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E R I K
back to the main page IRC on MacOS
--- The two most popular IRC clients (i.e., software you use on your computer to log onto an IRC server) for Macintosh seem to be ircle and MacIRC. You can download either of these using the web browser of your choice: Netscape, Internet Explorer, Cyberdog, etc. You can find both programs, along with a wide selection of all sorts of internet software, at either MacOrchard http://www.macorchard.com/ or Tucows http://www.tucows.com/ Or you may download whichever client you want directly from its own website: ircle or MacIRC. You will need a helper application such as Stuffit Expander to decompress the file once you have downloaded it; chances are you already have Stuffit Expander if you have a web browser. Not only that, but your browser will fire up the helper it needs and decompress the thing all by itself. Usually, anyway. Unless you have your browser set to put downloaded files in a specific folder, your new software will probably show up either on your desktop or in the browser's own folder. Once you figure out where it has been deposited, you can drag it to whichever folder you wish to keep it in. And then you launch it. Voila!
--- I used to use MacIRC because its interface features are slightly more intuitive than ircle's. However, MacIRC has been in version 0.9.6 for nearly two years now, with no sign of updates. If you want a full-featured irc client, get ircle. I switched over some time ago and am happy enough even though ircle is a bit more fiddly in some ways.
--- A snippet from the ircle website:
System Requirements
Any Macintosh or Power Macintosh with System version 7.0 or higher installed.
MacTCP 2.0.x driver or Open Transport 1.1 or higher.
An internet connection.
Minimum 1.5 Mb of free RAM
If you have a little old feeble Mac, then none of these clients will work on your machine. Since you probably do all of your internetting from a UNIX shell on a remote server. On most UNIX accounts, you log onto IRC by typing, at the prompt,
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The ircle website has a nice quick-start guide for those of you who actually read instructions. Go to
http://www.ircle.com/reference/pref.html
for step-by-step directions for setting your preferences and getting online.
VERY IMPORTANT: the server you log onto MUST BE ON THE UNDERNET if you are to join your pals in #freeasd. The default connection setting which comes with ircle will NOT get you to the Undernet. Undernet server addresses all end in
undernet.org. You can find a list of servers on the Undernet website http://www.undernet.org/, or, if you are impatient and want to log on
immediately, choose one from this brief list and type or copy/paste it into the server field (note: the european servers were chosen somewhat randomly. If any of you euros out there know of a particularly stable
server on the continent, e-mail me at catdoc@uclink4.berkeley.edu):
baltimore.md.us.undernet.org
You are now ready to log on.
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Yes. You do.
Twiddle your thumbs while your computer talks to the server. If all goes well, your server screen will read <*** Connection ready.> in a few brief moments. If something goes wrong -- say, you get an error message or notice that 5 minutes have elapsed and you are still not connected -- you should probably choose another server and try again.
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Simple. Type /join #freeasd, and in the wink of an eye there you will be, ready to chat with all your buddies.
To "talk," just type whatever you want to say. It will first appear in the "Inputline" box; here you may edit your words to your heart's content. When you are sure you have your most brilliant opening lines all ready, hit
When you have had your fill and wish to go to bed or get back to work or leave the house and squint at the sun, you can leave the channel either by closing its window or typing .
To close your server connection, simply click the "disconnect" button in the "Connections" window.
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There is indeed lots of fancy stuff you can do here. For more information, read the read me file, visit the ircle website, or take in the reams of IRC information at
http://www.irchelp.org/.
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Ok, ok. The most useful fancy trick, imho, is the /msg command. You can have a private conversation with someone by either typing /msg nick yourmessage or highlighting his/her nick in the "Userlist" box and clicking the "msg" button and then typing your message. Your /msg conversation will by default appear in a different color than the rest of the conversation in the frontmost window. Once you have begun a
conversation with someone this way, you may continue it by clicking on the "msg" button while keeping your conversation partner's name highlighted.
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That's it. If you have suggestions for modifying this FAQ, please email Erik at catdoc@uclink4.berkeley.edu. If you have further questions
regarding IRC and Macs, feel free to ask me. I will answer to the best of my dilettante-ish ability..
Happy IRCing.
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