Pidgin 2.6.1 is released. Pidgin is the default IM Client for Ubuntu for a pretty long time now. And Pidgin went through a number of upgrades. But this time it is different. Pidgin brings in the much awaited Voice and Video support for XMPP and are hoping to get these killer features to other protocols as well.

In layman's terms, what it means is that now you can use voice chat and video chat in gmail. Though it seems latest pidgin is still a lil buggy. Voice and Video chat may not work as smoothly as it should possibly due to some dependecy issue. But really, hats off to to those who are behind this exponential improvement of our beloved Pidgin.

Feature List

• Video and Voice chat support for XMPP.

• Service discovery browser plugin.

• Idle time reporting.

• Attention ("buzzing") support.

• In-band bytestreams file transfer as a last-resort transfer method.

• Updated support for buddy icons.

• Full changelog here

Now let's see how upgradation (or installation) to Pidgin 2.6.1 can be done. You will have to add GPG key and new repo before you start with upgradation.

Adding GPG Key

• Simply Copy-Paste the following in terminal. 

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys A1F196A8

• Done

Adding New PPA Repo

• Now Goto System > Administration > Software Sources and select Third-Party Software tab and click ADD. And Simply Copy-Paste the following Repo(depending on the version of Ubuntu you use)

For Ubuntu Jaunty

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main 
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main 

For Ubuntu Intrepid 

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main 
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main 

For Ubuntu Hardy 

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu hardy main 
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu hardy main 

• Afterwards close the window and Reload when prompted to.

• Done
  

Upgrading Existing Pidgin to Pidgin 2.6.1

• Simply do the following in Terminal. 

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

• Done! You have the latest Pidgin 2.6.1 in your Ubuntu.

Installing Pidgin 2.6.1

• Again, do the following in Terminal.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pidgin

• Done and Pidgin 2.6.1 is ready to go.