IRC

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. I often suggest my colleagues and peers to go to IRC to get answers for their pressing technical problems. Some of them need further information about using IRC. Hence this blog post.

Some Technical Information: IRC is just another protocol like HTTP, FTP, SSH etc. There is a server computer and a client computer. The server computer runs the IRC service on it. The client computer connects to the server computer using an IRC client software. Similarly thousands of clients connect to the IRC server. On the IRC server, these clients meet at places called channels. Channels are sometimes called as chat rooms. In a chat room, people exchange text messages. Each client connection is identified by a nick name. You choose a nick name while connecting to the server. Most IRC servers offer nick name registration facility. After connecting to the server you identify to your nick name by entering your password. Identifying to your nick name is the login process.

Some Practical Information: First and foremost you will need to download and install an IRC client software on your computer. I use XChat. XChat is a free IRC client and runs on multiple operating systems. If you are using a Mozilla based browser like Firefox you can download and use ChatZilla. After installing the IRC client software, launch it and connect to a server.

IRC servers are also known as IRC networks. DALnet, Undernet, Freenode are some popular IRC networks. Thousands of Open Source Software professionals, users and evangelists hang out on Freenode. DALnet and Undernet are quite famous for casual chat. While connecting to the server the IRC client software will ask you to enter you nick name. You can also choose a network while connecting. If the network you wish to connect is not listed in your IRC client software, type: /server irc.freenode.net 7000. You will need to type this command in your IRC client software command line. This command indicates that you are connecting to irc.freenode.net server on port 7000. Once you are connected to the network register your nick name. Type /ns help register after connecting to get step by step instructions to register your nick . Read all the on screen instructions to see if your nick name is successfully registered. You register your nick name only once in a network. The next time you connect to the same network you simple identify your nick name using the identify command. Type /ns help identify to get correct syntax of the identify command. After identifying to your nick name you join channels. To join a channel type /j #channelname. For example to join the Linux channel type /j #linux. You will see other nicknames on the nick name panel of your IRC client software window. To start chatting type your message and hit enter.

The LAMPComputing.com folks hang out at #lampcomputing on Freenode.

If you are unable to connect any network make sure your firewall allows to you access ports 6666, 6667 and 7000.

Ask me questions if you have in your comments.