#LUGOD - LUGOD IRC CHANNEL
The Linux Users' Group of Davis has its own IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
channel, "#lugod" on the "irc.freenode.net" network of
servers. The channel was created
freenode in October 2001 by
Bill Kendrick (nick: 'kendrick').
Disclaimer
The freenode IRC network is public. Neither LUGOD nor the
Peer-Directed Projects Center
are responsible for what people say on it. You may wish to read PDPC's
channel
guidelines.
Text-based IRC
One way to log-in is to issue the following command on your Linux
system:
irc nickname irc.freenode.net
...where "nickname" is a 1- to 9-letter handle. (Most Linux distributions
come with a text-based IRC client, like "ircII", installed. If not,
they're very easy to find.
Search at Freshmeat.)
Once logged onto the "irc.freenode.net" IRC server,
type this command into your IRC client:
/join #lugod
Your screen will look more-or-less like this while you're in the channel:
The top area of the screen shows you messages and other information regarding
the channel, as well as responses to any IRC commands you issue (see below).
Below this is a highlighted status bar showing you your nickname, what
channel you're in, the current time, etc.
The very last line is where you type messages. You can type more
characters than the width of your screen. The IRC client will scroll, and
when your message appears in the message area, it will be word-wrapped.
Graphical IRC
Under Linux
A number of LUGOD members enjoy using
X-Chat (GTK-based) and
Konversation (Qt/KDE-based).
(You can read some older documentation on
how to set-up X-Chat to let
you easily connect to #lugod.)
Under Windows
Under MacOS
IRC Commands
There are better places to learn how to use IRC, but here are the most
common and useful commands:
/join #channel - Enter into a particular channel.
/who #channel - Show a list of all users in a
particular channel.
/leave #channel - Leave a channel that you've joined.
/msg nickname message... - Send a private message to
another user on the IRC server.
/me action - Send a message in the third person.
(Example: "/me has to go now")
/quit - Quit IRC.
/help - Get help from your IRC client!
Graphical IRC clients will have many of these commands available using their
graphical interface.
If what you type does not begin with a forward-slash ("/"),
it will be sent to whatever channel you've joined, so be careful!
Common IRCisms
Here's a short list of acronyms. If someone uses one not listed that you
don't understand, don't be afraid to ask what it means.
- afaik - As far as I know
- afk - Away from keyboard
- aka - Also known as
- bbiab - Be back in a bit
- brb - Be right back
- fyi - For your information
- imho - In my humble opinion
- imo - In my opinion
- lugod - Linux User Group of Davis, obviously!
- re - Hello again
Like e-mail, "emoticons" (also known as happy faces) are popular on IRC.
They usually involve characters that look like this:
:) :^) <:^( >:^P
But sometimes people use these kinds of faces:
^_^
Kicking and Banning
People known as operators (ops) have the ability to remove people from an
IRC channel. If you are rude, abusive or in any other way distruptive, you
will be removed by an operator. Please realize that just because you're
behind a monitor, you can't act anyway you feel. Even IRCers have feelings
(and tempers!)
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