HOWTO: Install aMSN 0.98b with anti-aliasing in Ubuntu

**holy_fire** · August 6th, 2008

I recently made a fresh install of Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 on my desktop computer and I found out that the aMSN 0.97 package available via Synaptic Package Manager was not quite useful. I experienced a lot of connection problems. Although those problems are gone with version 0.98b, enabling anti-aliasing fonts is not an easy task. A lot of resources are available about this but I thought I'd make a tutorial especially about how to compile aMSN 0.98b with anti-aliasing in Ubuntu.

Step 1
Open a terminal session by pressing "Alt+F2" then typing "gnome-terminal". Make sure your computer is connected to the Internet.

Step 2 : Install the g++ compiler (can be skipped if already installed)
First, you need to make sure the g++ compiler is installed on you computer. At the prompt, simply enter the following code

Code:

sudo aptitude install g++

Step 3 : Install subversion (can be skipped if already installed)
We are going to download the aMSN source code via subversion, so you need to have it installed. At the prompt, simply enter the following code

Code:

sudo aptitude install subversion

Step 4 : Install the latest tcl/tk libraries
Since aMSN is written in tcl/tk, we need to download the latest libraries in order to compile properly. The good news is that v8.5 supports anti-aliasing. At the prompt, simply enter the following code

Code:

sudo aptitude install tk8.5-dev

It should install everything you need to compile aMSN, including the tcl8.5 libraries.

Step 5 : Get the aMSN source code

Simply enter the following code at the prompt

Code:

svn co https://amsn.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/amsn/trunk/amsn amsn

This will download all the source code in your home directory. For more info, visit this page http://www.amsn-project.net/wiki/Enabling_antialiasing

Step 6 : Build aMSN

Change your working directory by entering

Code:

cd amsn

Then you use the usual commands to build the app.

Code:

./configure
make
sudo make install

Now, some people have experienced problems while running the configure script, something about the tcl/tk libraries not found. If you experience such a problem, or if your compiler builds using an old version of tcl/tk, use the following commands instead

Code:

 ./configure --with-tcl=$HOME$INST_PATH/lib --with-tk=$HOME$INST_PATH/lib
make
sudo make install

And that's it! You should find your shiny new aMSN under Applications->Internet->aMSN. Enjoy and feel free to comment about this tutorial.

Here is a screenshot showing those nice anti-aliasing fonts

**Jeroen de Lange** · January 26th, 2009

did exactly as you said in intrepid ibis and got an error with at the end no make file etc

**fatihsanli58** · February 18th, 2009

hi
I acually manges to install amsn 0.98b svn version 10018 but the problem is when i try make and audio call it gives two types of error;
1. XIO: fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) x server(it was something like this)
2. (<unknown>:8609): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: IA__g_object_set_valist: object class `GstGConfAudioSrc' has no property named `blocksize'

(<unknown>:8609): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: IA__g_object_set_valist: object class `GstGConfAudioSrc' has no property named `blocksize'
Original stack trace :
invalid command name ".container_0.msg_0.f.bottom.f.voip.amplifier"
while executing
"$frame_in.amplifier configure -state normal"
(procedure "::ChatWindow::UpdateVoipControls" line 25)
invoked from within
"::ChatWindow::UpdateVoipControls $chatid $sip $callid"
(procedure "::amsn::SIPInviteSent" line 16)
invoked from within
"::amsn::SIPInviteSent $email $sip $callid"
(procedure "::MSNSIP::invitePrepared" line 11)
invoked from within
"::MSNSIP::invitePrepared ::MSNSIP::SIPConnection1 [xxxx@live.com[/email]"
("eval" body line 1)
invoked from within
"eval $options(-prepared)"

Stack trace of bgerror :
bad window path name ".bug_dialog"
while executing
"winfo screenwidth $w"
(procedure "::bugs::show_bug_dialog" line 54)
invoked from within
"::bugs::show_bug_dialog [privacy $errorInfo]"
(procedure "::bugs::bgerror" line 48)
invoked from within
"::bugs::bgerror $args"
bug report windows appear and audio call finishes with this messege "user did not answer your call. Can anyone help me please? Thanks in advance.

**fatihsanli58** · February 18th, 2009

still waiting? someone there?

**rbernardes** · March 17th, 2009

http://rmbernardes.wordpress.com/200...ron-cold-skin/

**meeples** · April 26th, 2009

hey when i do ./configure it tells me i need libpng, so i went into synaptic and downloaded libpng but its still not working, anybody?

**Stemp** · May 7th, 2009

Another way to install amsn 0.98b (with audio/video support) :

aMsn-Daily PPA

**binbash** · May 9th, 2009

Originally Posted by Stemp

Another to install amsn 0.98b (with audio/video support) :

aMsn-Daily PPA

Thanks for the repository

**solixxx** · February 21st, 2010

Just for help, if you got the same problem as me.

My problem was, I need to install tcl/tk.

Code:

checking for prefix by checking for wish... /usr/bin/wish
checking for gcc... gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of executables...
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes
checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed
checking for g++... g++
checking whether we are using the GNU C++ compiler... yes
checking whether g++ accepts -g... yes
checking tcl build dir... configure: error: Unable to find Tcl directory or Tcl package is not tcl-dev

Just use the following command, and the problem should be fixed

Code: