View source for Internet Relay Chat

<noinclude>[[Category:Contact]][[Category:Resource]]
</noinclude>== IRC, [[Internet Relay Chat]] ==
Most Sugar Labs chat takes place on IRC (see [[wikipedia:IRC|Internet Relay Chat]]).
* The [[Activities/IRC|'''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 [http://www.pidgin.im/ Pidgin] or [[wikipedia:X-Chat|X-Chat]]. This link should work for such clients: irc://irc.freenode.net#sugar
* Or, use a browser add-on, such as [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/circ/bebigdkelppomhhjaaianniiifjbgocn?hl=en-US CIRC] (for Chrome). Current versions of Firefox are no longer compatible with add-ons, so ChatZilla will only work if you are using a sufficiently older version of Firefox.
* Easiest, might be this web browser-based service provided by freenode through qwebirc to [http://chat.sugarlabs.org 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 '''<tt>irc.freenode.net</tt>''' network.

==== IRC channel discussion archives ====

* Archives of many Sugar-related IRC channels are generated automatically by an IRC bot and are indexed [http://meeting.sugarlabs.org/ here].

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==== irc.freenode.net channels ====

<!-- FORMAT FOR URLS: 
http://webchat.freenode.net/?randomnick=1&channels=sugar&prompt=1
-->
{|
| colspan=2 style="background:lightyellow; border:1px solid black;" | '''General:'''
|- valign="top"
|<tt>[http://webchat.freenode.net/?randomnick=1&channels=sugar&prompt=1 #sugar]</tt> or <tt>irc://irc.freenode.net#sugar</tt> || For day-to-day [[What is Sugar? | Sugar]] development&mdash;a casual, friendly place where Sugar developers collaborate.
|- valign="top"
| <tt>[http://webchat.freenode.net/?randomnick=1&channels=sugar-meeting&prompt=1 #sugar-meeting]</tt> or <tt>irc://irc.freenode.net#sugar-meeting</tt>|| A channel for scheduled Sugar Labs meetings.  See the [[Sugar Labs/Events | Sugar Labs event calendar]].
|- valign="top"
| <tt>[http://webchat.freenode.net/?randomnick=1&channels=fedora-olpc&prompt=1 #fedora-olpc]</tt> or <tt>irc://irc.freenode.net#fedora-olpc</tt> || A channel for the Fedora development project for OLPC XOs and a Sugar distribution.  See the [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/OLPC project page].

|}

==== irc.oftc.net channels ====
{|
|-
| colspan=2 style="background:lightyellow; border:1px solid black;" | '''General:'''
|- valign="top"
|- valign="top"
| <tt>[http://embed.mibbit.com/?server=irc.oftc.net&channel=%23schoolserver&noServerTab=false #schoolserver]</tt> or <tt>irc://irc.oftc.net#schoolserver</tt> || The meeting channel for the XS, the '''X'''O school '''S'''erver.<br>(Not active in September 2009.)
|- valign="top"
| <tt>[http://embed.mibbit.com/?server=irc.oftc.net&channel=%23treehouse&noServerTab=false #treehouse]</tt> or <tt>irc://irc.oftc.net#treehouse</tt> || The meeting channel for the [http://monitoring.treehouse.su/munin/DOMs/comparison-day.html#virtual%20machines Treehouse] - Hosting 
|}

* See also [[OLPC:Communication channels]].

=== How to use IRC channels ===
* A web-based chat for freenode.net channels is [http://webchat.freenode.net 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 [http://www.mibbit.com 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 [http://www.mirc.com/irc.html here], and [http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/irctutorial.html this tutorial], which also includes basic commands.
* Learn about IRC etiquette. Try [http://www.ircbeginner.com/ircinfo/etiquette.html here], [http://www.livinginternet.com/r/ru_chatq.htm here], or [http://www.wxwidgets.org/wiki/index.php/IRC_Etiquette here]. 
* For IRC under sugar, install the latest '''[[Activities/IRC|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 <code>/join #sugar</code> 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 [[OLPC:User:Dogi/meeting | here]].