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About IRC...

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What is IRC??

IRC is to the computer......what the telephone is to your home. It is a means of communicating with many, many people in an instantaneous basis. If you have experienced the "Chat Rooms" on AOL....you may have an idea what IRC is about. The difference is that IRC is MUCH larger, is unrestricted (for the most part), is much faster than AOL Chat and provides as much, if not more, fun. IRC is provided by many "networks". To mention a few....there are Efnet, Undernet, Dalnet, Superlink, Superchat, AnotherNet and the list goes on and on. These net names can be found by doing research on a good search engine from your browser. If you don't understand what I just said......you may not be ready for IRC yet. If you did......let's move on.

How do I get there??

First we have to determine.......what type of machine are you using. Look at the big box in front of you.......... Does it say MAC or APPLE anywhere????? If it does.......chances are you are using an APPLE type computer and most probably some form of MAC. If it says anything else....Chances are you have either an IBM machine or one of the many IBM compatible machines which as a group have come to be called.....PC's. Don't let this fool you.......In this little universe, even though Apple computers ARE "PC's", they have come to be refered to as MAC's.

Do you remember the Beta/VHS wars?? Well.... the division here is MAC's and PC's. So far both seem to be "Hanging in There", although the majority of the benefits seem to belong to the PC people.

Before going any farther, let me state that, as far APPLE/MAC goes, I merely pass on what has been passed on to me or observed by me. I am firmly in the PC "camp".

APPLE/MAC

For APPLE/MAC users.....from what I have seen..... the best program is IRCle. There are several, but those whose use this program seem to have access to all networks with very little trouble. IRCle is available from :

Instructions for its use and set up are available there and I will provide a link at the end of this article to take you there.

PC's

Personally, I like mIRC for PC access to the IRC networks. Therefore this is the program I recommend. It is available from:

Instructions for this program's use and "set up" are available at this site and, again, I will provide a link at the end of the article to take you there.

While you may very well find that these programs are not to your liking, they will get you started and get you onto IRC. From there, it's up to you what programs you use. My purpose here is to get those with an interest in IRC onto the net and headed in the right direction.

For those that don't know what a link is..... Link is short for Hyperlink and a hyperlink is generally a line of text in the body of a web page that when clicked upon....will connect you to another site. The most common identifier of a link is that the text appears in blue and is underlined. This does not mean that all undelined blue text is a link.....nor that all links are blue and underlined.

I am aware that there are many that will skip ahead and use the links and never come back here. To them, I say thanks for stopping. To those that stay and read on, I say......Nice to have you....and hopefully the following information will make your IRC adventures easier and more pleasant.

Okay...I have the program now what??

Congratulations for sticking with me. What you learn from here on will definitely help the novice or "Newbie" negotiate the world of IRC much easier.

First.....following the directions which you should have "downloaded" with your program......get your program installed on your computer. Then go to the set up portion of your program. As I said earlier, I am more familiar with PC operation on the IRC networks but I will try to give you information that is common to both.

mIRC comes with many servers installed and this should get you started without too much trouble. However, If you are unfortunate enough to be using AOL as your "provider" you may have a little difficulty. Please read on.....CAREFULLY.

Here are some terms that may or may not help you out ....I do know that mIRC asks for these things:

REAL NAME.. This does not necessarily mean you must identify yourself, but you do have to make some sort of entry in this space. I generally just put my first name.

E-MAIL ADDRESS: This is generally required and must be a working e-mail address. Phoney addresses can cause program conflicts and prevent you from getting online.

NICKNAME: This is how you will be identified online and the name that people will know you by. Here's your chance to be creative. You may wish to pick something that reflects who you are (a "Baker" might use "DoughBoy") or perhaps a fantasy name which reflects your attitude or a role you wish to play. ( a woman might chose "Playful" or "IceQueen".....you get the idea)

ALTERNATE: This is generally a BACKUP nickname.......one that will be used if for some reason your first choice is unavailable. This can be anything you wish it to be and how creative you get is up to you.

Okay...Now what??

Once you have your "personal information filled out, if you don't have a list of servers to work with you will have to provide that information for the program you are working with. Some things you may run into are :

Description or Server Name: This is just what it says...... and it serves as a reference so that you can find this particular server when you want it.

