Since the website at talk.eduk8.me just isn’t up to everyone’s standards on using IRC for group chats I’ve put together a brief tutorial on installing a Chrome app that works a lot better than the website. It is also prettier. 🙂 (I also stumbled acrossed Tiny Tiny IRC tonight, but the install is a little more involved, so this will be a later project.)
For this tutorial, you’ll be using Google Chrome. There is a Chatzilla add on for Firefox, and if there is a demand, I’ll put together a tutorial for Firefox users (although you’ll probably be able to use this one to get started with Chatzilla). In Chrome, go to the Chrome Apps store and search for CIRC (or click the link). Install the app, and then launch it.
You’ll be created with a nice chat box, but you’re not connected to any servers yet. Before you connect to a server, you’ll need to set a nickname. In the message box, type /nick NICKNAME where NICKNAME is the nickname you want to use.
Now you are ready to connect. In the message box, type /server talk.eduk8.me (If you haven’t noticed, all of the IRC commands start with a slash (/)). CIRC will connect you to the server.
Once on the server, you need to connect to a room. Type /join #tlah to join the Teach Like a Hacker. Rooms are created and destroyed on the fly. If you join a room that doesn’t exists, a room will be created. And as soon as the last person leaves a room, the room is destroyed.
Now that you’re in the room, start typing! On the left you will see a list of members of the current room along with a list of connected servers and channels. Anything typed in the box that doesn’t begin with a slash will be sent to everyone in the room.
Want to go native? Or mobile? Here are some other clients to check out:
- iPhone: TurboIRC – Free or Colloquy – $1.99 The iPhone clients have an issue with the fact iOS will kill the app when it’s in the background running for ~10 minutes. Both of these clients will warn you before they are disconnected.
- Android: TurboIRC – Free
- Windows, Linux, OS X: jIRCii – Free (Requires Java 1.6+ but their website is awesome! This client is unbelievably fast.)
- Windows: HexChat – Free
- OS X: Colloquy- Free
- Linux: Pidgin – Free (Does about every instant messenger service)
- OS/2: Quassel IRC – Free
- Amiga: WookieChat – Free
- Atari ST: AtarIRC – $5.00
- Apple //e, C64, C128, Atari 8-bit: Contiki – Free (Requires additional hardware)
(This is just a list to get you started, there are a plethora of clients available for the modern operating systems!)