This tutorial will get new users chatting on SDF's IRC network with the Irssi client with a minimum of muss and fuss. It assumes you have not previously used the Irssi IRC client.
Enter the following at your SDF shell prompt:
mkdir ~/.irssi; cp /sys/sdf/share/irssi/config ~/.irssi
Enter the command irssi at your SDF shell prompt to start Irssi and connect to SDF's IRC network.
You will be automatically connected to three IRC channels:
Move forward through your list of currently connected channels by pressing Ctrl-n. Move backward through the list with Ctrl-p.
To chat on your currently selected channel, just type the message you want to send followed by the Enter key.
You can emote or pose on your current channel with the /me command:
/me waves to all the cyberchatters.
Enter the command /quit.
By default, Irssi will pick up your real name from your SDF user data. This can be displayed by other IRC users with the /whois command. If you wish to hide your real name (most SDF IRC users have their real name set to their SDF login), enter the following commands in Irssi:
/set real_name <name for display> /quit
(The change will take effect the next time you start Irssi.)
The SDF IRC network hosts chat channels on a variety of topics. See IRC Channels on SDF or enter the /list command in Irssi for an up-to-date list. (Many of the channels are not very active.)
To join a channel temporarily, enter the following command in Irssi:
/j #<channel>
To automatically connect to a channel everytime you start Irssi, enter:
/channel add -auto #<channel> SDFnet
There is on-line help for IRC commands. Enter /help in Irssi. (Help text will be displayed in the status channel.)
Irssi help is available on the man page or at irssi.org.
SDF has installed a number of other IRC clients besides Irssi. The author's experience with these is extremely limited, but you are welcome to give them a try.
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