Beginner’s guide to IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
As the title says, this is a beginner's guide for people who have never been to IRC and want to try it out. I have tried to make this guide as simple as I could. Any comments/suggestions are welcome. Ok let’s start off.
Basics
What is IRC?
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) can be defined as a chatting service which allows users to interact. Users can chat and share files with each other.
How does it work?
IRC works on a Client/Server based architecture where users (using a client) connect to a server.
What is an IRC Server?
IRC Server is server where users can connect to and chat with others users in different channels or create their own channels. There are many servers available where one can connect to. Popular examples are Efnet, Dalnet etc.
What is an IRC Client?
IRC client is software which you use to connect to the IRC server. Few popular options are MIRC, HydraIRC and XChat. I will be using the MIRC for this guide.
What is Channel?
A channel in IRC is just like a chat room where users come and interact.
Channel Modes
There are some channel modes which can be applied to a channel by the channel operator. For e.g. Some channels are “invite only†where one has to be invited before they can join. Some channels are moderated where only the “voiced users†(explained below) can chat. Some channels have a key or password which is needed to join the channel.
Types of Users:
Channel Operators
Channel operators are the users who protect the channel against users which cause spamming or flooding. They are identified by @ sign before their nick name and have the +o mode assigned to them. They have the full control on channel and can kick/ban users, change channel topic/modes etc.
Voiced Users
These are the users with +v modes assigned to them and have + sign before their nick name. They don’t have any special rights but can chat even if the channel is moderated.
Normal Users
These are the normal users with no special rights and they can chat normally if the channel is not being moderated.
Getting started with MIRC
Now let’s begin with MIRC. MIRC is the most popular client for IRC. You can download the latest version (6.21) from Download mIRC or the mIRC FAQ.
Configuration
Let’s do the basic configuration before we can connect to a server.
You should get the following when you run it:
Connect Tab:
Full Name: Put your name here or whatever you want to put.
Email Address: Put your email address here. It is not necessary to put your real email address.
Nickname: Put your nickname here. This is what people will see when you join a channel.
Alternative: If the nickname you have put is being used by another user on the server then this alternative will be used.
Invisible Mode: Leave it checked if you want to remain invisible on the server. You will be invisible unless you join a channel or chat with a user.
New Server Window: This option is needed when you want to connect to multiple servers simultaneously. Leave it unchecked as we are connecting to the first server. If after connecting to this server you want to connect to another server then check this option so that it doesn’t use the same window of previous server. This feature was introduced in version 6 and is a very nice feature. You can think of it as tab browsing.
Server Tab:
Choose the server which you want to connect to. I have chosen "DALnet: Random server". The folders are the groups and under which you will see the servers. Choose the Random server under DALnet group and click select.
This is enough for connecting to the server. There are many other settings as well but since this is a beginner’s guide, I am not going in all that.
Connecting to Server
After doing the above press “Connect to server button†in Connect Tab and if all goes well then you should get something similar to following:
From above you can make out that you are successfully connected to the server. A pop-up showing Favorites will open up when you get connected. It’s basically a favorite manager which has sets of channels. Similar to bookmarks which we have in IE/Firefox. Press OK to close the window. You can always open this up again from Favorites menu -> Organize Favorites.
Joining a Channel
As we have successfully connected to the server. Let’s join a channel. To join a channel you can use the command /join #channelname as seen below:
After typing the above you should get in the channel and should see the something like the following (scroll to right using scroll bar at bottom to see full image):
You are in #india channel now where you can see there are channel operators, voiced users and normal users. You can chat in the channel or chat privately with users.
You can also get the list of channels by typing "Alt + L" or from "Tools" menu -> Channel List.
Basic commands of IRC
Joining a channel: /j or /join [#channel]. E.g. /j #india or /join #india
Parting (Leaving) a channel: /part [#channel]. E.g. /part #india or /part if you are typing the command in the channel. You can also close the channel window.
Change the nickname: /nick [nickname]. E.g. /nick tarunn
Getting user information: /whois [nickname] E.g. /nick ria
Me command: /me [message]. E.g. “/me is going to sleep†will display the message in channel “* tarun is going to sleepâ€
Chat privately with a user: /query [nickname]. E.g /query ria
Quitting: /quit [reason]. E.g /quit good night will quit you from the channel will display the reason. [reason] is optional. You can also close the server window to disconnect.
