Skype Plugin for Pidgin not working - Ubuntu 9.04

[DogMom]

Please help, I can't find any answers to this one anywhere.

I have Ubuntu 9.04. I've installed Skype on it, and I have pidgin 2.5.5. I downloaded and installed the skype4pidgin plugin, and I've restarted Pidgin, I've restarted Skype, I've restarted the entire computer, and still Skype is not appearing in the available Accounts Type list when I go to add a new account.

I really would like to get this to work, but I don't know what else to try.

[supermanisdeady]

did you use the old pidgin version?
because i think you use default pidgin on jaunty/ubuntu 9.04 that discontinued to support because the ubuntu version isn't LTS(long time support version).
if true, removed your pidgin then use the tar.gz source here and install to your system. And then install the plugin.
or you can change your ubuntu (reinstall it) with the newest ubuntu like lucid or maverick then install pidgin.
CMIIW

[devianpctek]

isnt there this plugin in apt??

apt-cache search pidgin-skype

if you have it just install it

sudo apt-get install pidgin-skype

[DogMom]

isnt there this plugin in apt??

apt-cache search pidgin-skype

if you have it just install it

sudo apt-get install pidgin-skype

No, it's not there.

did you use the old pidgin version?
because i think you use default pidgin on jaunty/ubuntu 9.04 that discontinued to support because the ubuntu version isn't LTS(long time support version).
if true, removed your pidgin then use the tar.gz source and install to your system. And then install the plugin.
or you can change your ubuntu (reinstall it) with the newest ubuntu like lucid or maverick then install pidgin.
CMIIW

Thanks...that link takes me to the Pidgin Download page, and unfortunately I've already tried that. I did the "PPA" install that they recommended and that made no difference - I can't get anything above version 2.5.5 to install. So I tried downloading the actual package file and it won't configure (pre-install step) - says I need libxml development headers to build.

Since I'm not planning on developing it or doing any CHANGES to it, I'm not real anxious to install a number of developer tools just to get this one file to work.
I've tried downloading the .deb file directly from a different website, but it has several dependencies that are not met in Ubuntu 9.04.
I'm not willing to upgrade my Ubuntu install because 9.10 and above introduce a host of display problems on older computers due to the exclusive use of xrandr for display detection, among other things, so I guess I'll just do without this particular function. Thanks for your help.

If anyone has any more ideas, I'm definitely willing to try them. Thanks!