FAQ

How do I send an IM?
How do I add someone to my buddy list?

To simply send an IM to someone who is not in your buddy list, just type `/msg
buddyname hello there'. However, if you would like to engage in a conversation
with someone, you should first add them to your buddy list and create a "window"
for them. Just type `/addbuddy buddyname' or `/addbuddy "buddy name"' to add
them to your list. If they are online, a window will be created automatically
for them. If they are not online, you can type `/open buddyname' to open a
window for them manually.

Once a window has been opened for a buddy, you can use the Tab, Home, and End
keys to cycle through your list of windows to find them, or type `/jump
buddyname' to go directly to their window. Once you are in their window,
anything you type that doesn't start with a "/" will be IM'd to them. If the
buddy is not online when you type your message, the message will be saved and
sent the next time your buddy signs on.



===NAVIGATION

Can I make the userlist and/or status messages "sticky"?
How do I get the buddy list to not disapear?

The window list window and the status window both default to "autohide" mode:
Whenever either one of them changes, they will appear on the screen for
$autohide seconds, then disappear again. However, if you would like to make the
window list window stay visible permanently, you can use F4 or Ctrl-F to cycle
between autohide, always hidden, and always visible modes. There is also a
/winlist command which will allow you to specify a setting to use in your
.naimrc file.


Are there any short cuts to help make talking to multiple people easier?

naim separates each conversation into a different window, which you can cycle
through using Tab, Home, End, and the /jump command. Your windows will be listed
in the window list window in the upper-right corner of your screen, which is
usually hidden when you're talking to someone. However, if you are in buddyA's
window, and buddyC sends you a message, the window list window will unhide
itself, buddyC's name will appear in yellow, and the []'s around his name will
turn into ()'s. This means buddyC's window has changed since the last time you
have seen it. In order to make chatting with multiple buddies easier, the /jump
command will take you to the next "yellow" buddy if no name is provided.
Therefore, if you send a message to buddyA and are waiting for a response, and
buddyC sends you an IM in the meantime, you can just type `/jump' to take you
directly to buddyC's window. If buddyA sends you a message while you are then
talking to buddyC, typing `/jump' again will take you back to buddyA's window.

The keys F8 and Ctrl-N do the same thing as typing `/jump' with no arguments, to
make chatting even easier.


How can I jump to the beginning of the line when running naim in screen?

Under normal convention, Ctrl-A jumps to the beginning of the input line and
Ctrl-E jumps to the end. GNU Screen uses the Ctrl-A key for detaching, switching
windows, etc.  To jump to the beginning of the line when running naim under
screen, simply press Ctrl-A a (that is, hold Ctrl, press 'a', let go of Ctrl,
and press 'a' a second time).


When using /bind, what keys are A1, A3, B2, C1, and C3?

According to the ncurses header file, these keys correspond to the Home, End,
PgUp, and PgDn keys on the numeric keypad, as such:
	/* The keypad is arranged like this: */
	/* a1    up    a3   */
	/* left   b2  right  */
	/* c1   down   c3   */

I have never used a computer keyboard which used these bindings instead of
KEY_PGUP, etc., but I included them in naim's /bind "just in case."


Is there a way to go backwards in my buddy list?
Why can't I use Shift-Tab to go back through my buddy list?

Home, Alt-Tab, and Shift-Tab will cycle backwards through your window list.

However, on my system at least, Shift-Tab generates the same control sequence as
Tab by itself. Typing:
	loadkeys -d
	keycode 15 = Tab Tab
	alt keycode 15 = Meta_Tab
	shift keycode 15 = F26
	string F26 ="\033[Z"
into the command prompt on my machine before running naim allows Shift-Tab to
work like Home. This affects other curses programs (including Lynx) as well, so
you may consider adding that to your system boot scripts.



===CONFIGURATION

How can I configure naim?

Many aspects of naim's operation are configurable through the use of variables,
such as $autohide (which controls how long the status window and window list
window will appear on the screen when one changes). To change these variables,
use the /set command. For example, to make both windows wait around for 10
seconds, instead of the default 3, just type `/set autohide 10'.

