Irssi Tutorial

The best place to get live tech support is IRC. It's free and often the users are helpful. irssi is one popular IRC client that works great from the command line. It's helpful to know how to use it so you can get help if you ever get stuck.

Create a new window on tmux using C-b c, then start irssi:

    $ irssi
  

(Remember, to jump to window <number>, type C-b <number>)

Inside irssi, type these commands:

    /set nick <nickname>
    /set user_name <username>
    /set real_name <any name>
  

(Avoid using your real name for privacy reasons)

    /connect irc.ircnow.org
  

This will connect you to the IRCNow network. You can replace irc.ircnow.org with any other server. Here are some pre-listed networks:

To scroll up, type [PgUp] or <ALT>+p. To scroll down, type [PgDn] or <ALT>+n.

    /join #ircnow
  

This will join you to the channel #ircnow. IRC is a protocol used for chatting with large groups of people. Everyone in the channel can see your messages, so be careful not to say anything too personal. It's a great opportunity to meet new friends and learn about free software.

After joining a channel, you will see the the topic of the channel at the very top blue bar. If you scroll up with [PgUp] or <ALT>+p, you can see the topic will be displayed whenever you join a channel. To see the topic again, type: /topic

(You may need to scroll down with [PgDn] or <ALT>+n to see it)

To see everyone in the channel, type: /names (or /n for short)

To send a private message, type: /msg

To see the list of public channels, type: /list

To switch windows, type: <ALT>+<number> where <number> is a number from 0 to 9. For example, <ALT>+3 will jump to window 3. You can also type /wg <number>, where /wg is short for /window goto and <number> is any number.

To leave a channel, type /part #channel. To close a window, type /wc

If you want to learn more, you can type /help. You can also visit the Irssi Startup How-To. Finally, IRCNow also maintains its own Beginner's Guide to IRC.

To quit, type /quit

Remember -- have fun chatting! Lifelong friendships are often made over IRC.

To move to the next level, connect to irc.ircnow.org then join the channel #unix106 .