IM type application but over a LAN?

TheBigCheese · 29 Sep 2013 at 20:33

Hi guys

I need to share data with my missus across computers on a LAN, it can be anything from just words to screenshots etc., and MSN Messenger used to be perfect, print screen -> paste did the job perfectly for checking images before printing etc.

Since that moved to Skype the process isn't as easy and due to a change in circumstances we may need to be transferring confidential details such as names and addresses which I wouldn't want to do over an IM application.

It occurred to me that an IM application that worked not through the net but just over a LAN would be absolutely perfect for our needs and we wouldn't need to worry about sending confidential data across it.

I am looking for something that's free and so far have found:
Lan Messenger (this seems to be quite well regarded)
AChat - it doesn't look as nice but seems to be quite feature rich.

Does anyone have any experiences with LAN IM applications? What would you recommend?

Thanks very much!

tl;dr - I need a free IM program that only sends data through a LAN rather over the internet for confidentiality reasons.

Chief Wiggum · 29 Sep 2013 at 20:55

Jabber server (before Cisco bought it) we used to use that at work before rolling out ocs

TheBigCheese · 30 Sep 2013 at 11:58

Thanks for your reply, I'll look into it!

I've tried LAN Messenger and that seems to do the job, praises seem to be sung about Openfire and Spark so I'll look at those as well.

One feature that I'm really after is what old MSN Messenger did, where you could hit PRINT SCREEN -> PASTE and it sends a screen dump to the user without any further input required, no having to save, attach, send etc.

Does anyone know if any of these applications do that?

Thanks.

Terrier_Jimlad · 30 Sep 2013 at 13:21

Softros is a good LAN Messenger with ability to send files/screenshots

TheBigCheese · 30 Sep 2013 at 15:00

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately it's not free and as it's only for the two of us I can't really justify paying for it when there are free options available.

TheBigCheese · 7 Oct 2013 at 12:43

I just thought I'd update this in case anyone has the same question in the future.

Openfire as a local server and Spark as the client seems to be absolutely perfect.

One of the features I needed, a print screen dump and send automatically (as MSN messenger used to do)...well it doesn't do it exactly, but it's almost there.

You click a button in Spark and can then drag around any part of the screen and it automatically sends that, so it takes slightly longer but it's more accurate and useful that way.

Hope that helps anyone else asking.

Deleted member 77746 · 7 Oct 2013 at 15:56

Linux server with Jabber IM it's fantastic.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SettingUpJabberServer

https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/serverguide/jabberd2-server.html