IRC

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B&B has an IRC chat which most of the members of Bold-L mailinglist visit from time to time. We set up a date and meet. Since we all come from practically every corner of the world, it tends to be difficult to set up a meeting where everyone can join in. Timedifferences are a pain in the you-know-what.

The chat is pretty civil, and so far we have been chatting pretty much about B&B but of course we have been trying to get to know each other as well. Most know me by the nick Troi. The channel name is #CafeRusse and to get there you just need an IRC program. mIRC is good for PC users and for McIntosh I hear IRCle is okay. After installing the software you need you connect to one of the Undernet servers on the list. It doesn't really matteer which one you choose, since all Undernet servers are connected. You can, however, not choose any other kind of server, (IRCnet, Galaxynet or so on... ) because if you do, you will find yourself pretty alone on the B&B channel...

The sad part though is, since this isn't an "official" channel yet, chances are you might be alone in there anyway. But if you feel like chatting with B&B friends, join in on the Bold-L mailinglist and drop us a line. We can always set up a meeting and meet in #CafeRusse for a RealTime chat!!

Myself can be found on the IRC channels #x-files, #x-philes, #xphiles, #acro, #babylon5 or yeah - of course... #CafeRusse.

Here comes a comprehensive guide of how to install and use mIRC and subsequently how to join our channel - The infamous (?) Cafe Russe!!!

IRC is Internet Relay Chat, to use this you need software for you computer. The most popular program for Windows is mIRC. There is also numerous other shareware/freeware programs out there, but mIRC is the most widely used. (for PC's)

mIRC can be downloaded from a number of places including http://www.mirc.com, (OR just click on the graphic at the bottom of this page).
(If you are on a Mac machine there is a program called IRClé available through the shareware sites on the internet for the Mac's.)

Once you download mIRC, it is easy to set up. It comes already configured with the servers you will need. There are different "levels" of IRC, there is Undernet, which is what we use to go to CafeRusse, there is also DALnet and Effnet, and numerous others. Each level has different servers.

To join us on #CafeRusse you need to be on a Undernet server. When you open the program, there will be a box that comes up called mIRC Setup, it has different tabs on the top. The Tab that says IRC servers is what you want. There is a white box on the top which will display a server, first scroll through that until you find an undernet server. The best ones seem to be Pheonix, Springfield and Vancouver, although any of them will work.
(This also depends on where you are situated. Try to choose one of the Servers that are geographically closest to you, but if they are all occupied or impossible to connect to you can try any of the others.)

It does not matter which one you use, as long as it is an Undernet server. The difference in the servers is some will allow you to keep your connection better than others will. During peak times, it is not unusual to get disconnected for no apparent reason, and have to reconnect. There is also something called netsplit, which is when many people will be in the room/channel (#CafeRusse) and all of a sudden you will only be able to see typed txt from some people and not others, or you won't get the text right away but it will be "lagged" this can also be caused by the person who is typing the text being on a slow server. More about this later. Sometimes, all of a sudden you will get lines and lines of text and it will seem as if you are not in the same time frame as the others. This is not a problem, it happens often, as I said usually in peak times, usually changing servers will solve the problem, and sometimes you might have to change servers a few times. It is annoying but not uncommon.

Back to the IRC servers tab, below the spot where you pick your server, there are spaces for your name, email addy, these will usually be filled in for you during setup based on your connection to the net. There are also two spots for nicknames, which is what you use in channel (my nicks are NursBarbi and Dr.Tweety, Carola uses Troi, Dax or if at #CafeRusse her own name). I believe you are allowed nine spaces to use. Any nick is fine, if the server won't take your nick, it will probably be because someone else is using the very same nick on the Undernet. Just try with another nickname and you'll eventually be OK.

For the woman out there, an obvious female name might attract some of the weirder people who are on IRC. There is a box below the nicks that says invisible. You do want to check this. It makes it where someone else joining IRC cannot "see " you and therefor cannot send private message for you and bother you. If this box is checked it keeps you invisible even if you change nicknames. You will be seen by anyone else in whatever channel/room you are in.

Once you have that done, you say connect to IRC - it is a space bar below where you picked your server. This will cause a status window to come up, you will see a lot of info scroll across your screen, when it stops you are ready to go.

In the space on the bottom of that status window, you type

/join #caferusse

exactly like that, the # is mIRC's symbol for channel.

the /join is telling mirc to put you in that channel.

VERY IMPORTANT!!!!

We do not have a dedicated channel yet, I am working on that, but it is a long and hard process to get one. So the first person who enters the room has to set the room up. This is very easy, you use your mouse and left click twice and a box will come up called mirc channel central. Here you put a check mark in front of the boxes that say secret, no external messages and only ops change topics. You can also put something up in the box that says channel name, this will give the channel a topic like Welcome to CafeRusse which others will see when they enter the room. Once you have done this, click on the apply changes button and you will return to the channel.

You will notice since you were the first person to enter the room that your name on the box on the right hand side of the channel window where your nickname shows will have a @ sign in front of it, this means you are an op. As an op, whenever anyone else joins the room you want to type in the bottom of the window
/op nick of person entering.

This will allow our channel to stay set the way we want it in case you get disconnected. If you are the only person opped and you get disconnected then noone else in the channel can be opped and everyone has to leave the channel, and have someone rejoin before the others can redo this whole process.

The reason for going through all this is so people who come on IRC but are not specifically coming to our channel will not know that it exsists and will not be able to bother the people in the channel with messages that usually are obnoxious and sexually orientated. Basically it keeps the creeps and weirdo's away:}

Speaking to the others:
From here on, whenever you want to say anything, you type in the box on the bottom of the channel window, and hit enter and it goes to the screen. If you do this at the same time as someone else you won't be blocking what they have said, it shows up on the screen in the order that it goes through.

Other things to do...
There are lots of neat things you can do with mirc, including playing sound wav's, showing pics, using colored text and color ascii art, but that is to much to go into here. You can also send files to others that are in the channel or receive files from someone.

Some basic commands--
If you want to say something to someone in the channel without it going to the whole channel type
/msg nick of person you want and a message - this will show up in your window, and the person who's nick you used, but not in the channel window. The person being messaged will actually get a seperate window that will popup with your message and you can continue to chat in private there.

/leave if you want to leave the channel

/me drops a trout on Bill's head

this will show up in the channel saying

Nursbarbi drops a trout on bills head

Once you start getting used to the basics of mIRC, the rest will come easily, there are popups, which you can set up so you can have funny sayings drop in the channel by just clicking with your mouse, you can set up aliases so that you can hit your function keys to have lol, or :} or Hi! or anything you want go to the channel by just using that function key.

Anyone needing help with these more advanced things, can contact me in private or join the channels that are available in mirc called #mirchelp, #mirc_colors, etc. The second yellow folder over on the toolbar has a list of all channels that show up (ours won't since we have it marked secret!). There are a lot of good people in those channels that can help you learn the ins and outs of mIRC.

I hope to see a lot of you there, anytime you want, go on channel set the room up and wait, someone is bound to show up. Or email the group at Bold-L and say "Hey I'm here!" (it's good if you tell them what timezone you are in so people will know when you are saying this) and someone will most likely drop in.

If you have any further questions, email me, I'll be glad to help.

Felicia
feliciam@mcn.net nursbarbi on irc

THANKS TO FELICIA FOR THIS THOROUGH INFO ON mIRC AND IRC!!!

CAROLA

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