Talking over the internet has become
increasingly popular over the years,
not only because it's easier to use
than ever, but also because in most
cases it's cheaper than talking to
someone over the phone, especially if
you have a free call un-metered
internet service provider. What's
more, you can even talk to people over
the other side of the world! With so
many methods of talking over the net
now, one of the most popular has to be
Internet Relay Chat, commonly referred
to as IRC. The main reason why it's so popular is
due to the fact it contains more
features than any other chat clients
available, like ICQ. But where does
your Amiga come into the equation?
Well actually it has the best IRC
clients available, AmIRC (developed by
Vapor, the makers of Voyager and
Microdot), and BlackIRC (from the
makers of FxPaint and FxScan), both of
which are full of useful features and
easy to use. These are the two little
gems we will be concentrating on. :)
Basically, IRC is a network of
computers, otherwise known as servers,
which are connected to each other
either over the internet or via a
Local Area Network (LAN). This can be
connected to with IRC software, and
allow you to chat to other people who
are also connected to this network of
computers. This network is split into
channels, with different topics of
conversation and groups. But when it comes down to the actual
conversations, they contain a lot of
abbreviations and expressions, which
are covered on the opposite page.
In AmIRC: Each time you first load up
AmIRC, you will see the server list
window come up. It contains a list of
servers, as well as channels to
connect to. More importantly towards
the top of your window, you will see
where your nickname, real name, and
user name can be entered. If AmIRC
has been launched for the first time,
these boxes will be empty, so you will
need to fill these in. You will notice there are three boxes
for nicknames, you need to put in at
least one, although it is sometimes
handy to fill in the second and
possibly the third one as well, in
case your nickname may be already in
use by another user on the server.
The nickname is the most important
part to fill in, as the nickname you
choose is what you will be known as
when you connect to IRC. You can
always change your nick once you are
connected by typing "/nick
newnickname", where "newnickname" is
where you put a nickname of your
choice. The next field is where you can put in
your real name. It's not really
essential, but it can be handy so that
other users can find out who you
really are without actually asking
you. You never know, there might be
someone in the channel who already
knows you! Then there's the user name box, which
may be shaded out, depending on
whether you use Miami or Genesis. The
IdentD box may also be shaded out.
IdentD is software built in to AmIRC,
that allows an IRC server to
authenticate the identity of a client.
This is disabled if an external IdentD
is running. The tick box below skips the message
of the day (MOTD) on the server if it
is ticked. The message of the day can
be pretty much anything. Below the list are more fields, which
will already be filled in if you have
a server selected. The server name
field shows the server host of the
server you can connect to. Then
there's the Port number, which is
usually 6667. The password is
optional, but very few channels
require a password. The comment is
the name of the server. And finally
is the autojoin field, which is where
you can enter in the channels you want
to join when you decide to connect to
the IRC server. If you are feeling
adventurous already, you can easily
enter in more than one channel to join
by entering the channel names with the
# in front of each one, with commas
following each channel name, but no
spaces. Or if you are already
connected and on a channel, you can
just type "/join #channelname", where
#channelname is where you put in the
channel you want to join. If your IRC server is not listed, you
can easily add a group for the server
and the server details within the
added group. Now you are ready to connect with
AmIRC, just highlight the server you
want to join, and click connect! In BlackIRC: Believe it or not,
considering BlackIRC is freeware, it
is slightly more complex than AmIRC.
Although we will only cover the most
used and important aspects. When you first load up BlackIRC, like
AmIRC, you will be faced with a server
list, and is pretty much the same as
the AmIRC one, except you are given a
different list of servers. Again, you
can easily add servers and channels of
your own to the list. Don't forget to
fill in the details of your real name
and chosen nickname if it is your
first time. Unlike AmIRC, BlackIRC has everything
in one window, but split into sections
with tabs. Once you have connected,
you need to click on the "Chat-
window" tab, which is where everything
happens. And you are away with
BlackIRC!
Ok, now we are connected and have
joined a channel, you can pretty much
sit back after all that setting up!
:) But when you first join, you may
well be greeted by other users, it's
always polite to say hi back to them. But you are probably looking at all
those buttons and other things on your
window by now, and wondering what the
hell they do? At the top of your window (both AmIRC
and BlackIRC) you will see a long box,
usually with text in it. This is where the topic goes for the
channel, and the conversation in the
channel doesn't necessarily have to be
related to the topic. Then next to
the topic you will see several small
buttons; T, N, S, I, P, M. There are
additional buttons on AmIRC; L, K, B.