For most other configurable pieces, there are specific /-commands to use, which
will be described in `/help commands'. For example, to add me to to your buddy
list, just type `/addbuddy nmlorg' or `/addbuddy "n ml org"'.


Is there a way to have naim save my configuration settings for the next time I
  start naim?
Where can I get a default .naimrc (naim configuration file)?

naim will read start-up commands from a file called .naimrc in your home
directory, so all of your configuration commands can be placed there. naim
includes a /save command, which will attempt to create a suitable .naimrc file
based on your current settings, so once you have configured naim to your liking,
just type `/save' and naim will use the same settings the next time it starts up
(including your buddy list, channels you have joined on IRC, etc.). The
generated .naimrc is also auto-documented, so feel free to use /save to create a
"default" .naimrc, and customize it by hand using a text editor.

You can `/set autosave 1' to have naim automatically write .naimrc whenever you 
`/quit'.


Is it possible to disable the timestamps? Not the per-message ones, but the
  automated timestamps every 20 minutes kind of annoy me.

Type `/set tprint 0'.


Is there a way to disable sounds in naim?

The only sounds naim should make are for $beeponim or $beeponsignon, so you can
just `/set beeponim 0', etc. to shut them off.


How do I change the colors?

The /setcol command will let you manipulate the colors. Type `/setcol' by itself
to see what the current values are, then `/setcol buddy blue', etc.  to change
them.


Does naim support inverse/blinking text, or changing the background for specific
  buddy types separately from the whole buddy list?

At present, no. If enough people request that ability, I will add it to the next
release.


Why do some people I talk to have blue text? I tried to set all the foreground 
  colors to white but I still get their text in blue.
If the other person is using WinAIM and sets their text color to blue would naim
  also show the text as blue?

naim's default behavior is to honor <font color="..."> tags sent by other users,
which can unfortunately lead to situations in which the other user has chosen a
font color that clashes with your background. You can either use the /setcol
command to change your own background, ask them to pick a less offensive
foreground, or `/set color 0' in naim to disable <font> tag processing.



===PROFILES

How can I get someone's profile?

naim includes a /whois (/wi, /info) command to retrieve all information AIM
keeps on AIM users, including the profile. Unfortunately, AOL users' profiles
are not visible to AIM users through any mechanism.


How can I set my own profile?

If you have a file called .naimprofile in your home directory when naim starts, 
naim will use its contents instead of the built-in default. You can send SIGHUP 
(killall -HUP naim) from the command line or type `/readprofile .naimprofile' 
while naim is running to reload your .naimprofile.


Is there a way to view a user's away message other than sending them an IM?

Unfortunately, the TOC protocol does not appear to have such a capability. naim
uses a workaround (it puts your away message in your profile when you go /away),
so naim can view other naim users' away messages, but I am unfamiliar with any
mechanism to retrieve a WinAIM, etc. user's message (other than sending them an
IM and hoping they send back an autoresponse).


How does Gaim get the away message when you do the GetInfo
Why does naim use TOC instead of Oscar? Isn't Oscar newer?

Many other AIM clients use an alternative protocol, Oscar, which does have this
capability. The original AIM protocol was Oscar, and AOL later created TOC to
serve the needs of their Java client. In 1998 AOL released a public document
specifying details of the TOC protocol, for use by third-party clients such as
naim. Since then, they have made many significant changes to the Oscar protocol
to discourage third-party client maintainers from using Oscar. It is possible
for third-party clients to use the Oscar protocol, but I would prefer to spend
my time working on new features to spending it in keeping up with AOL's latest
protocol revisions, rush-testing new releases, and publicizing the problem and
availability of corrected versions.



===BUDDY LIST

How do I remove someone from my buddy list? /delbuddy isn't working.
Can you make /delbuddy also close the buddy window?

