21st Century IRC Client Overview (August 31, 2012)

KrisV

KrisV

Administrator
Internet Relay Chat or IRC may date back to the late 1980s, but it's still a great way to interact with people. You can chat with other Wing Commander fans in the #Wingnut channel on the CIC network (irc.wcnews.com). While this used to require a dedicated IRC client, it has never been easier to connect. Here's a quick overview of your options.

  • Our web interface is without a doubt the simplest way to connect. We've recently replaced the aging Java applet with a cleaner, slicker Flash application. Just direct your browser to www.wcnews.com/irc and pick a username. You'll automatically join the #wingnut channel.
  • The latest version (15) of the Thunderbird mail client supports various real-time chat protocols out of the box. Here is a tutorial for configuring an IRC session. Our server is located at irc.wcnews.com. Put a username of your choice and don't worry about the password. Once you are connected, join the #wingnut channel.
  • Dedicated IRC applications are still the most powerful. Once you are more familiar with IRC, you may want to upgrade to one of these clients. mIRC for Windows, LimeChat for Mac and XChat for Linux are just a few options for PC. Tablet and phone users can try AndroIRC for Android, IRC7 for Windows Phone or Colloquy for iOS.




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Original update published on August 31, 2012
 
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On Windows, I use a free version of XChat compiled for it (it went shareware for Windows a while back, so a bunch of people took the GPL'd version and compiled it for Windows.

This is what I use - http://www.silverex.org/download/ - it calls itself "YChat".

A more maintained version is Hexchat which is a fork of Xchat... http://www.hexchat.org/

Can't remember why I stopped using mIRC - I used to code up a ton of mIRC scripts...
 
Worf said:
Can't remember why I stopped using mIRC - I used to code up a ton of mIRC scripts...
Click to expand...

Hazarding a guess, did it ever have a version where it stopped working if you didn't pay for it? I have an expired trial version myself at the moment. Still works but it does get annoying and progressively insistent that you shell out the bucks for it.
 
I think you can still keep clicking away the annoying reminders, but you can also just find an old version and use that (it hasn't changed much in years). I just paid the $20 or whatever 10+ years ago and have gotten my money's worth.
 
Unfortunately the latest mIRC doesn't let you click away the reminder; it'll actually lock the program for a period (until you reboot, maybe.)
 
Perhaps, though I know I switched when I switched from my old PC to a newer one many years ago (about a decade ago). I guess I just gave up on it when others were doing what I wanted, and that Xchat was free versus shareware and could do multiple servers on one client. Got kinda fed up having to have three mIRCs open. Actually, five as I ran a couple of 'bots - one that someone entrusted me to run as a backup for a channel, another one of my own design and coding. Plus I ran it at work as Xchat was far more inconspicuous (and being that my work PC ran Linux, well, I had no other choice other than a command line client).

I actually had probably another half-dozen bots that I wrote over the years as well - I know one was used when I was big into "simming" (basically an RPG held on IRC where we all pretend to be in-character until we tire out.). Ah the old days.

I don't know what the modern mIRC is like these days since I quit using it. I probably have my mIRC scripts around though on one of my backups. Wonder if they still work...
 
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