Category: Uncategorized

Windows Users: Installing and Setting Up mIRC

For those of you using Windows, I recommend using mIRC as your IRC

client software. Download the installer from their site and install it.

The installation process should take less than a minute.

Once you’ve installed mIRC, you should launch it so that you can set

the name you’ll use in the chat. When you launch mIRC, you should be

greeted with this “About” window:

You can use mIRC for free for 30 days, so you don’t have to register and pay for it immediately. Click the Continue button.

The “About” window will disappear and the “mIRC Options” window will appear:

Enter your full name and email address into the Full Name and Email Address text fields.

On IRC, a nickname is the name that appears beside anything you “say”.

It’s like the name that appears beside whatever you “say” on other chat

systems such as AIM, MSN Chat, Yahoo! Chat or ICQ. Think up a nickname

and enter it into the Nickname text field.

In case your nickname has already been taken, enter an alternate nickname into the Alternative text field.

Once you’ve done this, click the OK button, then exit mIRC. mIRC has now been set up.

Mac Users: Installing and Setting Up Colloquy

For those of you using Mac OS X, I recommend using Colloquy as your IRC

client software. Download the .zip from their site and unzip it. Unzipping it will create a folder that will contain the Colloquy program; drag it to your Applications folder.

That’s all the setup you’ll need to do.

Joining the “Ask Tucows” Chat

Windows Users

The easiest way to join the “Ask Tucows” chat is to either:

• Click this link
• Point your browser at this URL: irc://irc.freenode.net/asktucows

This will automatically launch mIRC and connect it to the “Ask Tucows” channel.

Mac Users

The easiest way to join the “Ask Tucows” chat is to either:

• Click this link
• Point your browser at this URL: irc://irc.freenode.net/asktucows

This will automatically launch Colloquy, which will pop up a “New Connection” window:

On IRC, a nickname is the name that appears beside anything you “say”.

It’s like the name that appears beside whatever you “say” on other chat

systems such as AIM, MSN Chat, Yahoo! Chat or ICQ. Think up a nickname

and enter it into the Nickname text field.

Enter irc.freenode.net into the Chat Server text field.

Click the Connect button. You will now be in the “Ask Tucows” channel.

Chatting

Chatting in IRC is similar to other “chat room” programs such as AIM, MSN Chat, Yahoo! Chat or ICQ. Type what you want to “say” and hit the “Enter” button to “say” it.

For the Windows users, here’s what a chat session looks like:

What people say is preceded by their nicknames. The right column displays who else is participating in the chat. Any nickname in the right column that is preceded by an “@” sign is a channel operator and is in charge of the channel.

For the Mac users, here’s what a chat session looks like:

What people say is preceded by their nicknames. The drawer on the right displays who else is participating in the chat. Any nickname in the

right column that is preceded by a silhouette with a red background is a channel operator and

is in charge of the channel.

Don’t forget: Tucows will be hosting the first “Ask Tucows” IRC chat,

in which I and a number of Tucows employees will be available to answer

questions, take comments and suggestions and generally talk about

Tucows. It takes place on Thursday, March 23rd at 1:00 p.m. EST (10:00 a.m. Pacific / 6:00 p.m. UTC).

Tomorrow, I’ll post an article on how to join IRC chats for those of you not familiar with the medium.

File it under “Funny Because It’s True”: here’s a chart by Kathy

“Creating Pasisonate Users” Sierra that notes in that

ha-ha-just-serious way how similar group therapy and Web 2.0 are:

By the way, we here at The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century (we reserve the right to use the “Royal we” here) would like to wish all our readers a very happy and snug-fitting Saint Patrick’s Day!

Don’t forget that the “Ask Tucows” Chat — in which you can chat online with me and other people who work at Tucows — takes place next Thursday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Pacific, 18:00 UTC). A number of people within the company have signed up to join in the conversation, so it looks as though most departments within the company will be represented.

I’ll post details about the chat (including how to access the chat from your computer) next week.

Over at Tucows Developer, I’ve posted a podcast interview with Alain Chesnais,

VP of Product Development, where we talk about his work background and

the Tucows platform. It’s the first in a regular series. Check it out!

It’s going to be a busy day for me today, but I don’t want to leave you empty-handed. That’s why I’ve posted a recipe for Prison Wine [note: a little bad language, some worse spelling], a cheap and cheerful drink that you can make from the comfort of your own prison cell!

I’d like to dedicate this recipe to my friend Wil McLean, who has this morbid fascination with making contigency plans for the rather unlikely event that he ends up in prison. Word of advice, Wil: forget the plans — with your boyish good looks, I’d give it fifteen minutes max before the inmates churned your rump like butter. Better by far not to do the crime, cause you can’t do the time.

[The graphic comes from Workhorse Visuals.]