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IRC Tutorial: This Is A Simple Guide To Get Started On Irc

The document provides instructions for using Internet Relay Chat (IRC) including why to use IRC, who uses IRC, recommended clients for different operating systems, basics of connecting to servers and channels, and etiquette guidelines.

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ganesshkumar
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181 views

IRC Tutorial: This Is A Simple Guide To Get Started On Irc

The document provides instructions for using Internet Relay Chat (IRC) including why to use IRC, who uses IRC, recommended clients for different operating systems, basics of connecting to servers and channels, and etiquette guidelines.

Uploaded by

ganesshkumar
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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IRC tutorial

// 12th december 2009


// Written by Anirudh Ranganath narasimhan ([email protected])
// No copyrights reserved..
// Read, distribute, and if it helps you, I'm glad.

This will take approx 10 minutes, but its worth the patience!
It might be hard to understand, but trust me, using MS word can be more
complicated than this!

This is a simple guide to get started on irc.

(Can look complicated initially, but a lot of nongeeks use irc). There is
something for everyone - Media, arts, business, etc)

WHY IRC?
Till now you have chat clients like yahoo messenger do all the work for
you. But it’s all useless when a large number of people want to chat, irc
is the fastest and best! And don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it once
you use it 2-3 times)

Popular chatting services require you to have an email account. IRC


doesn’t. You can sign in with whatever nickname u want, and can change
the nick during the chat too!

Problems with yahoo: too many bugs. Frequent disconnection


gmail: not good when TOO many people chat over it
google wave: sucks and is too slow when a lot of people work on it..
(since its still under development, and is not good when people need to
hold a conference/chat room discussion).

So we arrive at the age old irc(internet relay chat). Simple,with no


bugs. Irc is used mainly for public chat, especially BOFs (birds of a
feather).

WHO USES IRC?


For example, there is an india chat room on many servers, and DALnet
server india chatroom is very popular (will explain these terms).
Freenode is a server which hosts numerous channels related to free and
open source software. They have servers for developers, linux, LUGs,
etc...
QuakeNet is for gamers.

Many organizations have their own irc channel. Many cities across the
world have their own. If I have a problem with writing code or developing
linux, I go to a channel on freenode server where my queries are answered
instantly.
IRC is just the service. I can use one of the many clients that can chat
over it(just like you can use utorrent or something else when I want to
download a torrent)

Recommended client:
If you have your os as:
Windows: Use mirc. They say registration period 45 days or some shit.
doesnt matter. It’s free and you can use mirc even after that

Linux: konversation (i use that.. its nice :)

Some tech (but just try to understand):


IRC is basically not GUI (graphical user interface(like with buttons that
u can click and all :P Wikipedia gives a better definition) driven, but
the above mentioned clients have GUI support. IRC can just work as well
on commands. For example, to join a channel, all you type is "/join
#channel_name" (after connecting to the server). Commands begin with /.
To quit, you can click the red x on the top right corner or type /quit
(In channel).

Basics:
Now, there are many servers. Powerful computers that host chat rooms
(called channels).
popular ones are DALnet(just cause i use it and the india chatroom, where
I just hangout and dont talk:P), freenode(nongeeks dont go there) and, we
have hosted kickstartcbe channel on DALnet..

channels usually start with a '#' tag, just to differentiate them


so channel names are #india, #kickstartcbe etc...

Name: can provide anything (will be shown on a whois check up. i.e., it
is not private)
Email: its email, and as above, its not private
nickname: your display name on irc channels, u can have different ones on
each server simultaneously.

IMPORTANT:
1) Never copy paste long text (more than 2-3 lines). you might get kicked
out. yes. If you want to show 3 lines, copy paste it on pastebin.com or
pastie.com (no username/pass/payment needed), it gets pasted there and
they provide a url link, which u can paste here, and we all can read
that.

2) Do not 'asl'.

3) There are certain etiquettes to be followed, all of which i am not


aware of.

4) Do not private message someone unless: you know that person, or its
important or urgent or something like that
5) A lot of people login but do not respond. Its like a hangout at a
coffee place or a bar where each one can either talk or be in their own
world.

Instructions:
1) Download mirc client (I assume most use windows. its a bit different
when you use Linux. contact me if u do).

2) Install it

3) If it runs, close all dialog boxes..

4) Click file->select server

5) In that, expand the 'connect' option on the left and select servers

6) Search for your server, expand (for kickstartcbe, its DALnet) and
click SELECT (random server should do, or choose anything else).

7) Fill in full name, email and nickname (none of these are private. so
you can put what you want, but its ethics to have your name (firstname)
as nickname)

8) Click connect

9) Wait for about 5-10 seconds. It should connect properly (unless there
is a nickname problem, where someone else is currently using your
nickname, and u can change).

10) A channel list will be shown. but those are only default. You can add
'#kickstartcbe' and click join.

11) For a complete list of all channels, click tools->channel list

12) you can also search for channel names like India, cbe etc on the
above mentioned dialog box and click apply.

13) To private message someone, just double click their name. will open a
new window(but don’t do this if you don’t know him well.. u can send a
message to that person in other ways too). (Messages wont appear in chat
room)

14) To direct a message at someone, start typing their name and press
'tab' which is an auto complete feature (Linux like). for example:
if person name is anirudh, type a and press tab.
if there are 2 people anirudh and akash. type an and press tab. you get
the point right?

15) whois tells basic info about a person. Right click on name and click
info or whois.

16) In chartrooms, admins are listed at the top, important people(i think
its called VIP...selected by admins) are next and the rest at the bottom.
17) Explore through other stuff. Favourite a chat room, or add a person
to address book(yes there is one).

18) To leave a channel, type /quit. to leave a server, type /disconnect(i


think). to exit at once, just press the red x (easiest way :P)

19) Oh and the window doesn’t expand when someone sends you a message.
you must check regularly. ( Depends on client. I think mirc flashes or
sends a sound alert. then again, u can set these).

I hope you got the basics  have fun chatting!

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