Us here at n00nsonubuntu.net have been happy with the messages we have gotten from some of you about wishing to help out. This of course makes us want to post even more great information and unique tutorials, which you will soon be doing also!
First of, whats IRC, simply put, its one of the original chat systems, starting way back in prehistoric times. It is a very easy, sometimes very secure depending on settings, and it lets us all chat together in a channel (chat room) in real-time regardless of where you are in the solar system. Its far superior that the modern systems also.
Using IRC is very easy, and you may already have it install on your system. If you have, you can skip this part. In your Programs menu, go down to internet and see if there is either X-chat, or X-chat Gnome. Both are very much the same. You will be presented with a main Xchat window. Please select the “xchat” menu, then select “network list”, which shows all the default networks on the IRC world (well the default ones that is).
With the list that pops up. Please scroll down and select “Freenode”, there will be some servers already there, but we do not want to use these at the moment. Click add and insert “chat.freenode.net/8001” which will connect you to the nearest server or less busy server. Just below, please check “Connect to this server only”. Then click edit on the right.
Insert your basic information “your Details”, if your Ubuntu has set username, you can leave this. Just put in Nickname as your n00bsonUbuntu username if you have one, or choose something that suits you well. Also input something into the “Second choice” just in-case your first is taken, this is just your first once has already been taken.
Under “Connecting” options, please only check “Auto connect to this server at start-up”. Then in “Favourite channels” insert #noobsonubuntu (do not for get the hash/gate # this is important on IRC). Click close. You can now click “Connect” within the “Network list” window..
Lots of text will fly past, not unlike your terminal window, and hopefully you should land right in out noobsonubuntu channel. Since its just new you should only see few “nicks”, which is fine. Soon enough there will be all you sitting in there chatting about about everything and anything you wish.
And that concludes part 1 of our IRC tutorial. Enjoy your new found addiction.
Remember, Freenode itself has plenty of rules to follow, but no need to worry about that if you are just a normal user like us when we just want to chat about what we love and enjoy. If you decide to join other channels, (type /join #ubuntu then enter to join the official Ubuntu channel) You have to respect their rules. Just be respectable and patient, as sometimes IRC can be very idle which means they aren’t even looking at their IRC window.