Notes on IRC ------------ IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a worldwide multi-user chat system. To join, you connect to an IRC server using an IRC client. This program is that client (it is also possible to access IRC via telnet, but that is problem prone and not recommended). IRC supports both class 1 and class 6 packet drivers. The packet driver needs to be set up before you set up IRC. This program features menus, multiple scrollable windows, and mouse support, and it automatically sorts the output of a /LIST command. It does not implement actions, CTCP, or DCC. The documentation leaves a bit to be desired; I've added a list of common IRC commands to the .zip. There is no online help. If you need to exchange files during an IRC session, you can set up NCSA or CUTCP telnet to allow incoming ftp requests (see their docs), and get onto IRC via a telnet gateway. As noted above, using the telnet gateway is not recommended, however. Alternately, you can get ftp login instructions from someone who has a server, exit IRC, and ftp to their site to exchange files. To configure IRC, the documentation says to set the following but doesn't say where or how. You set these in the DOS environment by placing the following lines in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (mutatis mutandis, of course): SET IP=127.0.0.1 SET NETMASK=255.255.255.0 SET GATEWAY=127.0.0.2 SET DNS=127.0.0.3 SET MSS=512 SET RWIN=512 SET DOMAIN=foo.bar.net It is probably better *not* to set DOMAIN, however, since it only slows down DNS queries. MSS and RWIN should be set as shown to prevent fragmentation and to be compatible with Frank Molzahn's SLIP drivers. If you have dynamic IP, set NETMASK and DNS, and if possible GATEWAY, in AUTOEXEC.BAT. You will set IP and if necessary GATEWAY at connect time (see the README file on my site). After changing your AUTOEXEC.BAT, reboot and establish the connection to your service provider. At this point, you run IRC.EXE, and a setup screen should appear, as the documentation says. If no setup screen appears, delete IRC.PRM if you have it and try again. Otherwise, wait until the clock on the top right starts moving and select Setup from the File menu. Setup asks you for four things: "IRC Host", "Name", "E-mail", and "Nick name". We'll come back to "IRC Host" in a minute. "E-mail" should be your email address as assigned by your provider. "Name" is your real user name as assigned (the part of your email address before the "@"). "Nick name" is the name you want to be called on IRC; it need not be the same as your real user name. The nickname you pick is just to start out; if someone else is already using that nickname, you will be asked to change it when you connect. "IRC Host" is the fully-qualified domain name of the server you want to connect to, optionally with a port address; the port address defaults to 6667 if not specified. If you already know of a server you want to connect to, put it in. A few Internet service providers run their own private IRC servers for their users. Otherwise, pick a server close to you using information from the WWW sites below. If you need to specify a port, you give the.host.name:port; for example, "Caen.FR.EU.undernet.org:7000". If one server doesn't work, try another (you may have to try several). Once you get on IRC, you can get information about other servers. Similarly, connecting via port 6667 is generally slow; once you get on, the server will generally give you a list of alternative ports in the connect message. You probably do not want to use -L to list all channels; the server will probably kick you off. Servers kick people off when they try to get too much data at once, and there are several thousand IRC channels these days. If the server doesn't kick you off, it will take a *long* time for a list of all channels to arrive over a modem link. Use a parameter on the /LIST command to limit the output, e.g., /LIST >20 to list all groups with more than 20 users. (On EFnet, use /LIST -MIN 20 instead.) You can find out about some of the channels available on Undernet, as well as other stuff about that network, at: http://www.undernet.org/ For general IRC help, go to this site: http://www.irchelp.org/ For information on IRC networks and server lists, go here: http://deckard.mc.duke.edu/irchelp/networks/index.html I've deleted the server lists that were formerly in this document. It just isn't feasible to keep up to date on servers. Visit the above site to find a server near you.