Documentation
From CenterIM
This page contains the CenterIM5 documentation. If you are a user upgrading from CenterIM4 then do not forget to also read the upgrade guide. If you are still sticking to CenterIM4 then you should read the CenterIM4 documentation.
Contents |
Overview
About CenterIM5
CenterIM5 is a text-mode multi-protocol instant messaging client for Linux, *BSD, Solaris and other Unices.
Supported Protocols
CenterIM5 supports many different messaging protocols due to the use of libpurple.
These protocols are supported by default by libpurple:
- AIM (AOL Instant Messenger)
- Bonjour
- Gadu-Gadu
- Groupwise
- ICQ
- IRC
- MSN/Windows Live
- MXit
- MySpaceIM
- SILC (Secure IRC)
- SIMPLE
- Sametime
- XMPP (Jabber and Google Talk)
- Yahoo
- Yahoo JAPAN
- Zephyr
Support for other protocols is provided by third-party libpurple plugins.
First Time Start
The first thing to do to start actually using the program is to set an IM account. Open the main menu using the F4 key and select the Accounts... item from the menu. This brings a window where all IM accounts are managed. Press the Add button to add a new account and then adjust the settings of the account. Finally, toggle the Account enabled option. If the account is correctly set then you should see messages about connection progress in the log window and soon after that the buddy list window should display your contacts.
You can now select a friend to start a conversation with. After composing a message, use the Ctrl-X combination to send it.
Default Key Bindings
Universal commands (Not dependent on where focus lies)
Ctrl-Q : Quit CenterIM5 Esc : Close current menu or conversation Arrow keys : Universal navigation through menus and lists Ctrl-L : Redraw screen F1 : Move navigation to the buddy list F2 : Move navigation to the active conversation F3 : Open the account status menu F4 : Open the main menu F5 : Toggle displaying of offline buddies F6 : Switch to the fullscreen mode (this requires that there is at least one opened conversation)
Buddy list
Ctrl-D : Open the context menu for a currently selected buddy list item - / + : Close / Expand tree branch Enter : Open a conversation with a currently selected buddy
Conversation
Ctrl-N : Jump to the next conversation window Ctrl-P : Jump to the previous conversation window PgUp : Scroll up through current conversation history PgDn : Scroll down through current conversation history Ctrl-X : Send a composed message
Customization
Key Bindings
Default key bindings can be changed by editing the binds.xml file which can be found in the ~/.centerim5 directory. The file has a simple structure, each bind consists of context, action and key specifications (all three parts are mandatory). After modifying the file, open the options window and press the Reload key bindings button in order to load modified key bindings. If the file cannot be parsed correctly, an error description will be added to the log window and the default key bindings will be loaded.
For example, to change a default key bind for sending messages from Ctrl-X to Enter, locate this line:
<bind context='conversation' action='send' key='Ctrl-x'/>
and modify it to:
<bind context='conversation' action='send' key='Enter'/>
Color Schemes
Default color schemes can be changed by editing the colorschemes.xml file which can be usually found in the ~/.centerim5 directory. The file contains a list of named schemes which comprise of color definitions. Each color definition consists of widget, property, foreground, background and attributes specifications (the first two parts are mandatory, others are optional).
For example, to change a default label color for active conversations from magenta to yellow, locate this scheme:
<scheme name='conversation-active'> <color widget='label' property='text' foreground='magenta'/> </scheme>
and modify it to:
<scheme name='conversation-active'> <color widget='label' property='text' foreground='yellow'/> </scheme>
CenterIM5 recognizes the following symbolic color names: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white and default, and these attributes: standout, reverse, blink, dim, bold. You can combine two or more attributes using the pipe symbol (|).
