What is IRC, and how do I use it?

What is IRC, and how do I use it?


Author: Last Man Standing
Email: mike@vu.com

System Architecture: All/General
RedHat Release: All/General
FAQ Category: Application Notes
Modification Date: Oct 18, 1998

Question:

- How do I get it to "page" ?
- How do I get color ?
- Can I use irc under netscape ?
- There is apparently a plug-in (ichat) for netscape 4.0?
- How do I leave a channel without quitting irc ?

Answer:

- irc clients for most platforms can be found at
        ftp://cs-pub.bu.edu/irc/clients

- a list of servers can be found at
        ftp://ftp.comco.com/pub/irc/server-list-current
        ftp://ftp.comco.com/pub/irc/stats/server-lists/undernet-server-list
        ftp://ftp.comco.com/pub/irc/server-list-euronet

- for help on irc, try http://www.irchelp.org
- various useful commands:
        /admin <server>    - get the email address of the server admin
        /help              - get a list of all known commands
        /join #channel     - join a particular channel
        /list              - list all channels
        /list #a*          - list all channels that begin with #a
        /motd <server>     - read the message-of-the-day
        /quit              - exit irc
        /who #channel      - show who's on a channel
        /whois nickname    - find out who a user really is
- to keep clowns from messing up your screen, type "mesg n"
        before starting irc.
- to avoid seeing messages from a schmuck, type the following:
        /whois nick               (to get his/her username/hostname)
        /ignore username@hostname ALL

- irc usage: irc [switches] [nickname] [server list]
- command line switches:
        -c <channel> - joins <channel> at startup
        -p <port>    - default server connection port (usually 6667)
        -f           - your terminal uses flow control (^S/^Q)
        -F           - your terminal doesn't use flow control
                       (default)
        -d           - runs IRCII in "dumb" terminal mode
        -q           - does not load .ircrc
        -a           - adds default servers and command line servers
                       to server list

- nicknames may be at most 9 characters long

References:

ftp://cs-pub.bu.edu/irc/clients 
ftp://ftp.comco.com/pub/irc/server-list-current 
ftp://ftp.comco.com/pub/irc/stats/server-lists/undernet-server-list
ftp://ftp.comco.com/pub/irc/server-list-euronet 
http://www.irchelp.org 

Special thanks to Magnus Schoultz for the re-write of this entry