Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a great way to stay in contact with camper folks. It's one of the oldest online chatting protocols, and there's an IRC server set up right here on nbtsc.org. To connect to it you'll need a client program. Here's a brief list of the most popular clients for Mac and Windows. Reply
Yet another HELP!: I tried getting on IRC earlier, using a web chat thing, but that really didn't work so well. I read below about there being an IRC program called Chat Zilla with Firefox...? Does anyone know how to access the program? Thanks! Reply
Help!: I also have x chat, also tried all the things that this page tells me to.. and it still doesn't work. whats the deal, if someone would give me a step by step or explain to me how the whole thing works im sure that would help, thanks. Reply
OK, I got x-chat but I can't seem to get it to work, I add nbtsc.org to the networks but it says it cant find it, so I try nbtsc without the .org and then akilla.net and then akilla without the .net, then I connect to 2600net and try to get nbtsc and then akilla through there, I don't think it worked, some one help!! Reply
Try polis.nbtsc.org maybe? Reply
Reply
- still dose not work, Damn.
IRC
means Internet Relay Chat. You download a piece of software, connect to a server, and ta-da, you can come talk to us in real-time. Wheee! Reply
If you're using Windows, you can get X-Chat from http://www.xchat.org/. Few who have a choice use mIRC. Reply
For Mac, you can download AthenaIRC, Colloqy (free), X-Chat Aqua (free), or Ircle. Reply
For Linux ... well, y'all on Linux probably know, but there's X-Chat, and if you're a hardcore text fiend
you could use IRSSI. Reply
I'm using linux's Suger on an olpc xo, and they recomended xoirc http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XoIRC, it's a 58mb size file, took a blink of an eye to download, and looks pretty good. —Ryland Reply
Once you have an IRC Client (mIRC, AthenaIRC, Ircle, X-Chat, whichever) installed, tell it to connect to server castle.nbtsc.org, and join channel #nbtsc (/join #nbtsc). If you get confused with the connection setup, just get into the main window and type /server castle.nbtsc.org and hit return. Reply
If you just can't get that to work, and you happen to have the Mozilla web browser on your computer, you can use their web-IRC program. Reply
P.S. There are various other IRC programs, if anyone who knows about them would like to add information to this page, please do. Reply
If castle.nbtsc.org is down, I suggest you bitch at Aria or myself about getting a good backup server set up. (Try akilla.net or wrethe.net, too —Aria) Reply
See also: OnIRCArguments Reply
X-Chat is a modern client that originated on Linux/Unix. It's written by geeks for geeks, but is straightforward and lightweight enough that anyone can use it. It's easy to customise. Reply
http://www.xchat.org/files/binary/win32/xchat-2.6.2.exe Reply
mIRC is a rather old IRC client (it dates back to Windows 3.11 days) but is probably the most well-known client for Windows. Reply
http://www.kickchat.com/downloads/mirc/KCScript20.exe - more updated version of mIRC that seems to run better, for some reason. Reply
Bersirc is a semi-popular alternative that sports a more modern interface than mIRC, but far fewer features. Reply
Gaim does AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo, and a few other protocols in addition to IRC. Also supports skins. GTK included (if you already have it you can download a GTK-free version). Reply
Trillian is somewhat bloated, but does AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo, and a few other protocols in addition to IRC. Also supports skins. Reply
X-Chat Aqua is a port of X-Chat to OS X. Reply
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/xchataqua/X-Chat_Aqua.0.15.2.dmg Reply
Colloquy is a truly native client, unlike X-Chat Aqua, so it feels more at home
. It has a lot of text presentation options, but is missing some of the more basic IRC options. Reply
Minerva is the successor to AthenaIRC, and just like Athena it's written in REALbasic and therefore sucks monkey balls. Download if you've got some fetish for simian reproductive organs. Reply
Ircle is an ancient yet serviceable client. It's annoyware, so you'll have to pay $20 if you want a client that doesn't quit after 30 minutes. Reply
I use a Mac, and I was thinking about geting IRC a few weeks ago, when I decided to download the Mozilla web browser (which for other Mac users out there who have trouble reading/editing wiki, works wonderfully. Just be warned that it took about four hours to download on our 56K connection.) If you do a standard install of Mozilla, it comes with the Chatzilla IRC client, which works on Macs. If you want your IRC program to do anything beyond talking to other people, get something else. But for a starter program it works well in my opinion. I can talk in the main channel and open query windows, which is about all I need to do. It doesn't do DCC, but I've never had luck with that on other more fancy programs either. My only complaint is that I like being able to just click on a name in the list of who's in the room to open a private query, which dosn't work in Chatzilla. —Lorin Reply
Correction, it took four hours on our 26K connection. If we saw 56K we'd probably fall dead of shock. I'll also note that the version we're using (Mozilla 1.2.1) isn't really entirely stable yet, and I suspect that Chatzilla is especialy wonky. It has crashed on me a couple times, and the other night Neal was testing his client and all his actions were wonky ... so be warned that it seems to be a bit of an afterthought in the Mozilla package right now. —Chris B. Reply
It is an afterthought in Mozilla. Interesting and does work, though. It gets better in each release. —Aria Reply
Wait, are you talking about Firefox or the plain Mozilla browser? 'Cause my Mozilla browser doesn't have ChatZilla but Firefox does. Anyway. —JimmyLightning Reply
Once you have a client, tell it to connect to nbtsc.org or akilla.net. This varies from client to client and you will have to choose a nickname, username and info. (The latter two appear in your hostmask and whois info, respectfully. They're not terribly important.) Then type /join #nbtsc to join the main channel. Reply
/server servername or IP this command connects you to a server. To get to the nbtsc.org server type /server nbtsc.org Reply
/nick nickname Changes your nickname /nick foo changes your nickname to foo
Reply
/join #channel joins a channel, the main one on the nbtsc.org server is #nbtsc channels are always prefixed with #
Reply
whois Nick returns information about the person with a nickname of 'Nick'. Reply
/me action appears something like • Nick action
in the channel, where action is, duh, the action you're performing. Technically /me is a CtCP (Client to Client Protocol) command, almost every client will support it, but it's not technically part of the IRC Protocol. Reply
/topic #channel topic Changes the topic of the channel to 'topic' Reply
/part #channel msg the opposite of /join. leaves the channel, with the parting words 'msg', which are optional. Reply
/quit message disconnects from that IRC server. message is optional like with /part. Reply
To see a full list of IRC Commands see your client's help file (generally /help will bring it up) and if you're interested in the technical bits of it you can read the specs at: http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/rfc/rfc1459.html Reply
Edit This Page Show Changes Add Archive Tag Revisions Random Page List of Pages Recent Changes Main Page Log in