IRC Client for OS/2 V1.0e Copyright (c) 1993 Chris Hawkinson, Computer Solutions by Hawkinson IRC client for OS/2 allows you to chat with other users, off of the Internet, using an IRC server. This client is not based on any code previously done. It follows the RFC 1459 Experimental Protocol (Dated May, 1993). Where not all of the features of the latest UNIX IRC clients may not be avalible in this version, future versions will contain these features and more. The main priority for this project was to get a OS/2 based client out so that people can make comments and requests on how to perfect it. Making this a non-PM application was one of the ways the product was put out in a short period of time. General Information ------------------- IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a protocol for text based conferencing. The model is one of distributed processing. A series of clients hook into a server (which handles the delivery and other functions). The server itself may tie into more servers. Thereby, someone connecting to a server in New York can chat with people from Europe, Asia, as well as other domestic sites. The best way to envision the IRC network is to envision the Internet itself, a series of clients hooked to a server (or workstations into a network), that is further connected to more servers (or networks). Each user has a user name, a host name, a nickname and a real name. When you first sign onto a IRC server much of this information is passed to it. With IRC for OS/2, all names, except your host name, are definable by the user. The host name is taken from the HOSTNAME variable in the CONFIG.SYS. People will mostly know you by your nickname, but CAN get at the other information. Very little is private on the IRC. Once connected to an IRC server, you will find a series of 'channels' or areas of discussion. Each channel has a name, and all, except private (invitation only) channels, are open to anyone. Each channel has a channel operator who can do 'special' things. This person is the one 'in charge' of the channel, and depending on the channel, may exert (or may not) control. The first person who /JOINs a channel creates it, and by default becomes the channel operator. One item to note, all channels begin with a # (public) or a * (invititation only). You may JOIN (/JOIN) more than one channel. Since this version of IRC for OS/2 is not 'multi-windowed', this can get a bit confusing, however, on each message you see, the first peice of information is the channel name. As people write back and forth, you will see messages in the fomat of: (channel name) Nickname: Message The channel name is the channel that the message was stated in, the Nickname is the users nickname that sent the message, the Message is the message itself. To send a message in the conference you are currelty in, just type: How is it going OS/2 lovers? Will show up on the screens of all the people in the #os/2 conference. With other commands, you can send private message to other users (/MSG command), gag an annoying user (/GAG), Log the session (/LOG) and many other features. The easist way to learn IRC is to use it. A quick reference guide is included under the name QUICK.TXT. How do you find an IRC server? ------------------------------ The best solution is to do an anonymous FTP to h.ece.uiuc.edu and look in the /irc directory for a file named something like servers.930601. Warning, not all the servers are 'publically' avalible, so it may take a few tries. The idea is to use the one thats closest to you. This speeds the IRC net and requires less loading on the Internet itself. For testing, I used a series of servers from 2.7 on. 2.8.x. servers have features missing on earlier versions. However, both should be usable. Why use IRC? ------------ In many circumstances 'real-time' chatting is faster, easier and better than a mailing list. There are commonly 500+ channels to choose from, and thousands of users on at the same time. Using a client instead of a Telnet client improves your performance (as well as the Internet), and also makes it easier for you to get into the world of IRC.