From NeoWiki

If you have never used IRC before, this is the page for you! Refer all your real world friends to this page for help on connecting to NeoturbineNET IRC. If you like our network and would like to stay please look at our list of recommended IRC Clients.

You might also want to learn how to Deal with Common Problems while trying to connect to NeoturbineNET IRC.

Web Clients

Web IRC clients allow you to connect to IRC without downloading any special software. These can be useful when connecting from work, school, or other places you can't install software.

Using PJIRC

If you've never connected to IRC before PJIRC client will be the easiest client to use. Three publicly accessible PJIRC clients are listed below:

1. Neoturbine's PJIRC Leecher allows you to pick your connection port* while it leeches bandwidth to serve ~4KB! ;)
2. An alternate PJIRC Client pre-configured to connect to our network.
3. PJIRC provided by irc2Go

It's recommended that you select the server that's geographically closest to you using the List 'O Servers. By doing so you'll get the best access to Neoturbine.

Unlike all of the other web clients listed, PJIRC allows you to connect directly so you'll only exchange packets with our servers. Your IRC text will pass through fewer parties and webchat operators (like mibbit or cgiirc) will not be able to read or store your messages.

* Note: PJIRC doesn't have support for SSL connections so you're limited to Non-SSL ports that our servers are listening on (8067, 6667.) If you cannot connect on 6667 or 8067 please send me a message and I'll poke some holes in my firewall to allow Non-SSL connections on other ports. In the mean time, you might want to check out ChatZilla which is listed on our list of recommended IRC Clients.

Problem?

You'll need a Java Virtual Machine installed to run PJIRC.

• Sun's JVM can run on many operating systems and is the most used.

If you don't want to bother with installing a JVM (or cannot due to restrictions) continue reading to learn how to connect through Mibbit.

If PJIRC loads but you cannot connect most likely outgoing connections on port 6667 have been blocked by your organization. See Dealing with Common Problems.

Mibbit.com

If your organization does not have a Java Virtual Machine installed (and you don't want to or cannot install one) you can use a client provided by Mibbit. It has a very fast JavaScript interface that is easy to use. It also supports SSL connections!

From the Mibbit wiki: "Mibbit is an online chat client. Mibbit supports a variety of Platforms including the main PC browsers, the wii, Nokia N800, iPhone, and probably a lot more. It does this without any plugins. Just javascript."

You can use Mibbit from inside NeoWiki using the Mibbit extension, Neoturbine's Mibbit Widget, or, if you want to specify advanced options, from the Mibbit Site:

1. Visit http://chat.mibbit.com/ (SSL@https://chat.mibbit.com/) and
2. click on "Server". Type "irc.neoturbine.net" (no quotes) into the textbox that appears.
   1. You can also select a specific server from our Server List and type it in the box.
   2. To connect using SSL** type example.tld:+6697 in the textbox.
3. Type a nickname in the "Nick:" textbox.
4. Type #neoturbine in the "Channel(s):" text box.
5. Click "Go" and you will be (almost instantly) connected to Neoturbine!

** Note: https://chat.mibbit.com/ is encrypted from your machine to Mibbit but will unencrypted from then on unless you connect to one of our servers providing SSL connections. Also, regardless of encryption all traffic sent through Mibbit can be potentially read (or potentially stored) by its operators.

CGI:IRC

Alternatively, you may also be interested in CGI:IRC. It is similar (in some ways) to Mibbit but it can be run on independent servers. Please note that some of our servers block connections from CGI:IRC clients because of easy abuse. You can find publicly usable CGI:IRC clients via your favorite search engine.

Basic Commands

Change your nick name

/nick Santa_Claus

Do somethin!

/me jumps into the pool

List all available channels

/list

Join a channel

/join #neoturbine

Part a channel (without disconnecting)

/part #neoturbine why are you always yelling?!

Privately message another user

/msg nickname hi, how are you doing today?

To ignore an annoying user

/ignore nickname

Disconnect

/quit kthx, bye...

For other IRC commands and for general (though a bit outdated) IRC help visit IRChelp.org.

If you like our network and would like to stay please look at More Permanent Solutions for a list of IRC Clients.

More Permanent Solutions

Since IRC is fairly easy to implement (because of RFCs, its been done to death, and is simply designed) many clients exist. The following clients are recommended because they're freely licensed (FLOSS) and almost all can be run on multiple operating systems. Check out a more comprehensive list of IRC clients on Wikipedia.

irssi (Linux, OSX, and Windows)

I use irssi along with many Neoturbine members because it is a fairly simple to use but extremely powerful text based IRC client.

