Note 52: ABC IRC: Connection

Rubric: Our networks

ABC IRC: Connection

Anton Nosik

It is time to talk for IRC. It may seem strange the reader that only in the 52nd note of our heading we turn to this topic that exciting many Internet users, although about WWW, email, mailing lists, usenet, hebraisation, Russification and other Internet sights, we have already told many times many times. Meanwhile, for so many Israeli Internet users (especially those whose address ends at @www -mail.huji.ac.ac.il) The network begins and ends precisely on IRC. However, not even evening. Starting our conversation about IRC in today's note, we will be able to continue it in future releases.

The first thing is definition. IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a protocol that allows several Internet users to communicate with each other in real time. We used the word "somewhat" instead of a specific figure here because the "population" of the IRC is growing every year. A couple of years ago, when through a certain IRC server it was possible to enter into communication with 7-8 thousand users who are currently on the line, this was considered a lot. Today, IRC can be “found”, as a rule, at least 20,000 people at any individual moment. The number of IRC users, although it is subject to daily fluctuations, remains all day at a more or less constant level, because when the Americans, Asians and Europeans, are going to sleep with each other.

How does IRC work? There is a system of servers independent of each other (university and commercial) supporting this protocol. Ideally, all these servers should be interconnected, that is, they should allow their users to "see" each other. In practice, at any individual point, the exchange of information is possible only between a part of the servers: the rest, to which the signal from our server is “cut off” for too long, that is, we are “not visible”. Therefore, it should be borne in mind that the list of users that can be obtained when connecting to any individual IRC server is not complete. Having connected to another server, we can find completely different people there. This trend is especially clearly manifested during the "lags" and "splites", when the inhibition of the connections between the servers reaches the break on the entire front. In this situation, having connected to any new server, we get a completely different list of users. However, about these subtleties - later.

Connecting an individual user to the IRC server is carried out using a client program. The most popular customers for Windows are MIRC and PIRCH (produced in 16- and 32-bit versions). The latest versions of both clients can be found in Forrest N. Strauud (http://www.stroud.com/irc.html) or in other libraries of "window" Internet programs (Tucows, Simtel, Xiaomu Niu, Slaurechterhouse). For Macintosha, the most popular client is Homer, for X Window - zircon, for the text mode - the classic IRCII Unixe program in all its varieties. For the "half -axle" there are also IRC customers, and very decent, but one of the main advantages of OS/2 is the ability to launch programs in this operating system in their original form (in particular - MIRC, PIRCH and IRCII).

Having an IRC client, it is necessary to connect to one of the servers. Most servers work selectively, that is, only users from certain machines allow. Thus, not one of the local academic servers is available to the customers of Israeli commercial providers (since the fall of 1994) - neither IRC.Biu.Ac.il, nor IRC.TAU.AC.AL, nor IRC.TechNONION.AC.IL. The Vysrail IBM server (IRC.ibm.net.il) serves only customers of this company. Recently, the Aquanet (IRC.Aquanet.co.il), Port 1660, acquired its own IRC server. But this is rather a curiosity than serious news.

Here is a list of several IRC servers, to which today an Israeli commercial user can connect free and freely (the port is 6667 by default, although 6666 and 6665 are no less popular, and it is often allowed to connect to ports from 6650 to 6671):

Dewey.cc.utexas.edu Irc.blackend.com yrc.colorado.edu Irc.cris.cris.eskimo.com Irc.frontiernet.net Irc.cern.cran.com yrc.mo.net IRC.neosoft.com Irc.portal.com irc.primenet.com irc.stealth.net IRC1.net IRC2.NEIS.net

We draw attention to that although many servers are allowed by Israeli users without restriction, they often require us to install iDent, that is, a system of positive identification of our machine. This can be done in a special MIRC and PRCH settings menu before connecting to the server. To those attitudes that are exhibited in the program initially (Port 113, UNIX system), we often just add our own name as the name Host, and click on the inclusion of iDent if it is disconnected.

In order to connect to the server, you must first choose a conditional name - Nick. Any separate “nickname” can only be found once within the server visibility (that is, on servers that temporarily do not see each other, two users with the same “nickname” can exist, but when restoring the connection, both will be “killed”, that is, they will fly out of the IRC, due to the collision of “nicknames”).

"Nick" can be changed at any time with a team /nick. "Nick" cannot be longer than 9 signs, it may include numbers, but not in the first position.

Having chosen its “nickname” and server in our client program, we are connected to IRC. Now we have to start communication with the 20 thousand other users who are here. We will talk about the rules and technique of this communication in the next note.

In the next issue of our “our networks”, the reader is waiting for a story about communication on IRC, which will follow the Netsurfer Digest review and a new report from the GEOCITIES fields.