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Setting up the chat

After this section, you will be connected to the FUMBBL Chat, talking to other coaches all over the world. If you already know how to do this, you can safely skip to the next section, Terminology.

What is IRC?

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a way for people to communicate with alot of other users on the Internet. Each user has program called an "IRC client", which allows them to connect to a chat network. A chat network is one or more servers (computers) connected together with special software.

Choosing a client

There are quite alot of IRC clients available to you. Here are a few links to places where you can find an IRC client.

Windows

• http://www.mirc.com - Very popular client. Free trial, $20 fee. Setup Instructions?
• http://www.hydrairc.com - Free alternative. Setup Instructions
• http://irssi.org/ - Irssi - Free!
• http://www.xchat.org - Free trial. Very widely used. Setup Instructions
• http://www.silverex.org - Free X-Chat for Windows

Mac OS

• http://irssi.org/ - Irssi - Free
• XChat Aqua - Free client. Mac OSX version of XChat. A beta but seems really stable and quite nice. Setup Instructions
• http://www.ircle.com - Mac OS 9 and X IRC client. 30 day trial, $20 fee. Setup Instructions
• http://versiontracker.com - A good place to dig up an alternate (free) IRC Client if you want to.

Linux

• http://irssi.org/ - Irssi
• http://www.kvirc.net - QT based client. Setup Instructions?
• http://www.xchat.org - GTK+ based client. Setup Instructions

Any OS

• http://mozilla.org - Chatzilla - Free and included in Mozilla installation. Get rid of IE today! Setup Instructions

If there are no setup instructions for the client of your choice, you can always look in the documentation for the client. In order to find your way to the correct place, you will be needing the following information:

It's worth noting that the IRC channels are currently in a bit of flux. The current plan is to set up our own network of FUMBBL servers. The New server should be used until otherwise noted in the News

Server: irc.fumbbl.com
Port: 6667
Channel: #FUMBBL

If you can't figure out how to make it work, you can use the Java webchat to connect to the chat and ask for help. Note that the Java chat is very limited and has bugs, so only use it as a last resort.

If you can't make any of that work, you may refer to the IRC Troubleshooting Section for more advanced help.

With an IRC client installed and you being connected to the FUMBBL chatroom, proceed to the Terminology page.

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