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LINUX MESSENGING AND CHAT COMMUNICATIONS
source: https://fedoramagazine.org/beginners-guide-irc/
IRC
IRC, short for Internet Relay Chat, is a great way for individuals and teams to communicate and work together. Although there are new apps like Slack that mimic it, IRC itself has been around for decades. It’s a time-tested system with a wealth of features. However, it’s also simple to get started using it with tools in Fedora.
There are several useful IRC client apps available on Fedora. The one we’ll use here is Hexchat. To install it, open the Software application, type hexchat into the search bar, and select the Install button for the app. Or at the terminal, use this command:
su -c 'dnf install hexchat'
Once the app is installed, select it from the application menu for your desktop environment, or run hexchat at the terminal. Other clients include:
Polari. Polari is designed to work well with GNOME. It has a simple, beautiful interface to help you get online quickly and focus on your conversations.
Smuxi. Smuxi is a slightly more complicated client, but it includes a proxy component. Rather than using a separate proxy like ZNC — which we covered in the Magazine earlier — Smuxi includes this feature. (You can use a regular proxy with any client, of course.)
Konversation. Konversation is designed to work well with KDE. Its interface is similar to Hexchat and it has many useful options.
Irssi. Unlike the other clients mentioned here, irssi is a command-line application. It is highly configurable, and requires more knowledge to use.
WeeChat. This is another highly configurable command-line IRC client, but also supports some other protocols.
There are many IRC commands available. This article will only cover a few.
You don’t have to type a command in a graphical client like Hexchat. Many commands can be run through the menu in the app window, or by right-clicking an object such as a network, channel, or nick.
/HELP displays a list of all the commands available. To read more about most commands, type /HELP followed by the command. For example: /HELP PING
/MSG followed by a nick and a message sends that message privately to that person. Right-click a nick, choose Open Dialog Window, and send a message, or type: /MSG pwf16 Hey, can we talk about Friday plans?
/NICK followed by a nick will change your IRC nick. Be careful doing this when joined to channels. If you do it too often, it may be considered abuse. Click your nick at the bottom of the window and enter a new one, or type: /NICK pwf16-test
/AWAY followed by a message indicates you aren’t seated at a console where you can see IRC, although your client is still signed on. To indicate you’re back, type /AWAY without any message. You should only use this if you’ll be away for a while. A good rule of thumb is an hour or more. Frequent use may be considered abuse. Select Server > Marked Away in the menu, or type: /AWAY Back at 9pm EST
/BACK indicates you are no longer away, and may be used interchangeably with /AWAY in some clients. Deselect Server > Marked Away in the menu, or type one of these commands.
/JOIN followed by a channel name joins another channel. Select Server > Join a Channel… in the menu, or type: /JOIN #hyundai-cars
/PART disconnects your client from the current channel. You can optionally include a channel name to leave a channel other than the current one, as well as a message your client will send upon leaving. Right-click the channel in the list and select Close, or type: /PART #hyundai-cars Thank you and goodnight
You can find some useful general information on etiquette and using IRC here:
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