Introduction To Dirc
A quick start guide to Dirc is given under the help menu, and should be enough to get you started using Dirc. This page is designed to give you a bit more information on how Dirc works.When Dirc is first loaded a window titled "Dirc: Status" is created. This is Dirc's status window, and shows you what the program is doing, as well as showing most of the responses from the server in here. Here is a description of all of the menus available and what they do.
When you are successfully connected to a server you will be able to type commands into the text area at the bottom of the status window. This is one area where you can issue commands, for example "/join #dirc" would join the channel #dirc, creating the channel if it didn't already exists. When you have successfully joined a channel a new window will be created, the title of which will be the channel name followed by the topic of the channel. Down the right hand side of the channel is a list of users in the channel, those which have the "@" symbol in front of there nick name are channel operators. Commands can also be typed in at the bottom of a channel window. If you type in text in the text area at the bottom of the window it will be sent to that channel, unless it is a command (all commands are prefixed with a "/"). If you close the window Dirc will leave the channel for you.
If you list all of the channels available using "/list" a new window will be created giving all of the channels you can see, along with their topic's. This process can be very long, and unfortunately there is no way to cancel the list once it has started. This can cause problems when it is done on a machine running under a slow virtual machine or on slow hardware (see notes for details). On some servers (notably those on the Undernet) when you do a /list a window will open and there will be no channels listed in it. This is because the server you are using doesn't allow for unconditional listing of channels, you have to pass parameters with your command (e.g. "/list >3"). For a list of these parameters type "/list ?", and shortly a list should appear in your status window.
If someone on IRC sends you a private message a new window will be opened, the title of which will the nick name of the person from whom the message came. All text typed in this window will be sent to the user as a private message, unless it is a command. If the user who sent you the message changes their nick name, and Dirc is told about it (ie. you are in a channel in which they are also present) the title of the window will change, otherwise a new window will be opened when they next send you a message.
All windows that have a text input area at the bottom have a command history with that window. Pressing the up an down arrow keys will move you through the text that has been typed in that area. The amount held in the command history can be changed (see configuration for details).
Contents | Features | Introduction | Configuration | Commands | Notes