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IRC

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. To start irc type irc2 at the prompt:

irc

This will put you in the irc window with the line on the bottom used for giving commands and the rest of the window for watching what else is happening. These sections are divided by a highlighted line that says your nickname, the program name (IRCII) and /HELP for help. When you type /HELP you get a list of topics that you can get help for. You can type /HELP BASICS to get the following introduction to irc.

Irc is a multi-user, multi-channel chatting network. It allows people all over the Internet to talk to one another in real-time. Each irc user has a nickname they use. All communication with another user is either by nickname or by the channel that they or you are on. All IRCII commands begin with a / character. Anything that does not begin with a / is assumed to be a message that is sent to everyone on your channel. Here is a list of basic commands to help you get started:

/NAMES
Shows the nicknames of all users on each channel.
/JOIN channel
Join the named channel. All non-commands you type will now go to everyone on that channel.
/MSG nick msg
Sends a private message to nick. Only nick will see this message.
/NICK nick
Change your nickname to nick.
/QUIT
Exits irc.
/HELP topic
Gets help on all IRCII commands.
/WHO channel
Shows who is on a given channel, including nickname, user name, host, and real name.
/WHOIS nick
Shows the "true" identity of someone.

These commands should get you started on irc. Use the /HELP command to find out more about things on irc, or ask question of people... most would be happy to help you out. You can also type man irc to read the man page. Another good source of information about irc is to read the newsgroup alt.irc.

Remember, when you first start irc, it puts you into channel 0 (or *). Since this really isn't a channel, you need to join another channel in order to talk to other people on that channel. Once you have joined a channel, anything you type and then hit return afterwards, everyone on that channel will see. IRC uses your login name as a default nickname. To change your nickname you would type /NICK your new nickname.

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