same webcamd Linux folks use?


I am really unsure. Once upon a time I had a webcam running under Arch but there was no webcamd.
I had assumed it was a BSD program.

How about /net-im/jitsi/?? Uses Java though.


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## fernandel (Feb 13, 2017)

I have and sometimes using net-im/uTox and it works. The sound is not so good but works. The person which I talk has Windows and for him uTox works too. Long time ago I did try net-im/jitsi but there were so many problems.


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## PacketMan (Feb 14, 2017)

I loved ICQ, but couldn't get my friends to use it because "_MSN Messenger came with the computer_".


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## Atsuri (Feb 19, 2017)

fernandel said:


> I have and sometimes using net-im/uTox and it works. The sound is not so good but works. The person which I talk has Windows and for him uTox works too. Long time ago I did try net-im/jitsi but there were so many problems.



Does net-im/jitsi not use the old googletalk protocol? I tried it once last year and even with correct Gmail credentials I was not able to connect to Google servers. I would put my money on either net-im/uTox or skypeonlinux alpha via emulators/linux-c7. uTox worked for me and my wife quite well (FreeBSD laptop talking to Windows laptop).

It's better to have at least one partially working solution than many broken ones . Also, net-im/pidgin-skypeweb requires Skype running alongside for audio/video-conferencing if I'm not mistaken entirely.


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