[GLLUG] Starting Pidgin

[Chick Tower]

When I switched from using GAIM to using Pidgin, it seemed Pidgin 
wouldn't work properly for me.  I use a script to start the applications 
I use when connecting to the Internet (kppp, Firefox, and AIM client). 
I would connect to the Internet (via dial-up) and then enter my password 
in Pidgin, but Pidgin would immediately say it couldn't find 
login.oscar.aol.com, the AIM login server.  GAIM used to have no problem 
with this procedure.  I have since discovered that, if I wait to start 
Pidgin until after I'm on the Internet (rather than wait to _log in_ 
with Pidgin until after I'm connected), it works.  This indicates it's 
not a DNS issue (in the normal sense, at least).  So now I have a 
two-minute delay in my script to allow me to connect to the Internet 
before Pidgin is run.  I suspect that Pidgin is trying to find the AIM 
login server as soon as it starts, before I'm connected, so it might not 
be a problem for anyone whose PC is always connected.  I might be able 
to work around this by adding an entry to my hosts file for the server, 
but my delay works fine, and who knows how often the IP address might 
change, or if there's a pool of servers that answer login requests?

I just would like to know if anyone else ran into this problem, and, if 
so, how you fixed it.  Perhaps a command-line parameter for Pidgin?  A 
setting in Pidgin that I couldn't find or didn't understand?

                                Chick