The /addbuddy and /delbuddy commands are used to manipulate your buddy list, not
your window list. naim includes a feature called "autoquery" which makes naim
open windows for buddies who are online when you sign on, and for buddies that
sign on after you; this is why /addbuddy'ing someone causes a window to open for
them. To disable this feature, type `/set autoquery 0'.

If you /close a window for a buddy, naim will keep them on your buddy list; if
they sign on again, naim will open a window for them. However, immediately after
you /close a window, you can type /delbuddy to remove that individual from your
buddy list.


Every time I start up naim, your name (naim help) is always added to my buddy
  list! How can I stop that?

naim will read start-up commands from a file called .naimrc in your home
directory. If this file doesn't exist, a built-in default is used instead, and
one of the things it does is add my screen name to your buddy list. If you don't
like this behavior, you can `/delbuddy naimhelp', then `/save' to write-out a
.naimrc which will not contain me in your buddy list. If you have used /save in
the past without first removing me, your .naimrc will include an addbuddy
naimhelp, which you will need to remove manually (or /delbuddy me and type
`/save' again).


One of my contacts *always* shows up offline, even when he is talking to me. 
  What is wrong?
Some of my contacts show up as offline even though I can see them online from 
  another client. What is wrong?

There are several possibilities. If you have not received any messages from the 
buddy:
  1. Your buddy has you blocked. This will prevent your buddy from seeing you
online, and will prevent you from seeing your buddy online. Neither of you will
be able to send messages to each other or retrieve each other's profile. You can
check for this by using the "/info buddyname" command from two accounts at the
same time. If one "/info buddyname" fails while the other succeeds, it is likely
your contact has blocked the account where /info fails.
  2. You have your buddy blocked. Blocking has the same effects regardless of 
which user is doing the blocking. You can check to see if you have blocked the 
buddy by checking /ignore (which provides a list).
  3. Your buddy has privacy mode enabled and has not added you to the allow 
list. Privacy mode makes it so only people on a special "allow" list can 
communicate with the user, and all other users are treated as if they are 
blocked (as with 1. or 2.). Many clients use their buddy list as the "allow" 
list. You can tell this is happening if you are able to "/info buddyname" from 
one account but not from any others.

If you have or have not received messages from the buddy in question, it may be 
one of the following:
  4. You have exceeded the maximum number of buddies for your account. At the
time of writing, AOL's Instant Messenger servers limit each account to 200
simultaneous buddies. The protocol does not declare this limit and the server
does not emit an error message if you go over it; your buddy tracking simply
starts behaving erratically. You can check for this by using the "/names"  
command and manually counting entries.
  5. Your buddy is using the "invisible" feature of AOL Instant Messenger. This 
feature is similar to the "privacy" feature mentioned in 3., but only blocks 
tracking information. Userinfo requests and private messages can still be sent 
between clients. Unfortunately, this clashes with naim's automatic message 
queueing features, and causes the unfortunate side effect of not being able to 
send messages to "invisible" users. You can tell this is happening if you have 
less than 200 buddies, a user is showing up as "offline", but the user is also 
able to send you messages (and you are unable to reply).
  6. The AIM service is experiencing technical difficulties and your session has 
become unstable. This happens from time to time, and breaks naim's session 
tracking ability in the same way as the "invisible" feature. You can not usually 
confirm or rule out this possibility.



===CONNECTIONS

I read somewhere naim is an IRC client as well, is this true? Will it allow me 
  to be on IRC and AIM simultaneously?
Is there a way to juggle two open connections? I noticed that if I have an
  AIM/TOC connection open, and then open an IRC connection, then I can't switch 
  to any of the windows of the old connection with the normal keys (Tab, Home, 
  and End).

naim supports the TOC1 (AIM and ICQ), IRC (EFnet and Undernet), and SLCP (The
lily CMC) protocols. naim also supports multiple simultaneous connections,
allowing you to have as many open connections as your system supports.

For example, type `/newconn Undernet IRC' to create a separate connection window
for IRC called "Undernet", then `/connect nickname us.undernet.org' to connect.
Use the Ins and Del keys to switch between connections. Your current connection
will appear on the right side of the status bar next to the amount of time you
have been connected. Active windows will show up regardless of which connection
window you are in, and Ctrl-N will cross connections to jump to the next active
window.


