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IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. It's the oldest, largest, and most well-established text-based chat system on the Internet. It’s also quite popular, and used world-wide. Only web browsing and email are used more than IRC. At any given time, there are nearly 800,000 users accessing the various IRC networks.
In order to connect to IRC, you need an IRC client. Just like you need a web browser to surf the web, it serves the same purpose: a program that allows you to access the service. There are a number of different options available, there are GUI based clients such as X-Chat, Konversation, and an IRC plug-in for Pidgin. Also there are terminal clients such as IRSSI and others. X-Chat and Pidgin are primarily used on GNOME and Unity, while Konversation is part of the KDE desktop environment. But feel free to use whichever you feel more comfortable with. I use the terminal IRSSI myself, and, from time to time, use the IRC function built into Pidgin. There are also web-based clients. When you run your IRC client for the first time, the first thing to do is tell it what nickname you want to use. How you do it will depend on what client you choose. In general, on IRC, you are allowed to use any nick you'd like - as long as no one else is using it at the same time. However, on Freenode (and many other networks), it is possible to register your nick so that you are the only user allowed to use it. To do this, type:
/msg nickserv register <password> <email address>
For example: /msg nickserv register foo foo@bar.net
Then, every time you log in with that nick, the first thing you should do is type:
/msg nickserv identify <password>
For example: /msg nickserv identify foo.
Registering your nickname is useful for several reasons, here are a few. Sometimes, due to certain conditions on the Internet, you get disconnected from the server, reconnect, and find that your nick is still in use. In other words, you got disconnected, but the server hasn't found out yet and thinks your old connection is still active. If you haven't registered the nick, you'll have to wait for the old connection to die (which could take a while), but if you've registered your nick, you can take the initiative and have it killed. To kill off a “ghost” like that, use the ghost-kill command:
/msg nickserv ghost <nick> <password>
with the ghost's nick and your password in the appropriate places. This will cause NickServ to force that connection to terminate, allowing you to change your nick back (with /nick) and go about your business.
Also the network where your nick is registered will keep the name reserved just for you or anyone who has the password. How long it is kept reserved varies from network to network, however.
If you forget to identify for your nick, NickServ may change your nick. However, there is usually a time delay that prevents rapid nick changes - just wait a few seconds to change your nick again. Remember that you will still have to identify once you've changed the nick, otherwise NickServ will give you the boot again. To change your nick, use the /nick command.
Now you can connect to IRC. There are several different IRC networks, each with their quirks. The one I spend most of my time on, and the one I have the most experience with, is the OtherWorlders network. OtherWorlders is a small network primarily aimed at the paper-and-pencil gamer community, so if you play D&D and other RPGs, then it may be something you should check out. Its connection address is irc.otherworlders.org
Additionally, there are the BIG 4 networks of Undernet (irc.undernet.org), Quakenet (irc.quakenet.org), Dalnet (irc.dal.net), and IRCNet (irc.ircnet.org). There is also Freenode (irc.freenode.org) which is the home to many open source projects and related chats. All of the official Ubuntu chats are located on Freenode, including the chat for Full Circle Magazine.
On IRC, chatrooms are called Channels, and generally begin with the # sign, such as #fullcirclemagazine. Since IRC is based solely on text, all commands are entered via the keyboard. The first important command is join, this allows you to join a channel, or create a new one if it doesn’t already exist. In order for the server to know that you have issued a command instead of wanting to send text to the current window, all commands are prefixed with a forward slash: /
So to join our #fullcirclemagazine chat on Freenode after we connect, the command is:
/join #fullcirclemagazine
Once in the channel, you can go ahead and talk! Anything you type in the channel is sent once you hit Enter, unless it is prefixed with the forward slash to indicate it is a command being sent to the server.
