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IRC Guide

What is IRC?

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of real-time Internet text messaging (chat) or synchronous conferencing. From Wikipedia

IRC ettiquette

Some general guidelines:

  • Don't use ALL CAPS (It's yelling and we don't like it)
  • It's Internet Relay Chat not Instant Response Channel. Be patient, don't keep asking the same questions over and over again.
  • Don't paste tons of text into the channel (called flooding). General rule of thumb, if it's over 3 lines copy it and paste it into a pastie (http://pastie.org) and paste the link to the pastie into the channel
  • Don't /msg someone unless they ask you to
  • Don't ask to ask, just ask.

Platform Specific Details

There are a ton of IRC clients out there. In terms of pet projects they're second only to blog engines. You can disagree with this list but it's good enough to get you started, once you're comfortable you can pick your own tools.

Windows

client

X-Chat 2 (download just pick the latest release, download and install it). This is not the same as "XChat" below, that's shareware for Windows.

Getting to #railsbridge

Start X-Chat 2 then choose "Server" and "Reconnect"

x-chat2 server connect menu

You'll be presented with the following dialogue:

x-chat2 server connect dialogue

Fill out your own nick name and other information as appropriate. We're on freenode.net, so that's important.

Once you're connected you'll want to join our channel. You get there from "Server" "Join Channel" in the menu

x-chat2 join channel menu

Then type in #railsbridge (our channel), click "OK" and you're good to go

x-chat2 join channel dialogue

Here's what you can expect once you're in our channel:

x-chat2 chatting

Mac OS X

Client

Colloquy (download the latest release and install it)

Getting to #railsbridge

Fire up colloquy after you've installed it (spotlight, finder, QuickSilver, LaunchBar, etc). Then choose File, New Connection

Colloquy New Connection

You'll be presented with the following dialogue:

New Connection Dialogue

Fill out your own nick name but leave the rest pretty much as is. We're on irc.freenode.net, so that's important.

Once you're connected you'll want to join our channel. Colloquy calls these "chat rooms". From the Colloquy menu choose "Join Chat Room"

Colloquy Join Chat Room

Then type in #railsbridge (our channel), click "Join" and you're good to go

Join Chat Room Dialogue

My theme is a bit different than the default, but here's what you can expect once you're in our channel:

Colloquy Chatting

Client

Adium (download)

Getting to #railsbridge

Fire up Adium after you've installed it (spotlight, finder, QuickSilver, LaunchBar, etc).
In Adium, choose to Add Account and pick IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
On the Account tab, fill out your own nickname, the password is optional. Hostname is irc.freenode.net.
On the Personal tab, you make choose to display a picture of yourself.

Once you're connected you'll want to join our channel. Adium calls these "Group Chat".
From the Adium menu choose "Join Group Chat"

Pick your IRC account,
Then type in #railsbridge (our channel), in the Channel box. There is no password.
Click "Join" and you're good to go

Linux

Client

XChat (download or install through your package manager)

Getting to #railsbridge

Tips and Tricks

?colloquy_new_connection.png - Colloquy New Connection (64.7 kB) Jeff Schoolcraft, 05/30/2009 01:40 am

New_Connection.png - New Connection Dialogue (25.5 kB) Jeff Schoolcraft, 05/30/2009 01:40 am

join_chat_room.png - Colloquy Join Chat Room (47.1 kB) Jeff Schoolcraft, 05/30/2009 01:40 am

Join_Chat_Room_detail.png - Join Chat Room Dialogue (20.1 kB) Jeff Schoolcraft, 05/30/2009 01:40 am

railsbridge__irc.freenode.net_.png - Colloquy Chatting (228.9 kB) Jeff Schoolcraft, 05/30/2009 01:40 am

server_connect.png - x-chat2 server connect menu (12.8 kB) Jeff Schoolcraft, 05/30/2009 02:05 am

server_connect_dialogue.png - x-chat2 server connect dialogue (20.8 kB) Jeff Schoolcraft, 05/30/2009 02:05 am

join_channel_dialogue.png - x-chat2 join channel dialogue (9.9 kB) Jeff Schoolcraft, 05/30/2009 02:05 am

join_channel_menu.png - x-chat2 join channel menu (15.2 kB) Jeff Schoolcraft, 05/30/2009 02:05 am

chatting.png - x-chat2 chatting (89.7 kB) Jeff Schoolcraft, 05/30/2009 02:05 am