IRC introduction What is IRC? Macintosh clients Connecting to a server Basic commands Common IRC phrases (essential for beginners) Etiquette/Behaviour Online Need help? About #Macintosh

	What is IRC? IRC is an acronym for Internet Relay Chat, which is text-based. It's a way to communicate with people all over the globe. IRC can be divided into "users" (the people Ñ e.g. you), "channels" (a collection of people), "servers" (computers you connect to to get on IRC), and "networks" (collections of servers). You can use IRC on virtually any operating system, using a piece of software called a "client" to connect to a server, which is usually part of a network. Channels are managed by "ops" (short for operators), servers are managed by "IRC ops". The people on IRC vary wildly depending on the channel you go to, so be prepared to come across friendly and not quite so friendly users. There are several IRC networks. The big three are: DALnet EFnet Undernet

	Macintosh Clients There are quite a few IRC clients available for the Macintosh, but there are only two that are maintained on a regular basis. These are ircle and Snak. At the last update, ircle cost $15US and Snak was $20US, both programs are available for download under a shareware license -- you try the program for a period of time (in these cases, 30 days) and if you like and continue to use the software, you purchase it. ircle has a Macintosh-like feel to it and supports AppleScript, Snak is more like mIRC, the popular Windows IRC client. To automate certain functions, you can use programs called scripts to do things for you and make IRC easier to use. The best script for ircle is HipScript, and Snak comes with a script called PurePak. Quick links: ircle Snak HipScript Buy ircle Buy Snak

	Connecting to a server Setting up an IRC client to connect to a server is easy. You can either follow the guides below, which give precise instructions for every step, or you can dive straight in -- both ircle and Snak are user-friendly. You are known on IRC by your nickname, and since IRC has been around for over ten years, most of the "default" names have gone, so be creative. You can see the other users in the channel in the user list, which will appear in different places depending on how you have set up your client. In Ircle: Load ircle. Read the license agreement, and if you agree, press "Accept". Locate the Connections window (by default, it's on the far right of the screen), highlight the first connection, and click the "Edit" button. Change the default nickname and username. Click the "Select" button. Scroll up to DALnet servers, click on one, and click "Select". Press "OK" then click "Connect". Go to the "Commands" menu, select "Join...", type "macintosh", and a new window will appear. You are now on DALnet's #Macintosh! Ircle screenshots: connection window connection prefs server list In Snak: Snak guides you through setting up the essential preferences. When you get to step 7, click the "Server..." button, scroll down to DALnet, click on the triangle to the left, and double click "irc.dal.net". This will take you back to the Setup Assistant. Now enter "macintosh" into the Channel: box, press return, then press "Go Ahead", read the message, say "OK". Select the DALnet connection, click "Connect", press Command-J, type "macintosh", and you're now chatting with the rest of us. Snak screenshots: server list

	Basic Commands On IRC, to get around and do things, you send commands to the server. To do this, you simply put a / before the command, for example: /join #Macintosh This is a list of some of the basic commands you'll need to get around on IRC. You can replace the names with whatever you like. /join #macintosh Join channel #macintosh. All channels have a # prefix. /part #macintosh Leaves #macintosh if you were on it. /me does an action Lets you talk about yourself in the third person. Everybody in the channel you do /me on will see:       * <yournick> does an action hello everybody To talk normally in a channel, just type, without starting the line with / /msg nick message This will send a private message to the nickname you specify, and can only be seen by them. /nick newnickname This command will change your nickname to something else. /whois nickname Gets some information on the nickname you enter. /list Retrieves a list of channels for you to choose from. /who #macintosh Will show you a list of who's on #macintosh or whichever channel you specify. /quit message Quits IRC with an optional message.

	Common IRC phrases/acronyms It may appear as though people are speaking a different language. Using acronyms is very popular over IRC, and because there's no tone of voice, emoticons ("smileys") are used to convey emotion. Here are some of the more common terms you'll come across. LOL Laugh(ing) Out Loud AFK Away From Keyboard AFAIK As Far As I Know IRC Internet Relay chat OTOH On The Other Hand IMHO/IMO In My Humble Opinion/In My Opinion BBIAB Be Back In A Bit BBIAW Be Back In A While BBL Be Back Later BBS Be Back Soon BRB Be Right Back ROTFL Rolling On The Floor Laughing FWIW For What It's Worth J/K Just Kidding re "hi again" as in "re-hi" WB Welcome Back WTF What The F**k RTFM Read The F**king Manual NP No Problem TTFN Ta Ta For Now :-) or :) A smile :-( or :( A frown :-P or :P Sticking their tongue out ;-) or ;) Winking APBS AirPort Base Station PB PowerBook OS X PB Operating System Ten Public Beta AAPL Apple's stock symbol MP3 MPEG Layer 3 (music file) MAC Media Access Controller PPC Power PC, a kind of processor Warez pirated software (a bad thing) Lag delay between two people Ping A way to measure lag Lamer Someone who acts stupid Op Someone who maintains order in a channel

	Etiquette/Online Behaviour In general, behave on IRC as you would in real life. These are still real people you're talking to, and they won't stand for abuse. Here are some general guidelines: IRC is not a right, it is a privilege. Do not abuse it or you will be removed. DON'T TYPE ALL IN CAPITALS as this is considered shouting, which is rude. Don't repeat yourself excessively. Sending too many lines in too short a time is considered a "flood", and may well get you removed from a channel. As soon as you join a channel make sure you read the topic!!! If you don't follow the rules you're liable to get kicked out. For example, in #macintosh we do not allow swearing. Other channels are more liberal. Usually the rules are in the topic or you can watch and learn. Bear in mind that if you do annoy other users, you'll be kicked out of the channel, and possibly banned from returning too. If you're being harassed by someone, simply /ignore them. Make sure you know how to use your client. Read the help files provided, these can be accessed by typing /help Play nice. Don't harass people or otherwise annoy other users.

	Need help? Need more help than is provided in this document? That's OK, I'm glad you read this far :P Here are some links to other pages on the web regarding IRC. Bear in mind that some information may be outdated, some information may only apply to specific networks: The IRC Prelude A Short IRC Primer (actually pretty big but good reading!) Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) An IRC Tutorial IRChelp.net (DALnet specific, but a VERY good resource) You can also join numerous IRC channels, such as #new2irc, #newbies, #help, #irchelp, #dalnethelp, the list goes on.

	About #Macintosh on DALnet #Macintosh is run by a group of Mac users who enjoy helping others out with any problems they may encounter. Please bear in mind that we aren't paid to do this "job", and we can offer no guarantee about how accurate our information is. Having said that, if it works for us, chances are it'll work for you too. The DALnet #Macintosh home page can be found here. To connect directly to us, download and unstuff this file, and assuming you have ircle installed, you should go straight through to us by double clicking on it.