Interesting stuff   
for Newbies   

This page is just right for those who are new on IRC. To describe all Networks of IRC would be a little bit too extensive for this site, that´s why we have limited that on DALNET. Who would like to chat with us on #AuStRiA, needs only this one anyway... ;o)

But who wants to know more about this matter, we recommend to have regularly a look to our book tips where we allways again suggest some books about computer/internet/IRC as well as some other books.

You can look up here to the following Topics:

The Client:

To be able to chat on IRC you need a special program, called IRC-Client. These programs are supplied partly free of charge, partly against small fees to download from the Internet. Following now some links to Websites, where you can finde those programs:

For Windows:

The sequence corresponds to my purely personal popularity scale and should not influence your opinion in any way.

We also have some Linux-Users in #AuStRiA. Since I am not a proud owner of such an operating system, i only have few or no experiences with it. But SignToLight is one of them and he was so kind to give me some URL´s where you can find IRC-Clients for Linux.
Apparent there are two different types of Linux:

The Login:

Once downloaded and installed the next thing is establishing the first connection. This procedure is different from Client to Client and I don´t want to explain all of them here. It is only important that it concerns other servers here as in the used Browser. Most Clients also provide a list of usual servers. Importantly to know is, in which IRC network one would like to chat. All my Channels are on DALNET. Here a list of all networks i know:

If you miss a network, please send me an E-mail. In each network there are different servers. In every IRC-Client you can find a predefined list of servers according to every network. In fact i am only chatting on DALNET and do have no or less experiences on other networks, further i only talk here about DALNET. If you want to log on to DALNET and the choosen server is too slow, try liberty.dal.net.

The Nick:

For the login you first need a nickname. You don´t need to take care about caps. "nickname" is the same as "NICKNAME" or "NiCkNaMe". You can choose the nick you want but some of them are maybe already registered. In case the nick you choosed is registered by someone else, it will be changed to a Guest-nick by NICKSERV. So try to choose a unique name. If the nick you choosed is already registered, try some alternatives, for example: The nick you want ist Peter and already registered. If it is necessary for you to use this nick, try _Peter_, ^Peter^ or P_e_t_e_r or something else. Some IRC-Clients will ask you for more informations like name or other personal details in the login-window. Don´t publish too much personal informations, because there are many chatters who only look for them for misuse. Once u have entered all informations you only need to press "OK", "Connect" or "Login" to connect with the server.

The Channel:

If the login process was succesfull you can read: You are now logged on, enjoy or somthing similar. Now you have to find a room (in IRC called "Channel") to enter. This is a global IRC-comand and the same in all Clients: /join channel. The prefix of a channel is always "#". You also can be in more that one channel simultaneously. To join #AuStRiA you have to enter:

The window wich will be opend now, is the virtual room (channel). Here you can chat with all other visitors.

Misc:

As soon as you are in the channel, you will (mostly stated at the right edge) meet other visitors, with whom you can converse. Some have a "@"-character before the name. That means that this visitors possesses OP-Status (Operator). Some visitors will get that automatically. Those have either the Status AOP (Auto OPerator), SOP (Super OPerator) or Founder (the Founder of the channel). These have the authority to give to others the @-status, to throw others out of the room (kick) or even forbid them further entering temporarly (kick/ban). The Founder and SOP's can forbid the admission to them even permanently (Akicklist). It is advisable to ask these @-people for the rules, those can be a little differently in each room. But don´t worry in #AuStRiA the rules are very liberally, no one will be kicked or banned so easily.

Some visitors perhaps have a "+" after the name (mode +v). Originally this + serves in special channels, in which only OP`s may talk and all others are only allowed to read (Mode +m) to give a Non-OP the permission to talk. In #AuStRiA the + is something like a VIP-status. That is more than a normal visitor, but scarcely fewer that a OP.

The Netiquette:

In each channel there are different rules, if you want to remain longer there you should adhere to them. Some don´t permit Popups of several lines, in others even diffenrent colors are forbidden. We are not that strictly in #AuStRiA. But the general netiquette is valid for all IRC-Channels. More to the rules in #AuStRiA you will find here.

The DALNET-Services:

Still any questions open? There are 3 important services on DALnet called:

• Chanserv
• Nickserv
• Memoserv

Exact Informations about these Services are published if u enter /chanserv help, /nickserv help oder /memoserv help in any window you want. Who knows german, can find a lot of information about Dalnet and its services at the home page of Idlefix. The most important informations are:

Chanserv
Chanserv administers the Channels. You can create your own or administrate already existing channels in case you have acces to them.

Nickserv
Nickserv administers the Nicknames. Here you can register your own Nickname to protect him of abuse from other persons. To get AOP or even SOP in #AuStRiA you have to register your Nickname and set it to "kill on". That's how it works:
You have to login with the nickname you want to register. In a window you want you have to type:/nickserv register passwort, use your own personal password instead of "password", after this type /nickserv set kill on. With "kill on" you can be sure, that no one can use your nickname without identify. The identify command you have to use after each login. Type following: /nickserv identify passwort! If you don´t identify to your nickname, this one will be changed to Guest123456 or similar after 60 seconds.

Memoserv
Memoserv is something like an E-mail Server but only for registered nicknames. With this service u can send messages to other users up to 256 characters.

Chat NOW:

For all of you who wants to try the chat before downloading any chat-software, here is the possibility to chat on IRC with the browser. Because of the network-structure it is possible that the connection-speed is a little bit slow.