Getting Started with IRC
or How I Learned to Start Chatting
with the Drunk at the End of the Bar
This phaq was written by Whino to help newbies get started chatting on IRC. Follow his instructions, and you'll
find yourself chatting online before you know it.
And where to chat? Why, at #kwfl, of course (and you'll learn the significance of "#" later). #kwfl was
set up by Bill Hoffert, who still oversees that the channel is functioning properly. In here, you'll find parrotheads
every evening, talking about Jimmy, music, work, life, love -- and even the occassional trivia contest .
Table of Contents
What is IRC?
Meet Your Software
Download mIRC - Windows
Download ircle - MacOS
Installing mIRC - Windows
Installing ircle - MacOS
Creating a Shortcut - Windows
Creating an Alias - MacOS
Configuring mIRC
Configuring ircle
Joining Channels
What is IRC?
IRC is, in a very basic form, real-time "talking" between people using their computers as the medium.
Chats take place in rooms -- online locations with specific addresses -- where participants type in their side
of the chat and read each other's words as soon as they are posted (usually by pressing the return key). Typing
replaces talking but otherwise, the same as a bunch of people getting together to sit around and talk.
Chat rooms are signified by the pound sign (#) preceding their name. Most chat rooms are permanent, but temporary
rooms can be set up. Rooms can also be created for private conversations between just a few invited guests. In
addition, most chat software allows the sending of files, the use of sounds and colors (more on these below), private
messages, and many other phun functions.
"Our" chat room is #kwfl. It is set up on an IRC server in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and uses a network called
"Dalnet." #kwfl is accessible to anyone with Internet access; IRC is not a part of the World Wide Web,
although there are chat options on the Web (as well as AOL and Compuserve).
And in case you wonder, IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. If you want more details, there are many sites with
helpful informaton on the Web; check out Yahoo for links to IRC-related sites, or try some of the Web search engines
like Alta Vista or HotBot.
Meet Your Software
First, you need a piece of software known as an IRC client. Client software is any that is used in conjunction
with a server, and a server is a centralized computer program that provides a specialized service to multiple users
over a network; in this case, the service is IRC, and the client allows you to use that service over the Interent).
The software you need to download is dependent upon the operating system you use; for most of you, that means either
Windows 95 or Mac. The following directions will take you step-by-step you through downloading and installing the
necessary software so you can get into the #kwfl chatroom. Sorry in advance if I get too basic, but I'm setting
this up for total newbies to understand -- and you know who you are. ;-)
There are actually numerous choices for both platforms, but only two will be presented here: mIRC (for Win95) and
ircle (for Mac). These are arguably the best IRC clients for their respective platforms, and certainly the most
widely used. Other clients such as Pirch and MacIRC will use the same configurations, so these directions should
work for whatever software you choose. Links to sites where you can get all these programs will be given below.
Actually, the directions will be predominantly for mIRC on Win95 because I am not familiar with Mac. Directions
for the MacOS have been added without my knowledge by t.a., who is editing this page, so blame him for anything
Mac-related!
Important Note!
mIRC and ircle are both shareware. Once you have used it and decided to keep using it, please register your software
by following the registration instructions each program includes. By registering this and all shareware that you
use, you help keep the wonderful free enterprise system alive and well. How would you feel if you had to buy all
your software from one supplier. Think about it. Not to mention that both are very inexpensive, only $15. The software
writers put hundreds of hours into creating these great programs; give them their due.
(Or to paraphrase Johnny Cochrane -- If you play, then you must pay! -- Ed.)
Download mIRC --Windows
Click on this link and then scroll down to . Click on the link for mIRC 32-bit to download it.
(There are other IRC clients on this page; again, if you want to try one of those, simply download, install, and
then configure using the general directions given below.)
OK, now you should have a dialog box up that says "Save as" at the top.
In the box that says "Save in", you should see a down arrow to the right of it. Click (once) on that
arrow and it will expand that box. Now using the scroll bar on the right of the expanded box, go all the way up
till you see where it says "Desktop" and click once on Desktop (The Desktop is the main screen you see
in Win95 which has "My computer", "Recycle Bin" and other icons on it, including the Start
button).
OK, now you should see in the big window a list of all the icons you have on your Desktop. We are going to save
the file to your Desktop. Don't worry; we'll delete it in a minute.
Now just hit the "Save" button in the lower right of the box.
You should now be seeing a box that says "Saving location" and a bar indicator and a percent sign to
the right of it. Wait till this box goes away; i.e. once the percent gets to 100%. In the meantime, grab youself
a beer or one of your favorite beverages and kick back for a bit 'cause this will take a few minutes to download
(depending mostly on the speed of your modem, but also on how fast your computer is, how many other people are
trying to use this same Internet site, and other factors to geeky to mention).