IRC server: This is the server "Address" and tells your program what to hook up to. You must be very careful to enter this EXACTLY as you find it. If the letters are small letters....you must use small letters. If there is a "." it must be there. You can not add any extra spaces before the address or in the address. It must be identical to the address you are given. DO NOT doubt me here. One thing I have noticed is that addresses will be rejected if there is a "space" in front of them. Be very careful about the address!! As a general rule, the internet seems to prefer small letters and no spaces.

Password: This is generally something that you can leave blank.

Port: The most common port number is 6667, if you don't know the port number then use 6667. ATTENTION AOL USERS!!!!! You will find that you can connect to most servers, BUT...YOU must use PORT 7000.

Okay, okay!!.......when do I get to go online???

NOW! ...If you have followed all the instructions that came with your program and the hints that I have given you. You can try going online NOW. (You may wish to hang around a bit though, there is more to be told! AND.....You may be glad you stuck around.)

To go online...... first make connection with your "provider".

This could be an ISP, (internet service provider) or AOL. I am not sure about the other "Commercial" services. You will have to ask friends or their techs how to access IRC. In any event.....you are prepared to do so.

By the way..... America On Line is called AOL.... because they have ..

"All Our Loot"

Once you are connected,leave the connection in place, open your IRC program, and attempt to connect to your IRC server. With AOL you may chose to minimize the AOL window first. Don't disconnect......just minimize. In most cases, connecting is just a matter of selecting a "server" and clicking on a "Connect" button. Again.......STUDY YOUR INSTRUCTIONS!!

Your first indication that you have succeeded in connecting will be a scrolling screen which identifies the server you have connected to, sets forth their rules, and generally presents a MOTD (message of the day). If you see this.......You have successfully connected.

If not..... There could be several reasons. If you get a message that says something like "attempt timed out" it means the server is most probably "down".......you can try again or change to another server.

If it says "cannot connect to IRC server"...It means the server no longer exists or you have the address wrong. It could also mean you have lost your connection to the internet. If you think this to be the case....you might try running your browser.....do a couple of quick searches.....if your browser works properly the problem is probably with your server or IRC network. Try again in a few minutes.

Remember.... in trouble shooting on your computer... always start with the easiest solutions.... This can save a lot of time. Example....your monitor stops working......before you sit on a tech support line for an hour........CHECK THE PLUG!!!!

Once in a while......you may run into a server that will not allow you access........in most cases it is because it is a private server.....but it is also possible that it may be full and not able to handle anymore "users".

In any event, It is worth it to keep a server until you have tried it several times. You will most probably "settle" on one network eventually anyway. One approach that is always worth a try is to put the name of the network between "irc" and "net"...... as in... irc.efnet.net or possibly irc.dal.net . These are things to try when you can't find a server for the network you want.

If I were looking for a network called ....Newnet, I would be inclined to try irc.newnet.net or irc.new.net. This is just something for you to play with. In the beginning, you may wish to stick with servers you have found listed.

Something else worth mentioning here.........REMEMBER.... There is a difference between a server and a network. A network may have many servers....much like NBC has many stations. The networks are not interconnected. If you are on EFnet you cannot communicate with someone on DALnet. You can only join channels and communicate with people..... on EFnet.

Networks......like countries, have different personalities and customs. You may wish to try several until you find what you are looking for.

Remember.....always read the RULES when you enter a net.......breaking rules can result in you being "K-lined" or barred from ever entering that network again. And this can be very disappointing if all the people you know are on that network.

In choosing a network, there is one thing to keep in mind. As a new person on IRC, you may wish to chose a network which provides services. These services allow you to register your nickname, register your own channel, leave messages for others, and even play games on some networks. One network which provides some of these services is Undernet. You may wish to try Dalnet out first to get an idea what these services can do for you and your first step should be to register your nick anytime you enter a new network. Directions for this operation, if this service is provided, can usually be found in the network information screens that scroll by when you first connect to the net. Also most of the networks have a "help" channel and a "newbie" channel.

If you don't wish to be recognized as a complete "newbie", stay a little longer.

All materials contained in this site are solely the property of Michael ©. Michael ©. is in no way connected with any of the programs or networks mentioned in this guide, nor does he purport to be. Nor is he in any way responsible for their availability or performance. Recommendations of IRCle© and mIRC© are made in an effort to make access to IRC easier and through the belief, that at this given time..., they are the best available programs for this use. This guide is published free of charge and on a completely voluntary basis. It may not be reproduced in any manner without the expressed written permission of it's author.