IRC IRC

What is IRC?

Well, for those of you who don't know what IRC is I must say that, first of all, is a vice because one can lose lots of time without noticing it. It stands for Interlay Relay Chat and as the name says is a mean of chatting among p eople with internet access. In other words it is a direct and phantastic way to get to know people all over the world no matter of what is the sex, race or age and just by talking with them or, better said, writting to them. It s a funny way to make frien ds and be in good humor all the time because there are always interesting and funny people.

How does it work?

It's simple. There is a net of server computers that are all linked at the same time. If yo u have internet access you can use one IRC program to connect to one of this servers. Then you are in the net! Didn't I say it was simple? Just for those of you who want to know a little bit more, I would say that there are several nets of IRC servers. T he better known are the Undernet, the EFNET and the Dalnet. The first one is newer http://www.givensale.com and the connection is more reliable. Perhaps because of it it has more users. The EFNET is older and is also my favourite. So, for instance, if you want to connect to unde rnet just connect to an undernet server. This can be made with the IRC client when you open a connection. Because there are lots of people they are agrouped in groups or channels as they name them. You can join a channel or you can even create a channel. Then you can talk to all of the people that are in the channel or you can specifically send a message to someone in particular. You are known by a nickname that you choose when you get connected.

Some Portuguese I RC servers you can connect to:

irc.isec.pt

irc.ua.pt

irc.telepac.pt

irc.ualg.pt

Some UNDERNET IRC servers you can connect to:

TORONTO.ON.CA.UNDERNET.ORG port 6667

AMSTERDAM.NL.EU.UNDERNET.ORG port 6667

Some EFNET IRC servers you can connect to:

irc.epix.net port 6667

irc2.epix.net port 6667

irc.funet.fi port 6667

Note: sometimes you 're not able to connect to a server at first time. You can keep on trying or you can try another server. Once you're connected to a server you can see the several linked servers by aplying the command /links.

The important commands: Every commands are preceded by the slash "/" so don't forget to put the slash first.

/join #channel_name - selects which channel you wish to join in order to start talking with people. ( Ex. /join #portugal)
/list - to obtai n a listing of all the channels which are available. (ex. /list -min 20 will list only those channels which have at list 20 users present)
/leave - to leave a channel.
/nick YourNickName - to choose your nickn ame ( most of the time it's required before you connect. Ex. /nick mynick)
/msg NickYouWantToSendMessage blablabla - this command lets you talk privately to a user without everyone in the group overhearing (Ex. /msg hisnick how r u? ).
/who - Lists the names of all those taking part in an IRC channel.
/whois NickYouWantToKnow -to find a little more about those you are talking with. (Ex. /whois hisnick
/help -I think i s useless explaining this.

A friend's opinion about what is beeing at IRC

"Well, you know...this way I can speak with everyone without any preconception...I just talk simple with a name and those who want to talk with me do it for the some reason...that's what I love about IRC"

Where am I at IRC ?

Well, most of the time I am at the Portuguese NET and sometimes at UNDERNET and rarely at EFNET nets. I am usually at #portugal channel with the nick pib almost everyday after midnight (portuguese time)

Where can I get IRC ?

You can get it right through the WEB. I 'll let you know the addresses for:

- PC users

-MAC users

Now I'll show you some of the people I met on IRC. I think that's a good sample of the kind of people one can find there

< TD> lilitha

Nick	Real Name	Web address	Mail address
coimbra	Filipe Nascimento	***	polaris@mail.telepac.pt
torgut	Ricardo Ribeiro		torgut@grupo.bfe.pt
The_angel	Paulo Azevedo		L41181@alfa.ist.utl.pt
barbas	Rui Barbosa	***	Rui.barbosa@mail.telepac.pt < /A>
cocas	Ricardo Moutinho	rmoutinho@mail.telepac.pt
lena	Helena Lucas	http://pegasus.rutgers.edu:80/~hlucas	hlucas@pegasus.rutgers.edu
arroja	Paulo Teixeira	***	paulot@cais.com
Lilia Fernandes	www2.madinfo.pt/~lilitha/	liliafernandest@mail.telepac.pt	< /TR>