Download ircle --Mac
To get ircle for the Mac, go to the Official ircle Site and download the current version. You'll probably
need a copy of Stuffit Expander, which comes with Netscape but is available for free from Aladdin. If you have
trouble with this, either contact your ISP for help or drop me a line and I'll help you out.
Install mIRC --Windows
Once the file has finished downloading, you are ready to install the software.
You should be able to find it on your Desktop as an icon (picture) labeled "mirc531t.exe". Remember,
your Desktop is the main Win95 screen. To see it, just minimize all your other windows by clicking on the "_"
button at the upper right corner of all the windows you have open. You can also click with your right mouse button
and select "Minimize all windows" (this time with the left button) from the contextual menu that pops
up.
Now just double click on the "mirc531t.exe" icon. A box will come up that says "mirc ver 5.31 installation".
Just hit the install button at the bottom. It should spit and cough for a second then come up with a box that says
"installation was successful" yadda yadda yadda.
Webweaver t.a. would like to note at this point that "yadda yadda yadda" is Whino's interpretation of
the technology behind software installation on Win95 and that he, t.a., did not edit those words one iota.
Install ircle --MacOS
Hey, this is Mac software. How much help do you really need?
Just double-click the Installer, select the folder where you want to install, and click the button that says ...
get ready ... have you guessed yet ... that's right! INSTALL!
Creating a Shortcut --Windows
This step is optional. The installation of mIRC will have created a folder and set of shortcuts in the Start Menu,
as part of "Programs," but the following directions will make a shortcut right on your desktop. Much
easier to access.
You should see a box with the mIRC icons in it. We want the one with the Pac Man-looking character in it. Use your
right mouse button and click once on that icon . You should see a list of things, one of which is "create
shortcut". Use the left mouse button to click on "Create shortcut" (the right button brings up context
menus like this one, but you use the left button to make selections). A duplicate icon will be created, labeled
"Shortcut to mIRC32" (there is also a little arrow in a teeny tiny box, indicating that, yes indeedy,
this is a shortcut).
Now, using your left mouse button click down on your new shortcut and hold down your mouse key while you drag the
icon outside the box to the desktop. Once outside the confines of the box, let go of the mouse key. Your shortcut
will now be on your desktop, and you can use it to access mIRC.
Click the "X" button in the upper-right corner of the mIRC window to close it.
If you have the know-how, you can simply take the shortcut in your Start Menu (which is inside the Windows directory)
and move or copy it to the desktop. As with anything else you try to do in Win95, use the installed Help files
to learn how to do these and other tasks.
Also, if the "Shortcut to..." part annoys you, you can rename the shortcut just like any other file.
Either right-click on the file and select "Rename" from the menu, or (left) click it one time and then
hit the F2 function key. Both steps select the entire name. Simply type in "mIRC" or "Chat"
or whatever you want to name the file. Live it up. Let your inner Tom Wolfe flow freely.
OK, let's get rid of the original"mirc531t.exe" icon. Not the one you just created! The one you downloaded!!
Jeez, pay attention.
Using your right mouse key, click once on the icon labeled "mirc531t.exe". You should see the same list
you saw when making the shortcut. This time (left mouse) click on "Delete". Then "Yes". Poof!
It's gone. ;-)
This is the Installer for mIRC. If you want to save it, simply move it to a folder (I keep a "Downloads"
directory on my Win95 machine at work for just such a purpose). If for some reason you need to reinstall, you'll
have the file available. -- ed.
Creating an Alias --MacOS
Open the ircle folder that contains the program and click (one time) on the ircle icon. Go up to the File menu
and select "Make Alias" (or, after selecting the icon, click the Apple and M keys simulataneously). You
can then move the alias to the Desktop or into the Apple Menu Items folder, which is in the System folder.
The alias will have the word "alias" appended to its name. You can rename the file to whatever you want:
Click on the title, hold your cursor above the highlighted words, and, when the box appear around the words, either
type in a new title or insert the cursor and make your change (for example, delete the "alias" at the
end).
Configuring mIRC -- Windows
Double-click on the mIRC32 shortcut (the one with the pacman dude) that is on your desktop (or, alternatively,
select mIRC through the Start Menu). This will start up the program. The first thing you will see is a guy smiling
at you. Smile back, then uncheck the box at the bottom right corner of this box; then hit the "X" in
the top right corner.
(At this point, you can get the necessary info to register and pay for the software -- which you are going to do,
remember?)
Now you should see a box labeled "mIRC setup". In the first tab box, hit the down arrow key and scroll
down until you find "DALnet: US, OK, Tulsa" and click once on it.
