Internet Relay Chat

== IRC, Internet Relay Chat == Most Sugar Labs chat takes place on IRC (see Internet Relay Chat).
 * The IRC activity allows access to IRC from within the Sugar environment.
 * You can use a computer-based client to log in to IRC, such as Pidgin or X-Chat. This link should work for such clients: irc://irc.freenode.net#sugar
 * Or, use a browser add-on (like ChatZilla for the FireFox web browser, where the above link will also work).
 * Easiest, might be this web browser-based service provided by freenode through qwebirc to chat on #sugar now.

IRC is mainly designed for group communication in discussion 'channels', but allows for personal chat and data transfer as well.

The Sugar Labs Community uses a series of channels in the irc.freenode.net network.

IRC channel discussion archives

 * Archives of many Sugar-related IRC channels are generated automatically by an IRC bot and are indexed here.

irc.oftc.net channels

 * See also Communication channels.

How to use IRC channels

 * A web-based chat for freenode.net channels is qwebirc, with nickname: (whatever you like), and channel: #sugar (or whatever other channel you're trying to get into).
 * A web-based chat for other channels is Mibbit, with nickname: (whatever you like), server: irc.oftc.net, and channel: #schoolserver (or whatever other channel you're trying to get into). It also includes an in-line translation service that is helpful when other languages are used. (Connections via mibbit are no longer supported on freenode. You may wish to consider using http://webchat.freenode.net instead. Further information over at http://bit.ly/19JILF.)
 * Some helpful resources are here, and this tutorial, which also includes basic commands.
 * Learn about IRC etiquette. Try here, here, or here.
 * For IRC under sugar, install the latest Sugar IRC activity.
 * In Pidgin you can configure IRC and then Add a Chat to your Buddy list. Select the IRC channel from the drop-down menu, and enter the name of the channel. You can set Pidgin to open channels automatically whenever it starts up.
 * In a traditional IRC client, you join a channel with the /join command, for example, enter  in the input box.
 * Connect to one of the above channels, and say hello. You will see a list of the handles (on-line names) of the people in the channel, and the conversation will appear in a scrolling window. Type your message in the command entry area, and press return.
 * Instructions for using the meeting log robot are here.