These control modes for the channel
and can only be changed by channel
operators. "T" is for Topic protection, if this
is enabled only channel operators can
modify or change the topic. "N" stops people messaging from
outside a channel, although you can
still message users privately in the
channel. The "S" button makes the channel
secret until it is joined by users. "I" sets the channel to invite mode
only, so that only users within the
channel can invite users in to join. "P" sets the channel mode to private,
this means that the channel is
invisible in the global channel list.
And... "M" sets the channel mode to
moderated, so that only channel
operators and users with "voice" can
communicate into the channel. In
AmIRC, "L" controls the number of users that
can enter the channel, if active. "K" is where channel operators can
password protect a channel by entering
in the keyword required to enter then
channel if active. And "B" shows a list of users banned
(if any) from the channel. Down the right hand side of the window
is the users list, which shows who is
currently in the channel. Some users
may have what looks like an LED light
beside their nickname, green means
that they are a channel operator and
can obviously control the channel.
Users with voice have a yellow light
beside their nick, which doesn't
really mean anything, except if the
channel is moderated at any time they
can continue communicating in the
channel. However on Black IRC this is
different, channel operators have a
"@" beside their nick, and users with
voice have a "+" beside their
nickname. Below the user list are the user
command buttons. The most commonly
used buttons include the "Query"
button. When you click once on a nick
and click on the query button, another
window/page appears where you can talk
to that selected user in private. You
can make it even more private by
clicking on the "DCC Chat" button in
the query window/page, or highlight a
nick and click the "Chat" button in
the main IRC window (if you don't have
a query window/page open already) and
you can now have a direct client to
client conversation (hence DCC), while
experiencing less server lag. Lag is
a term often used in the IRC world, it
means that the connection between you
and the server is delayed. AmIRC will
tell you when you are experiencing
server lag with a flashing red bar
below the user list, and will also
tell you in the main dialogue box. And of course finally, below the
dialogue box is a long box (identical
to the topic one) where you can enter
your text and communicate with other
users in the channel. You do this
simply by entering your text and
pressing enter/return. And that's the basics of IRC! Here
are some useful commands,
abbreviations and URL's, so that you
can make the most of your IRC
sessions.
AFAIK = As Far As I Know AFK = Away From Keyboard A/S/L = Age/Sex/Location? ATM = At The Moment BBIAB = Be Back In A Bit BBL = Be Back Later BRB = Be Right Back BRT = Be Right There BTW = By The Way CBA = Can't Be Arsed FAQ = Frequently Asked Question FLBKAC = Fault Lies Between Keyboard
And Chair FYI = For Your Information GTG = Got To Go ICBW I Could Be Wrong IIRC = If I Remember Correctly IKWYM = My Humble Opinion IMO = In My Opinion LMAO = Laugh My Arse Off LOL = Laughs Out Loud LTNS = Long Time No See NOYB = None Of Your Business NP = No Problem RE = REgards RL = Real Life ROTFLMAO =olls On The Floor Laughing
My Arse Off ROTFLOL = Rolls On The Floor Laughing
Out Loud RTFM = Read The Flippin' Manual TBH = To Be Honest WB = Welcome Back WH = Welcome Home WTG = Way To Go WUWY = What's Up With You?
http://www.irchelp.org - IRC channel on another network, thought it contains some very useful IRC information.
http://www.support.a rcnet.vapor.com - The ARCNet support site, which also contains some very useful IRC information
http://www.arcnet.vapor.com - Official ARCNet site
#pba - Mainly a general chat channel,
as well as Amiga related discussions
(hence PBA = Powered By Amiga) #AmiHelp - Got any problems with your
Amiga? You go here! #diehard - For hardcore Amiga users! #SEAL - SEAL's very own IRC channel!
For members and anyone interested in
SEAL. All of the above mentioned IRC
channels are on the ARCNet IRC net
work (short for Amiga Relay Chat
Network). A suitable server to
connect to is "uk1.arcnet.vapor.com"
with the port number being "6667".
BlackIRC - Freeware from
http://www.innovativ e-web.de AmIRC - Shareware/included with
NetConnect bundle.
http://www.vapor.co m/amirc
