are you behind a router?
i dont belive gaurd dog stars up at boot up. guard dog is a firewall i think the only one in knoppix but im not sure.
I figure this has to be firewall issues.... or maybe GAIM just sucks for file transfers..... I cant do direct connect, or file transfers with anybody.... I can do it fine on my mac though, and when i boot into windows on this machine, works fine..... I havent installed any firewall software though....... is there a built in firewall with knoppix? and how could i possibly fix this?
are you behind a router?
i dont belive gaurd dog stars up at boot up. guard dog is a firewall i think the only one in knoppix but im not sure.
You should be able to see if the knoppix firewall is active with: iptables -nvL
If it's running you can open ports with something like:
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 6891:6893 -j ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -i eth0 -p udp -m udp --dport 6891:6893 -j ACCEPT
Change eth0 if you have something different and I hope you know what opening ports means security wise.
Another way to check would be to run lsmod and see if ipt_ and iptables_ modules are loaded.
As you probably guessed I don't run knoppix so I don't know where the firewall script is run from. Possibly it's in /etc/init.d or /usr/local/bin and is started by some script in /etc/rc*
EDIT: hmm. Did the above post get just edited and the comments about guarddog added to it or am I going blind?
Well, if it's guarddog tinker with that instead of running the above commands for iptables.
ya i edited my post took away the question asking what firewall they was using, and adding the comments about gaurd dog.
i dont belive the problem is with knoppix its self but more with gaim.
from my current understanding of the msn / yahoo protocol (if thats what your using gaim for) is that when a file transver takes place the client will try to connect to 2 differnt ips the one of the client there trying to send the file to and msn / yahoos servers. if the connection for client to client fails then the person trying to send the file will send it via the server.
i would like to know if you have managed to connect to a person directly using gaim on windows.
the offical msn client uses plug and play (i belive) and tends to make direct connection much easyer.
it would also help to know if the person your trying to connect to is behind a firewall of any sort, either hardware based (router) or software based
Ok, so yea..... I ran iptables -nvL.... and this is what came up
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT 9881 packets, 14M bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 7420 packets, 435K bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
and in lsmod, these are the only IP related things that show
iptable_filter 1768 0 (autoclean) (unused)
ip_tables 11768 1 [iptable_filter]
AND i tried running this.... $IPTABLES -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 6891:6893 -j ACCEPT
bash: -A: command not found
I do understand what opening ports does.... I actually do Apple Computer Technical support.... but we never fuck with terminal in OS X. And the firewall issues are a bit easier in OS X. But any other help would be awesome. I can direct connect within windows using AIM with almost all my buddies. But i cant do anyhting like that with GAIM.
i belive its a gaim issue.
normaly when i use the offical clients while in windows i get direct connections but while using linux and gaim i can never get a direct connection. so really i dont think theres anything you can do about it.
Forgot to replace $IPTABLES with iptables as I copied that from my firewall script, but as I said you should have tinkered with knoppix firewall instead. As iptables isn't even loaded, pureone is correct, not a firewall problem.

(New) AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 8 Core 16 Thread AM4 Unlocked 3.4 GHz CPU OEM Tray
$174.99
Clear Touch Interactive Module CTI PCMOD PC55 ST i5 6core,8GB DDR4,256GB SSD NEW
$225.00
Home Assistant Server | 8GB RAM | 128GB SSD | Intel i5 Quad-Core | Dell OptiPlex
$124.69
Apple Macbook Pro 13" M1 8-Core 16GB 512GB READ DESC
$484.99
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 8-Core 16-Thread AM5 Zen 5 Desktop Processor NEW
$395.00
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.60GHz 8 Core 100-000000071 16 Thread AM4
$89.99
Intel Core i9-9900 SRG18 3.10GHz 8-Core Desktop CPU Prcoessor LGA1151
$165.00
Dell Precision 3930 Rack 1x 8-Core i7-9700 32GB RAM 3x 256GB SSD - 4 Bay
$350.00
NEW* AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e 4GB WinXP + DOS Custom Retro Gaming PC & 50+ Games
$295.00
Intel Core i9-9900 SRG18 3.10GHz 16MB 8-Core LGA1151 CPU Processor
$177.21