Does naim support connecting to AIM through a proxy server?

naim does not have specific proxy support, but all is not lost! The ProxyChains
utility "allows you to use SSH, TELNET, VNC, FTP and any other Internet
application from behind HTTP(HTTPS) and SOCKS(4/5) proxy servers. This
'proxifier' provides proxy server support to any app." As of this writing,
ProxyChains is available from http://proxychains.sf.net/ .


Do you happen to know of any Yahoo!, MSN Messenger, etc. clients similar to 
  naim?

naim already supports IRC (http://www.irchelp.org/), and work is underway at
adding Yahoo! and MSN Messenger support. Please contact me if you are anxiously
waiting for these, or any other protocols, so our available energies can be
directed where they are most desired.



===LOGGING

How does logging work in naim? Does is support per connection, or per 
  buddy logging?

To enable session logging for connection AIM, type `/set AIM:logfile aim.log'
and then `/set AIM:log 1'.

naim also includes support for per-window logging, which is always enabled. naim
will log all window activity into a ~/.naimlog/<conn>/<name>.html file by
default. For example, any messages you exchange with "naim help" will be logged
to ~/.naimlog/AIM/naimhelp.html .



===IRC

Can I set modes in IRC?

naim supports several basic channel-operator commands, including `/op', `/deop',
`/kick', and `/topic', but is not intended to be used as a channel maintenance
client (a task usually better left handled by "IRC bots," which usually will not
ban their friends after getting into arguments with them).


Can I at least send a raw command to the IRC server?

At present, yes. Send a private message to the special target ":RAW", i.e.
/msg :RAW MODE #channel +s
Note that you will not be able to see the side-effects of most :RAW commands
unless you have compiled naim with --enable-debug.



===KEYBOARD INPUT

Is there any way to get naim to not automatically escape the ampersand?
Can I insert newlines into my messages?

naim includes a "paste mode" which changes naim's escaping behavior. In normal
input mode, the keys < > & are all translated to &lt; &gt; &amp;. When in paste
mode, < > & are left alone, but multiple spaces are converted to &nbsp; and the
Enter key becomes <br>. To toggle paste mode press `Ctrl-P'.



===CONSOLE DISPLAY ISSUES

My Linux console displays + and | instead of the line-drawing characters in the 
  window list window. How do I fix this?
My Linux console displays bold text as regular text. How do I fix this?
My Linux console does not display line-drawing characters at all, leaving holes 
  on my screen. How do I fix this?
The window list window appears distorted on my screen, and does not slide off 
  cleanly. How do I fix this?

This is a deficiency in the Linux kernel's console driver related to UTF-8
(internationalization) support. If you are using Red Hat Linux 8.0 or newer, or
Fedora Core, or any other distribution based on either of these, you need to
disable UTF-8 in your console session. Open /etc/sysconfig/i18n and remove the
".UTF-8" suffix in the LANG setting and comment out the SYSFONT line entirely.
Reboot your system. If you live outside of the U.S., I am sorry; you can either 
have pretty text or internationalization support. Please lodge your complaint 
with the Linux kernel maintainers; I have no control over this.



===SUPPORT

I think I've found a bug, what do I do?

First, check the BUGS file that is distributed with naim. If you see the bug
listed and marked with a high priority, keep a look out for new versions at the
distribution site, or through your package maintainer.

If your bug is marked low priority, then evaluate whether it is of high or low
priority to you. If you feel this is a significant issue, go ahead and send me
an email asking me to get a move on the fix. If it's just a minor inconvenience,
the fact that it is in BUGS means I am aware of it already, so you won't need to
bring it to my attention.

If it is not in the BUGS file at all, contact the appropriate maintainer (which
may be me) to let them know, and carbon copy the message to me so I can keep
track of its resolution progress.


How do I figure out who to contact for issues regarding naim?