If you start your message with the word /me, it will broadcast your message in the third person (this is used for emotes and actions): for example, if I (nick = Bynw) type:
/me does jumping jacks
it will show up in the channel as:
* Bynw does jumping jacks
…and sometimes in a different color depending on the client. (Note: be sure you write your actions in the third person, instead of falling back on the first person, since it's supposed to be describing something you're doing as if the other people in the channel are seeing it. It's a common mistake to write something like “/me goes out to get myself a drink”, which would show up in-channel in my case as “* Bynw goes out to get myself a drink”, which sounds awkward)
To change your nickname, you use the /nick command. The next word after /nick becomes your new nick: e.g., if I want to show that I'll be away from the computer for a while, I'd type:
/nick Bynw-afk
to change my nick to Bynw-afk (AFK stands for “Away From Keyboard”).
If you want to join another channel, use /join. Put the channel name after /join, like this:
/join #fullcirclemagazine
If the channel doesn't exist yet, it will be created and you will be its operator.
If somebody is bothering you, most clients have an /ignore command. To prevent any messages from a specific user from showing up in your client, type /ignore followed by the nick of the offending party.
If you ever want to leave a channel, you use /part. Put the name of the channel after /part: to leave #fullcirclemagazine, you'd type:
/part #fullcirclemagazine
If you want, you add a message after the channel name, which will show up as a “parting message”. This doesn’t make you leave IRC or disconnect from the server or network, however, only the specific channel. You can be in multiple channels at the same time.
If you want to log off, you use /quit. You don't have to type anything after /quit, but like /part you can add a message if you like.
Finally, /help is implemented in most clients as a way to access help pages. It also allows you to specify what you want help on by adding parameters to /help. For example, to get help on the /ignore command, you'd type:
/help ignore
In the list of users on the channel, some are prefixed with an @, ~ or & and usually show up at the top of the list. In other clients, these may show as different types of icons. These are the channel operators, commonly called chanops or just ops. The ops run the channel - they can kick people out, ban people from entering, change the channel's modes (how it behaves), and more. They're there to keep the channel running smoothly. Those that have the ~ in front of their names are higher ranking channel ops, usually the channel owners, while those with the @ sign are channel hosts.
On some channels, you'll see some users with a + sign in front of their nicks. This is called “voice”, and it's really only meaningful on moderated channels (channels with the mode “m” set), where it means that they are allowed to speak. On unmoderated channels, it's usually just there for show, or to designate some special status about the user.
Both users and channels have different modes available. These are designated by different flags given to a channel or nick. Most IRC networks now automatically set all users on connect to +i which is the “invisible” mode. This prevents you from showing up in lists of all users on the network. So, to talk to you, somebody either has to join a channel you happen to be on or already know your nick. If you have this mode set, you are much less likely to get random messages from people you don't know asking you if you want to chat. You can turn it on by typing “/mode +i” and off with “/mode -i”. It's nice to have.
Other user modes exist, but some are reserved for admins and IRC operators (called IRCops, or opers, these folks help run the network, but unlike the admins they don't have physical access to the servers). You won't be able to set these on yourself, and they're really not that interesting to anyone who isn't running the show anyway.
When you're in a channel, your client shows a bunch of characters like “+nrtu” in the title bar along with the name of the channel and the topic. These are channel modes, which give the channel special characteristics. They can only be set by the ops +i - invite-only. To enter this channel, an op has to have invited you in with the /invite command. +k - key. To enter this channel, you need to add a special password after the channel name when using the /join command. +l - limit. No more than a certain number of users are allowed into the channel at a time. The number itself appears after the list of modes. +m - moderated channel. Only ops and voices can speak, everyone else is muted. +n - no outsider messages. Only users in the channel can speak on it. Almost all channels have this mode set. Setting this mode is one of the first things most people do when they form a channel. +p - private. The channel does show up in a list of channels (the /list command) but the topic cannot be viewed from the list. +r - registered. The channel has been registered with ChanServ. (This can be set only by ChanServ, not normal users) +s - secret. The channel doesn’t show up in a list of channels (the /list command) or in the /WHOIS <nick> info, which lists the channels a given user is in. +t - Topics set by ops. When this is set, only ops can set the channeltopic. If it's not set, then any user in the channel can set the topic with the /topic command. Like +n, almost all channels have this.
