Setting Up Adium

Introduction to Adium

Some of Adium's benefits as an instant messaging client include:

• Free for use on Mac OS X
• Supports Jabber (XMPP), AIM/ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, iChat, Gadu-Gadu, LiveJournal, QQ, Groupwise, and Sametime chat protocols
• Additional features include: tabbed messaging; file transfers; and Webkit Message Display (displays content in a customizable format).

Download and installation

Download the latest Adium software for your version of Mac OS X at the Adium home page. Follow the on-screen directions to install it.

Configuration

Start Adium. The icon looks like a green duck and it should be located in your Applications folder.

Note: If this is the first time you have started Adium, the Welcome to Adium window will automatically open.

1. Under the File menu, select Add Account, then Jabber.

Show how to add a new Jabber account

2. The Edit Account window will open. Enter the following information into the Account tab.

• Jabber ID: Use your NetID in the form netid@illinois.edu.
• Password: Use your Active Directory password. Note: Don't click OK yet.

Show an image of the Edit Account window's Account tab.

3. Next, click the Options tab.

4. Enter the following for each setting (some may be already be listed as defaults):

• Connect Server: chat.illinois.edu
  
• Resource: Briefly describe the IM software and computer you're working on here -- for example, "Laptop" or "Office Desk."
  
• Port: 5222
  
• Check the box next to Require SSL/TLS
• Check the box next to Do strict certificate checks.
• Presence Subscriptions: select "Ask What to Do"

Show an image of the Edit Account window's Options tab.

5. Click OK.

6. If you didn't enter your password earlier, enter your Active Directory password when prompted and click OK again.

Adding contacts

To add new University contacts to your Illinois chat contact list:

1. Make sure you are logged in to your Adium account.

2. Go to the Contact menu and select Add Contact....

Show how to reach the Add Contact option in the Adium menus

The Add Contact window will open.

3. Complete the window as follows:

• Jabber ID: Your contact's NetID (in the form "theirnetid@illinois.edu")
• (Optional) Alias: Your contact's name or nickname
• (Optional) In Group: The group you associate this person with
  
• On Accounts: yournetid@illinois.edu

Show image of the Add Contact window

Setting your account to allow logging in from multiple computers

If you have more than one computer (for example, an office desktop and a laptop or iPhone), you'll want to give each computer a different "resource name." If each computer has a different resource name, when you log in from a different computer, your instant messages will be sent to the computer or device you're actively using at the moment without kicking you out of the account you were singed into originally. This feature is further described in Illinois Chat: Logging In from More Than One Computer.

If you find that you've accidentally assigned the same resource name to more than one computer, you can edit your resource name to be different than the others by following the steps below.

1. Log out of Adium if you are currently logged in.

2. Under the Adium menu, select Preferences.

3. Select Accounts from the top menu in the window.

4. Select your Jabber account.

5. Click Edit.

Show image of the Accounts window

6. Click Options.

7. Enter your computer's resource name next to the Resource form field. Note: Be sure to give each computer a unique resource name, as descibed above.

8. Click OK. You will now be logged into the location you entered in your Resource form field. You can add more locations on different computers by following the steps above for each computer.

Show image of the Accounts window