Practical Linux

Chatting with Internet Relay Chat

Use the irc, or Internet Relay Chat, command, to converse with other people on the Internet. When you run irc, use its built-in commands to connect to chat servers, to see who is chatting, and to set other options. The irc command's built-in help documents more than 110 commands and topics. To use irc, you should have an active Internet connection.

Starting an irc Session

Starting a chat session with irc

1. Start your Internet connection. To start an irc session, use irc on the command line of the console or an X11 terminal window like this:

   # irc
   

   The irc program connects to a default chat server, or other computer supporting irc, as shown in Figure 20.2.

   Figure 20.2. The irc command displays a scrolling screen with ...