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best Free LAN IM without needing a central server?

Asked by Sylpheed,

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Marcel T

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At work we all use iChat with Bonjour (Macs). I know some on Windows avoid Bonjour like the plague but for a OSX/Windows network, Bonjour + Miranda looks pretty workable.

I'm sure it's an easy answer for Linux, whatever it would be.

So are you talking a Windows LAN here?

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The_Decryptor Veteran

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At work we all use iChat with Bonjour (Macs). I know some on Windows avoid Bonjour like the plague but for a OSX/Windows network, Bonjour + Miranda looks pretty workable.

I'm sure it's an easy answer for Linux, whatever it would be.

So are you talking a Windows LAN here?

That's probably going to be your best bet, it doesn't need a central server and maintains the contact list by itself.

For OS X, you've got iChat (duh) and Adium, for Linux Gaim has a Bonjour implementation.

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Sylpheed

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thnks for the replies guys. we tried netsend.. but found out that everything is actually logged in your event logs. so... prefer it not to be :p

i'll try out the other stuff :) a friend of mine introduced me to borg chat, anyone tried that?

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Sylpheed

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Achat is sounds like exactly what your looking for

http://achat.sourceforge.net/

i just tried Achat, very nice interface i like it. but i can't get it to work. Me and my colls are on diff subnet mask. but can't seem to see each other. do you have to manually add every single user? or do some other setup? also, is the multicast working? it says it's experimental but i'm not sure if it's working.

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shtraue

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EZ Intranet Messenger

EZIM is a messenger for internal communication. It does not need a server to authenticate against to sign in. As long as you can get an IP address from the DHCP server (i.e. the network supports multicast), it will be able to find all other users within the same network segment and communicate with them. It is very handy to use on local area networks as it allows admins to provide a simple messenger service to the members without the need to add more servers, making life alot easier.

EZIM works on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and other operating systems which has Java Runtime Environment Version 6 or above installed.

It also contains a useful option which is to broadcast to all users as well as the standard private instant message.

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Grand Master

LUTZIFER

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I used Winpopup way back in the day, well 1998 I think, worked awesome.

Apparently it was based on what was included already with Win 95/98, but redone with more functionality.

http://www.winpopup-lan-messenger.com/

Was very simple, lightweight, and worked.

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