Hello Linux Geeksters. In this article I will show how to use QQ chat on Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal and Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin.
QQ is a popular instant messaging service in China. Because the Linux version has been dropped for years, some workarounds have been found. Because running the QQ Windows client with Wine may use to many some resources and be buggy the good alternatives are to use it with Pidgin or use the Java application called iQQ, developed by the QQ fans.
This guide will show you how to use iQQ easily for chatting. Let’s start.
Download the latest version of iQQ:
$ wget -c kindlepush.com/IQQ/nightly/IQQ_nightly_2013-04-27_r152.zip
For now, the latest version is IQQ_nightly_2013-04-27_r152.zip. To install use a different version, go here.
Extract the archive:
$ unzip IQQ_nightly_2013-04-27_r152.zip
To run java applications, you need to have OpenJDK or Oracle Java. See how to install Oracle Java here, and OpenJDK here.
Now let’s create a launcher for it:
$ sudo apt-get install gnome-panel --no-install-recommends
$ sudo gnome-desktop-item-edit /usr/share/applications/ --create-new
A small window will be opened. This is what you have to do:
- Select Application from the Type dropdown list
- Enter whatever name you want to have your launcher. I hava named it QQ.
- In the command field, type: java -jar ~/Downloads/IQQ-1.0-nightly.jar. Replace this with java -jar and the path of your iqq*.jar file.
- Enter a comment in the Comment field
- Click on the Icon, place in the left of the Application field and set an Icon for your Launcher
This is it. Now, when you need to launch iQQ, just double click the launcher you have just created.