IRC
(Internet Relay Chat) is a form of direct (live) communication that is used
quite some times by the Wii homebrew Scene. To connect to the IRC service, you
need an IRC client.
You can
basically compare it to MSN messenger. The only difference is that IRC focuses
on group discussions, rather than communications between 2 persons (Although
this is also possible).
If you’d
like to make use of this service, all you have to do is to follow one of the
guides below. It will explain how to set everything up and gives some more info
about commands.
In the
guides below, I connect to the USB loader GX IRC channel as example.
Using
mIRC (Windows Only)
mIRC is
the most popular Windows IRC client. It has the most features from all Windows
IRC clients and the free trial lasts forever.
Guide
- The
first step is of course to download mIRC.
The newest version can always be found at http://www.mirc.com/get.html. Once you got it, run the installer and let it
install.
- Start
up mIRC. Keep clicking OK till you
see the screen above
- Under
connect, choose Servers. You will
now need to find the server group
where the IRC channel you want to join is hosted. Once you found the group, double click it and it will show you
the available servers. Double click one of the servers to
select it.
- Back
on the first screen, fill in all boxes. It won’t check if the inputs are
correct, so you can fill in about everything you want.
- Once
you’re done, click the Connect
button at the bottom. It will connect to the server. Once it’s done, you’ll get
a new screen. Here, you have to give the name of the channel you want to join.
The list at the bottom is basically useless, so you can delete its contents if
you wish.
- Just
type (or add) the channel you want to connect to and click Join. That’s all!
Using
mibbit (Online client)
mibbit
is an online IRC client. It has decent functions, but of course, using a real
IRC client is better. If you have no other option, this is still a good choice.
Guide
- To
connect to Mibbit, go to http://www.mibbit.com/chat/
- You
will see 3 boxes at the top. In the first one, click “Server”.
- Now
you need to fill in the server in the form of irc.{SERVER}.{EXT} (in my case, this is irc.abjects.net)
- Also
fill in your nickname and the channel name, then click Go.
Using
ChatZilla (Firefox Add-on)
Another
possibility to connect to IRC is by using the ChatZilla add-on for Firefox.
Guide
- Download
the ChatZilla Add-on. You can find
it here: https://addons.mozilla.org/nl/firefox/addon/16
- You
will need to restart FireFox. If the
ChatZilla box doesn’t come up automatically now, go to extra > ChatZilla
- First
configure the basic settings under the General
tab (if you don’t see this, go to File
> Preferences). We leave the rest alone for now.
- Ok,
so now it’s time to connect to a server. To do this, type /attach irc.{Servername}.{EXT} (in my example that’s /attach irc.abjects.net). After you
typed that, press CTRL+ENTER.
- Wait
for a while till it stops loading (check the loading bar at the bottom right).
Now all you have to do is to join your channel by using /join {Channel} (in my example, this is /join #gui-usbloader-talk).
Note: to
send messages, you have to use CTRL+ENTER.
ENTER alone will just go to the next line.
User
modes
Like on
forums, some people are more important than other people. In IRC, we call this
User modes. This is a list with modes you can get (only Ops and Half-ops can
assign modes):
|
Mode
|
Symbol
|
Command
|
Info
|
|
Operator (OP)
|
@ or ! or ~
|
+o
|
The maintainers of the channel
|
|
Half-Operator
|
%
|
+h
|
People that help the Operators.
They can use less commands than operators.
|
|
Voice
|
+
|
+v
|
People that can speak on moderated
channels (+m). If the channel isn’t moderated (aka everyone can speak, Voice
is used as status symbol (they are higher than normal users)
|
|
Normal
|
None
|
None
|
Normal people. You get this group
when you join a channel.
|
|
Invisible
|
None
|
+i
|
This mode can be assigned to
anyone and by anyone (only ops can assign it to others). Makes that your name
doesn’t show up outside the channels you joined.
|
Note: to
take away a mode from someone, just use – instead of +.
Q: Do
you stay in a Mode when you log out?
A: No, an OP has to assign the mode to you again after you logged in. (Unless the channel is registered and the OPs have enabled auto-promotion for you)
Q: Then
what do they do when there are no OPs?
A: In that case, the channel has no ops unless its registered. If someone who registered the channel joins, he will be made an OP automatically.
Q: How do I create a new channel?
A: Join one thats not in use yet.
Q: How do I register a channel?
A: Google knows it all.
Some
Commands
Some
commands are used a lot when you are connected to IRC. Every command starts
with /.
Here are
the most common used ones:
Note: {YourName} = the nickname you filled chose
to be yourself.
No
command
If you
just type something and press Enter, it will show like this: <{YourName}>
{Message}
/me
This
allows you to express an action you are doing.
you type:
/me {Message}
shows
as: *{YourName} {Message}
example: /me hides behind a wall
/msg
Send a
private message to someone
you type:
/msg {Name} {Message}
shows
as: <{Yourname}> {Message} (in another window that also pops up for the
other user)
example: /msg John Hello :)
/nick
Changes
your nickname to another one
you type:
/nick {NewName}
shows
as: * {YourName} is now known as {NewName}
example: /nick {Yourname}|Away (Name will be changed from {Yourname} to {YourName}|Away
note:
you cannot choose the name if it’s already in use on any channel of the server!
/mode
Most
functions of this command are only for Ops. This command can change both user
and channel modes.
you type:
/mode {Channel} {Nickname} {Mode}
shows
as: {YourNick} sets mode: {Mode} {NickName}
example:
/mode #Channel John +v (Gives a voice to John in #Channel)
/leave
Use this
to leave a channel
you
type: /leave {Channel} {Message}
shows
as: * {YourNick} has left {Channel} ({Message})
/quit
Quit IRC
(disconnect to every server)
you
type: /quit {Message}
shows as:
* {YourNick} has quit IRC ({Message}) on
every channel