Checkout List of Internet Relay Chat commands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for more
As the title says, this is a beginner's guide for people who have never been to IRC and want to try it out. I have tried to make this guide as simple as I could. Any comments/suggestions are welcome. Ok let’s start off.
Basics
What is IRC?
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) can be defined as a chatting service which allows users to interact. Users can chat and share files with each other.
How does it work?
IRC works on a Client/Server based architecture where users (using a client) connect to a server.
What is an IRC Server?
IRC Server is server where users can connect to and chat with others users in different channels or create their own channels. There are many servers available where one can connect to. Popular examples are Efnet, Dalnet etc.
What is an IRC Client?
IRC client is software which you use to connect to the IRC server. Few popular options are MIRC, HydraIRC and XChat. I will be using the MIRC for this guide.
What is Channel?
A channel in IRC is just like a chat room where users come and interact.
Channel Modes
There are some channel modes which can be applied to a channel by the channel operator. For e.g. Some channels are “invite only†where one has to be invited before they can join. Some channels are moderated where only the “voiced users†(explained below) can chat. Some channels have a key or password which is needed to join the channel.
Types of Users:
Channel Operators
Channel operators are the users who protect the channel against users which cause spamming or flooding. They are identified by @ sign before their nick name and have the +o mode assigned to them. They have the full control on channel and can kick/ban users, change channel topic/modes etc.
Voiced Users
These are the users with +v modes assigned to them and have + sign before their nick name. They don’t have any special rights but can chat even if the channel is moderated.
Normal Users
These are the normal users with no special rights and they can chat normally if the channel is not being moderated.
Getting started with MIRC
Now let’s begin with MIRC. MIRC is the most popular client for IRC. You can download the latest version (6.21) from Download mIRC or the mIRC FAQ.
Configuration
Let’s do the basic configuration before we can connect to a server.
You should get the following when you run it:
Connect Tab:
Full Name: Put your name here or whatever you want to put.
Email Address: Put your email address here. It is not necessary to put your real email address.
Nickname: Put your nickname here. This is what people will see when you join a channel.
Alternative: If the nickname you have put is being used by another user on the server then this alternative will be used.
Invisible Mode: Leave it checked if you want to remain invisible on the server. You will be invisible unless you join a channel or chat with a user.
New Server Window: This option is needed when you want to connect to multiple servers simultaneously. Leave it unchecked as we are connecting to the first server. If after connecting to this server you want to connect to another server then check this option so that it doesn’t use the same window of previous server. This feature was introduced in version 6 and is a very nice feature. You can think of it as tab browsing.
Server Tab:
Choose the server which you want to connect to. I have chosen "DALnet: Random server". The folders are the groups and under which you will see the servers. Choose the Random server under DALnet group and click select.
This is enough for connecting to the server. There are many other settings as well but since this is a beginner’s guide, I am not going in all that.
Connecting to Server
After doing the above press “Connect to server button†in Connect Tab and if all goes well then you should get something similar to following:
From above you can make out that you are successfully connected to the server. A pop-up showing Favorites will open up when you get connected. It’s basically a favorite manager which has sets of channels. Similar to bookmarks which we have in IE/Firefox. Press OK to close the window. You can always open this up again from Favorites menu -> Organize Favorites.
Joining a Channel
As we have successfully connected to the server. Let’s join a channel. To join a channel you can use the command /join #channelname as seen below:
After typing the above you should get in the channel and should see the something like the following (scroll to right using scroll bar at bottom to see full image):
You are in #india channel now where you can see there are channel operators, voiced users and normal users. You can chat in the channel or chat privately with users.
You can also get the list of channels by typing "Alt + L" or from "Tools" menu -> Channel List.
Basic commands of IRC
Joining a channel: /j or /join [#channel]. E.g. /j #india or /join #india
Parting (Leaving) a channel: /part [#channel]. E.g. /part #india or /part if you are typing the command in the channel. You can also close the channel window.
Change the nickname: /nick [nickname]. E.g. /nick tarunn
Getting user information: /whois [nickname] E.g. /nick ria
Me command: /me [message]. E.g. “/me is going to sleep†will display the message in channel “* tarun is going to sleepâ€
Chat privately with a user: /query [nickname]. E.g /query ria
Quitting: /quit [reason]. E.g /quit good night will quit you from the channel will display the reason. [reason] is optional. You can also close the server window to disconnect.
Checkout List of Internet Relay Chat commands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for more
