What is IRC ?
IRC is "Internet Relay Chat". A place to meet lots of people, sharing the same interests as you do ! It's a place to chat with people. You can identify yourself and others by their nicknames. A nickname is given to you as soon as you connect to an IRC server. It's not possible to use a name that's already in use at the same time so you can identify yourself pretty easy when you keep on using the same nickname all the time.
But first : what software do I need ?
The most popular software around is "mIRC". At this moment we're using version 5.6, but actually all versions can be used. Usually you get a copy of this mIRC when you apply for an account at your Access Provider, but you can also download it directly from "http://www.mirc.co.uk". Once installed, you only have to specify your nickname and an IRC server to connect to.
I'm connected ! What's next ?
Type the command "/list" and you'll see a whole bunch of channels you can join.
To join a channel, double click on a listed channel (or several). You can
also type "/join # Behind every channel you'll see the number of persons already attached to
that channel. You can join multiple channels at the same time, so it never
gets boring ! Join a channel by typing the command "/join #channel",
where channel is one of the names you found using the /list command. You can
also double click on a channel found in this list. There are approximately
6000 channels on the UNDERNET network every day. Maybe even more....
Need more help ?
Type "/help" when using the mIRC program or mail me. This help is really
good. Every command you may enter can be found in this help. Really good !!
I've seen enough. How do I quit ?
When joined to a channel, type the command "/part". When you want to quit
IRC, you type "/quit" and close the mIRC program.
A fantastic page to start looking for chat related sites is http://irc.boogolinks.nl.
This page was updated at December 30 2003.
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