• Download
  • includes links to binaries for Windows (via Cygwin) and OSX (with or without Cocoa)
• Support
• Matt Sparks wrote A Guide to Efficiently Using Irssi and Screen.
• Extended irssi help (also located on Mr. Spark's site) lists and explains all commands.

XChat (Linux, OSX, Windows)

XChat is a great graphical client. If you're running Windows (I'm sorry) try one of the alternate builds to avoid its shareware properties. A XChat binary is available for OSX but it is extremely old.

• Download
• Alternate XChat builds for Windows
• Windows Readme
• XChat Aqua - very old version with Cocoa interface
• A recent discussion (2009) on XChat for OSX over at XChat forums.

Colloquy (OSX)

Colloquy is a good looking FLOSS OSX IRC client that uses a native interface which might attract many OSX users. It can even run on the iPhone!

• Download
• Support

Chatzilla (Linux, OSX, Windows)

Chatzilla is a Firefox/Thunderbird extension that allows you to connect to IRC and will run on any system that is able to run these applications.

• Download
• FAQ

Pidgin (Linux, Windows)

Pidgin is a Multi Protocol Messenger and because of this many protocols are not implemented as well as they could be. IRC is no exception. Despite its flaws Pidgin makes IRC accessible to people who would otherwise see IRC as "too exotic".

• Download
• FAQ

MirandaIM (Windows)

Miranda IM will allow you to connect to IRC. One great feature of this client is that it is small enough to put on a floppy or USB Disk.

• Download
• IRC FAQ

Not Recommended

I don't recommend the following clients because they're not free software as defined by FSF or OSI (IDEOLOGUE IN THE HOUSE!!) but you may use them if you like.

HydraIRC (Windows)

A wonderful fully featured graphical IRC client for Windows. If you must use it, I recommend using the no-install version because it can be run from a USB Disk or Floppy.

• Download
• Documentation
• The page for Developers explains the rational behind its licensing.

mIRC (Windows)

The most popular client for Windows. Many "IRC Viri" are created for this client because it's easy to script. Kaspersky Anti-Virus will mark any mIRC exe as "suspected".

• Download
• Information on mIRC Viruses and others.
• Kaspersky's viruslist.com search results for mIRC

Dealing with Common Problems

ISP Restrictions?

IRC, as any other internet protocol or any other piece of technology, has been used for "evil". Because of this it has been blocked by some overly zealous ISPs. Below is a short list of methods to bypass restrictions.

Note that as organizations grow smarter (when filtering packets becomes cheaper for the masses of IT managers) they will restrict access more thoroughly.

If you would like to learn more about Internet Censorship in general please read How to Bypass Internet Censorship by FLOSS Manuals Community Members. It includes a great introduction to Internet censorship and lists several simple and advanced methods of censorship circumvention.

Change ports

If your ISP (school, work, or other organization) blocks outgoing connections on port 6667 try to connect on one of the _other_ listening ports. Many, but not all, of our servers listen on 6667, 8067, and for SSL connections on 6697. Please see the Server List for more information.

If you're really having trouble connecting to IRC please connect to sahal.neoturbine.net. This server listens for SSL IRC connections on ports 21, 23, and 21489, sometimes even 80, and 443 (except when the httpd is running.) To learn how to enable SSL connections in your IRC client read Encrypted Chat.

Shell Provider

If that fails (maybe your ISP is blocking the IRC protocol) try using an IRC client from a shell provider. You can also tunnel connections through some shell providers via a SOCKS Proxy. If you're on Windows I'd suggest using Putty to create a SOCKS Proxy. If you're using Linux or Unix it's even easier to create a SOCKS Proxy using the built in SSH client. The Secure Browsing article on the Embrace Ubuntu Blog is a well written guide on how create SSH Tunnels and Socks Proxies in Linux.

Unfortunately, we do not currently have a list of free shell providers but they're really easy to find via your favorite search engine.

Connect through Tor

Tor exit nodes are banned from connecting to any server on the network. If you try to connect using one you will be glined (banned across all servers.)

However, we are able to provide Tor users with access to the network using a hidden service that runs on qnwpupud3hyir6qp.onion. Please see the Connecting through Tor NeoWiki page for more information regarding this.

Bans

If you're banned globally but think you shouldn't be email null@example.com for help (i.e. We will not remove bans.) If you're banned on only one server try another server. Our bans currently last a few weeks.