In the box labeled "Full Name" type in your name.
In the box labeled "E-mail address" -- guess what? Type in your email address.
In the box labeled "nickname" STOP.... Here is where YOU have to start thinking. You need to come up
with a unique nick name to identify yourself on the chat channels. I used "Whino" since i kinda knew
no one else would have come up with that nick name. Most people use the nick names they use on the Newsgroup but
sometimes those nicks are already being used by someone else. Remember no one else can be using the same nick name
so come up with an original one and type it in.
t.a. came up with a totally brilliant, completely parrotheady solution to this problem when he discovered that
some low-life had appropriated his nick: Add "A1A" to the end of your normal nick. So Emilie, when she
found that "Emilie" had been taken already (imagine) set her chat nick to "EmilieA1A". Not
only did this allow her a unique nick, it gave her a suitably Key Westian flavor. However, feel free to follow
your own muse. -- ed.
In the box labeled "alternative" you need to type in another nickname in case the first one you used
is already in use. Hint type in your original nick name then add a couple of numbers after it; for example, "Whino123".
Now hit the "connect to IRC server" button. This will connect you to the Dalnet server. If the server
is full it will tell you just keep trying to connect; it shouldn't take too many times. To try and connect again
you need to hit the word "file" in the toolbar and then "connect".
An alternate IRC server that works very well is QIS: qis.md.us.dal.net. If you just cannot get through on the Tulsa
server (sometimes it's full; other nights it's busted; mostly it works, however), try the QIS site. The only change
you'll probably need to make is of the server; you might have to change your nick, but that would be for that server
only.
Configuring ircle -- MacOS
Double-click the ircle icon and start the program. 4 or 5 windows will open, scattered around your screen like
so many Autumn leaves (and wouldn't this be a good time to find your copy of Natalie Cole's "Unforgettable"
album and play her gorgeous version of that song?). Find the one titled "Connections", highlight the
first line, and then click on the button "Server...". In the window that opens, scroll down and select
"webzone.ok.us.dal.net". This will be among the various "Dalnet" servers, but not necessarily
in alphabetical order (it should be near the bottom). After select webzone, click the "Select" button.
This is the same Dalnet server mentioned above for the Windows users.
"Webzone" is now listed under "Server" in the Connections window.
The Connections window also has a "Nick..." button. Click it to set your nick.
You can configure multiple servers simply by clicking additional lines and then adding the desired servers; as
mentioned above, "qis.md.us.dal.net" is a very good back-up server.
Adding the channel and joining it
Channels are also known as "chatrooms," although technically speaking, that term is incorrect for IRC
usage. However, thinking of a channel as a chatroom does give an accurate picture of what channels are used for:
Meeting people and talking together. Most channel/chatrooms are dedicated to a particular topic, that topic being
the reason for having the channel in the first place. As you become familiar with chatting in IRC, you may want
to join other channels. The following directions are for joining the channel that Bill Hoffert created, #kwfl.
It's not the only Buffett-related channel, however. #TheBoathouse and #buffett are also available. In fact, virtually
topic under the sun can be found somewhere in IRC.
Use the following directions to join the chat in #kwfl, and then go explore the rest of this yacky world.
mIRC - Windows
Once you are connected to the server you should see the "mIRC channels folders" box. In the first box
type is "#kwfl" and hit the "Add" button. Now the #kwfl channel is added to the list. To join
the channel simply hit the "join" button to the right. If you mess up and hit the "ok" button
instead it will close the "Channels folder" box without connecting you to the channel. Just click on
the fourth icon under the toolbar to bring the channels folder back up.
To disconnect from the channel, simply close the window that the channel is in. To disconnect from the server go
to "File" in the toolbar, then select "Dissconnect".
Now next time you start up mIRC, it will default to the Tulsa server (webzone), so all you have to do is hit "Connect."
Then scroll down the channels and find #kwfl and simply double click on it to connect.
ircle - MacOS
Once you've connected to Webzone, a status window labelled "Console" will be in the upper left corner;
the small, rectangular window labelled "Inputline" in the bottom left is where you type in commands.
To join a channel, type in "/join" (no quotes), a space, and then the channel name. For example,
/join #kwfl
and then the Enter key. You'll then be in the chat!
To disconnect, type in:
/part #kwfl
Of course, you can simplify this hugely by entering the various commands in the "Shortcuts" menu. Go
to the menu, select "Define" then "Set 1"; enter the entire command in the first field. (You
will need to add "\n" at the end of the line; this is the same as an Enter key and is necessary to make
the shortcut work.) After that, you'll be able to substitute the appropriate keystrokes for the commands.
To disconnect, click the Disconnect button.
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