Internet Relay Chat Tutorial


Today is	Updated Sunday, January 11, 1998 03:47 PM
Downloading, Installing, and Using "mIRC" to access Internet Relay Chat

We have all learned that the Internet can give us levels and quantities of information and communication that were unimaginable just a few years ago. One of the communication functions we have on the Net is Internet Relay Chat (IRC). IRC is served by multiple connection servers where a nearly unlimited number of people can communicate at once, in real time, with each other through their keyboard.

Once on IRC there are hundreds of group areas in which to participate much as in the Newsgroups. WARNING: most of the chat categories on IRC are used for social intercourse of an informal nature. Many of them are adult oriented and contain conversions of a sexual nature. Even though much of the chat rooms are involved in this adult-oriented chat, but there is no reason that this service can't be used for something more valuable. There are support groups, game discussions, and a lot more! You can even open your own chat room!

Since you already have an Internet Service Provider (or you wouldn't have gotten to this article in the first place!), the next step is to get an IRC software program. This is the program that will connect you to IRC and give you the ability to enter a chat room and to 'talk' to others. There are a number of IRC programs, but the most popular one is called "mIRC". The best place to start is at the mIRC Homepage.

Place a bookmark when you get there. As you can see, this page has a LOT of information! It is an excellent source of help, so if you run into problems in the future, go back there!

From the first page select Download the latest mIRC, IRC Intro or FAQ. I suggest that you download all three. For the rest of this, all you need is the mIRC program itself. Pick a server near you and download the proper version. For Windows95 you will want the 32 bit version.

Now that you have downloaded the proper mIRC program, place it in its own temporary directory (W1 if you completed the Computer 101 course at F.R.C.N.U.) and execute it, then follow these instructions to get going:

1) It will ask you where you want to install it. Choose a convenient directory. Use the 'Browse' button to find a place for it if you choose not to accept the default.

2) Read the rest of the install window, make your choices, and hit 'Install.'

3) That's it! You now have mIRC installed and ready to go. You might want to create a shortcut on the desktop to mIRC.

4) If you wish, start with the "IRC Intro" file. This is a good place to start, but you won't need to read more than #1 through #26. If you absorb all that, YOU could write the rest of this! Don't worry about all the details. This will just give you an idea of what's going on.

5) Now- open your Internet connection just like you were about to use E-Mail or connect to the WWW through your browser. Only this time, after the internet connection has been made, start "mIRC". After reading the first dialog box with the author's picture, click on the 'X' in the corner.

6) In the next dialog box there are a few things for you to do the first time you connect. First, fill in the four boxes on the bottom:
a) "Real Name" is you name, like 'Fred.'
b) E-Mail is your E-Mail address like 'abcd@gunknet.com'.
c) 'Nickname'. Choose a name to be known as in the conversation. Generally you should never use your actual name on IRC because you hav no idea who you are talking to. Pick a made up nickname that is unique to you; maybe reflecting a hobby or special interest.
d) Place a second nickname in the 'Alternate' box. This is used when someone is already using your nickname. (For example- If you chose 'tabby' in the above box, you could place 'Tabster' here.)

7) The next step is to choose an IRC server. There is one already chosen for you, but by clicking on the little triangle next to the name, it will drop down a list of available servers. Try to pick one close to you geographically. Which one you choose for now is not terribly important.

8) mIRC will attempt to resolve all the rest of the information automatically.

9) Click on 'CONNECT'. It may take a minute to complete your connection. You will know you are connected when it says something like, "Welcome to the Internet Relay Network FRCN Your host is irc.concentric.net[heracles]" with your chosen nickname in place of FRCN. SOPme of the other info may vary as well.

10) The first time on (and every now and then in the future) you will want to get an idea of what chat rooms are out there. On the top bar hit the Channels icon (circled in the example above).

11) This is the dialogue box you will be presented with after step 9. There are a number of parameters as you can see. To be sure to find groups that have people to talk to, place the number 3 in the 'min.' box. Since we are not looking for anything specific, the 'Match text' box can be left empty. This way it will list all groups with at least 3 people in them. and then hit the 'Apply' button.

12) You are now presented with a list of all the channels (or 'chat rooms') that are available on the server you have chosen. Above you can see an example of some of the channels that were available to me on the day I wrote this. These are an excellent place for you to start. Look for one of them! #IrcHelp would be a great place to start. To join a channel you could just double-Left click on its name in the list, but try this...
Pick one of the channels that has a number of people in it. RIGHT click on the channel and choose 'Add to folder' from the pop-up dialogue box. What this does is... well, it's obvious! Follow along....

13) Close or minimize the window listing all the Channels. Now click on the Channels folder (circled in the above example). There, in the text area is the channel you just 'Added to folder' from the last step. In this way, you can 'save' your favorite channels so you don't have to search for them every time you log on. Click on the name of the Channel you chose and hit the 'Join' button on the right.

14) You will be presented with a box as you see above.
Number 1- This is where you will soon see text appearing. This is where the ongoing conversation takes place.
Number 2- is the list of the people currently logged on to this particular Channel.
Number 3- is where YOU will type. Click your cursor once in this box and type 'Hello. I am new here. This is my first time' or something like that, then hit the 'Enter' key on your keyboard. What you just typed will appear in the window marked #1.
Number 4- is the bar that shows all the channels to which you are currently logged. That's right! You can join multiple channels at once! Being logged on to more than one channel makes it a bit tough to communicate intelligently, though.
(Be aware that some servers will feature rooms not accessible from other servers. Experiment until you find what you are looking for. mIRC 'remembers' the last server you chose, and will present that as the default the next time you connect.)

THAT'S IT! The only problem that you might have would be related to step #6 and 7. In the mirc Set Up box, the second tab says, "LOCAL INFO". This holds the information of your local host and your IP address. In most cases, mirc will be able to automatically assign these, but if it doesn't you will need to manually type the 'local host' information in. if it can't resolve you IP, you got problems!

Although the above site and information should give you all you need, other places to go for more information are at the Axtell Expressions, Inc IRC Help and at the SFSInform@ IRC help page.

You can also CREATE channels! In the 'Channels Folder' (step 12 above) you can add any channel name you want! Just type in a name of a channel in the 'Enter name of channel to join.' Be sure that it starts with a '#' and has no spaces. SO? What good is that? Well, lets say your three siblings are located all over the world. E-Mail them and tell them to meet you for a chat in the #My-Sibs channel on Thursday, at 7:00 PST (of course, you can create ANY channel name you want and the time and place would be up to you as well!). You and your sibs can have a 'live' interactive text conversation! Be aware that you all must be on the same type of server- you all must choose an EFNET server for example. Not necessarily the same EFNET server, though.
There are a lot more possibilities, but this information will give you a great start! If you open the channel, you are the 'Op' of that channel. If comeone unwanted joins your private chat you can pick their name in window #2 above, and choose 'Ban' and then 'Kick. They will be unable to re-join your channel.

If you have any further questions refer to the sites above and download the various FAQ files. The best help will be found in the "IRC Intro" file and also in the online help file in mIRC itself.