As well as these general modes, there are a few that affect specific users. These don't show up in the list of modes: +o gives a user op status, + v gives a user voice, +b bans a user (prevents them from entering the channel or, if they are in the channel, prevents them from speaking).
ChanServ, along with its partner NickServ (and others - depending on the network) is a program that runs on the network with special privileges. Its job is to maintain channels that have been registered with it. It automatically gives ops to the channel founder and to other users designated by the founder.
To get more info on the services, type:
/msg nickserv help /msg chanserv help /msg <otherservname> help
As well as chatting on channels, it's possible to chat privately with individual users. Most GUI based clients do allow you to double-click on a user's nick in the list of names on a channel to open a new window for chatting with that person. You can also type:
/msg <nick> <message>
on any client. On most clients, each private chat usually gets its own window.
Sometimes a bunch of users will seem to all quit at once with the same quit message. What happened is that their server has lost contact with your server. This is called a “netsplit”, since it splits the IRC network into two pieces. The strange quit message is actually the addresses of the two servers that lost contact.
If someone suddenly looses their connection to the server, then they may quit with the message of “connection reset by peer” … or system generated quit messages such as “ping timeout”, this happens, again, if your connection dies and the server issues a ping to your connection to see if it is still active and doesn’t get a reply back.
Installing the various chat clients for IRC.
All of them are available in Ubuntu's repositories. Just use the Ubuntu Software Center, terminal apt-get, or other package management software of your choice, in order to install X-Chat, Konversation, IRSSI, or Pidgin and its IRC addons.
With Pidgin, it also best to install the IRC extras plugins - IRC helper and IRC more at the very least. For Pidgin, go to Accounts > Add and choose IRC. On the Basic tab, choose your username, that is your Nick on IRC. For server, put in irc.freenode.org (to get to Freenode, or whatever network you want to connect to is fine). There are other options on the Advanced tab, but we can look at those another time. And go ahead and click Add. You will automatically be connected to Freenode, but will be outside of a channel at this point. If you get any kind of a message about NickServ asking for your password and you haven't registered yet, then you will need to choose another nick with the /nick command.
You can use the Join a Chat option under Buddies in Pidgin to join the #fullcirclemagazine channel. From here you can chat away with all of us.
For IRSSI, it’s a bit more complicated, since there is no GUI and everything is done via the terminal. But still, you start the application, connect to a server of your choice, then join a channel so you can chat away. There are more complexities and you should read its documentation for them.
A few other features of IRC are: CTCP (client to client protocol) isn’t used much. But it’s good to test for lag on a connection using /ctcp ping nick or #channel and there are a few other commands that may be available depending on the client you use. Check out your client’s help file for those.
It's possible to trade files over IRC using a feature called DCC (which stands for Direct Client Connection). Most GUI based clients have menus and other options to make this task easier. DCC is fairly convenient and trustworthy for moderately-sized files like text, graphics, or short sounds. For longer files like movies, you'll want to use another means of transmission. Remember this is IRC … Internet Relay Chat - not file transfer.
You can also use DCC to chat. The main difference between regular private chat and DCC chat is that DCC chat, once started, is independent of the IRC network itself - even if the entire IRC network crashes, or one or both of the people chatting disconnect from the server, the chat will be unaffected.
DCC works by trading IP addresses, then creating a direct connection between the two computers that bypasses IRC completely.
I hope to start monthly IRC chats sometime in early 2012. I’ll send a message to those of you who’ve subscribed via the FCM site, and via Facebook and Google+. Feel free to experiment with your IRC client using the FCM chat room. I hope to see you there! - Ed