The README file should contain the most up-to-date contact information for the
people responsible for naim (including the maintainers of various package
distributions, for FreeBSD, Debian, etc.).



If you have any questions or concerns regarding naim, feel free to contact me at
Daniel Reed <n@ml.org> directly.

If you are interested in the development of naim, feel free to subscribe to the
naim-users mailing list, which I use to propose/discuss significant changes, and
answer common problems. Simply send a blank email to
<naim-users-subscribe@n.ml.org>, then reply to the confirmation message you will
receive.

If you would like to stay up-to-date with new releases, or critical updates,
feel free to subscribe to the moderated naim-announce mailing list. Simply send
a blank email to <naim-announce-subscribe@n.ml.org>, then reply to the
confirmation message you will receive.



Where can I download naim from?

	http://naim.n.ml.org/



I saw your away message on "RPI Dan," and I was curious, why do you
  regret attending RPI?

My away message on the "RPI Dan" account is:
  For help using naim, IM naimhelp; to contact Daniel Reed to chat, IM
  nmlorg; I regret attending the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  [http://shell.n.ml.org/n/why-regret].

I was admitted to RPI and began attending as a full time student in August,
1999, for the class of 2003. May 2003 Commencement has come and gone and I have
not graduated, nor am I still considered a student. I do not have a degree, but
my student loans are coming up due. Since shortly before May Commencement I have
been trying to resolve the issues below with the administration of the
university, but have so far been utterly unsuccessful.

I was enrolled in an accelerated BS/MS program, which would allow me to receive
my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Computer Science in four years. Normally a
student takes four years to receive a Bachelor's degree, and an additional one
to two years to receive a Master's degree. The time requirements of the
accelerated program made it difficult to take a specific course required for the
BS. Going into my final semester at RPI, my faculty advisor recommended I
petition for a waiver of this course, and focus on my research, as that was a
fairly common situation. In fact, for 2 years I sat on the Undergraduate
Curriculum Committee, the body that approves such waiver requests, so I was very
familiar with the process. I have taken a dozen graduate courses (for my MS)
which are not being counted towards anything (not even free electives), as I
have already exceeded the raw credit requirements for my degree. In addition, I
have been involved in many large software projects (such as naim), so I felt
confident a waiver petition I filed would be approved.

As you may have assumed, my waiver petition was rejected by the committee. After
discussing the situation with the department's officers, I was informed that I
could take any course named "software design" at a local community college and
transfer it in, and then receive my degree from RPI. What I find disconcerting,
however, is that they are willing to transfer in credits from any other college,
but not those awarded from their own graduate program.

During follow-up conversations, I was informed by one administrator that no
transfer credits would be accepted by the university, and that my only option
was to take the specific required course at RPI in the Fall semester. Another
administrator went into my academic records and marked the course as already
having been waived. Yet another administrator has forwarded paperwork to me
detailing the procedure for transferring credits. At this point, most
administrators who have been involved in the past no longer return my phone
calls or requests for conferences, and it is impossible for me to ascertain what
my academic standing is, nor how to proceed if it continues to be disfavorable.

This is unfortunately merely the latest in a series of problems I have had at or
in relationship to RPI. In the four years I have attended RPI, I estimate that I
have spent one full year on my research interests (including the development of
naim), one half-year on academic persuits (course work), one half-year on social
entertainment (movies, get-togethers), and fully one year engaging the staff and
administration of the school.  Many of my research interests in networking,
quality-of-life improvements, and general utility have been hampered by a lack
of support, or outright opposition from various departments that serve support
(rather than administrative) roles in the school. During my time at RPI, perhaps
a dozen large projects I was involved in were stalled indefinitely thanks to the
undue time constraints necessary to "fight" the staff or administration. I never
allowed these set-backs to discourage me, and I have been proud to use the name
"RPI Dan" on AIM since my freshman year. For my tenacity, I have been presented
with several awards, including the Rensselaer Founders' Award of Excellence, an
award for a student's particular contributions. This latest set-back, however,
is quite serious, and has the potential to radically alter my future in terms of
earning potential and quality of life.