can someone tell me if i can chat with friends on msn using linux and help me to get chatting with them please … we have big problems with out windows installation at the moment and are trying to limp through using linux … so any help would be appreciated … thanks
Yes you can… You can use Pidgin, aMSN, Emesene, or Empathy to chat to friends on MSN, and pretty much any of the other chat networks such as Yahoo, Facebook, AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, IRC, MySpaceIM, etc. … all from 1 application.
Personally I’d suggest using Pidgin, but that’s just a personal opinion.
I can’t give you instructions on “How” to install any of the above unless you tell me which Linux distribution, and version you are using.
Distribution will be something like… Ubunt, Debian, Linux Mint, Fedora, etc.
Version will be some thing like, 11.04 etc.
examples -
Ubuntu 11.04
Fedora 14
Linux Mint 10
openSUSE 11.3
etc.
If you are unsure, let me know, and I’ll tell you how to find out… once we know your distribution, I’ll explain how to install software for it.
FIRST HINT - You don’t go off on the internet to download an installer for it like you do in Windows… It’s easier than that, and more secure 
at the moment puppy and i think its 5 ?? does that sound right … its bootiong from the disc too at the moment if that makes a difference … thanks for your help
I haven’t used Puppy 5 before, but from what I gather Pidgin is installed by default… is there a “Chat” or “Pidgin” icon on the desktop or menu’s anywhere?
[EDIT]
Give me half an hour(ish), and I’ll let you know… I’m downloading the Puppy 5 LiveCD now, so I can run it in a VM and find which IM client it uses by default.
i think ive f it and its installing it … only problem is there were about 5 to choose from all with different codes which dont mean a thing to me lol… so im trying the first one
YEP LOOKS LIKE ITS WORKING … THANKS FOR HELPING XXXXXXXX oops soz about caps
If you’re running from a LiveCD, you’ll have to reinstall it every time you reboot, because it can’t save changes to a CDROM.
But at least you’re up and running 
If Jilla downloads puppy as a multisession CD he will then be able to save data. I when first looking at Linux used Puppy. The only thing that I did not like with multisession was eventually you reached a point where you had to start over again.
This might assist