Connecting to IRC
To get on IRC, you’ll need a client program capable of communicating with an IRC server. There’s a whole boatload of clients out there, some of which you can even run in a web browser. Below, we cover a few of the more popular choices.
Using Mibbit
One easy way to get started on IRC is through Mibbit, an entirely browser-based IRC client. It doesn’t provide many of the features that a typical desktop client does, but is handy if you don’t want to or can’t install software on your computer. To join #yackfest, you can use this direct link. Select a nickname and hit “Go” to sign on. When you’re done, just close the browser window or use the /quit command.
If you use Mibbit frequently, the service offers user accounts that will save your preferences for you between sessions.
Using other clients
While specific instructions vary from client to client, you should be able to make do with the following information:
- Server: irc.esper.net
- Port: 6667, or 6697 for a secure SSL connection
- Character set: UTF-8
ChatZilla
Paraphrased from the FAQ:
The “attach” command will make ChatZilla join EsperNet:
/attach irc.esper.net
The “server” and “sslserver” commands do the same thing, but you use the SSL port for the latter.
You can also add irc://irc.esper.net/ to your startup connections, or ircs://irc.esper.net:6697/ for a secure link.
Irssi
Irssi requires that you first define a network containing the EsperNet servers:
/network add -nick NICKNAME EsperNet
Then you can add the primary EsperNet server within that network:
/server add -network EsperNet irc.esper.net 6667
If you want to connect with SSL, add the -ssl option after /server add, and change the port number to 6697. For those lucky ducks with IPv6, you can force an IPv6 connection by using the server irc.ipv6.esper.net. Adding the -auto option will make Irssi connect to the server on startup. If you want to specify a server password for auto-identifying, add it in quotes after the port number:
/server add -network EsperNet irc.esper.net 6667 ":ExampleGuy a1s2d3f4"
Finally, if you want to automatically join #yackfest when you connect to EsperNet, run the following command:
/channel add -auto #yackfest EsperNet
Now save your preferences and sign on:
/save /connect EsperNet
Pidgin
On the buddy window, hit Accounts → Manage Accounts, or Ctrl+A for short. Click “Add…”. In this window, set the protocol to IRC, and fill in the information at the top of this section. Somewhat confusingly, the “Username” field on the “Basic” tab is actually your default nick when you log on, while the “Username” in the “Advanced” tab is your IRC username, visible with /whois. It’s also recommended that you stick with UTF-8 encoding.
You can set a password for autoidentifying.
To autojoin channels, hit Buddies → Add Chat. From the “Account” drop down bar, select your IRC account, and then type the channel name into the channel box. Leave the rest blank, and check the “autojoin when account connects” box.