IRC discussion tomorrow on #eml

[Matt Jones]

Hi Ken,

IRC is another chat system we use frequently (Internet Relay Chat).  I 
have set up your IP number to be able to access our IRC server.  All you 
need to do is download an IRC client, and point it at our server.  Here 
are the details.  Please don't struggle with this setup -- if it doesn't 
work right off, give me a call so we can get it worked out quickly for you.

Client: a good client for windows is mIRC, which you can download from 
http://www.mirc.com.  On linux a good client is xchat, which comes 
pre-installed with most installations.  The mozilla web browser also has 
an IRC client built in, and Netscape 7 might as well, although I haven't 
tried it recently.

Once you've installed a client, you'll want to open a connection to the 
IRC server "dev.nceas.ucsb.edu".  This should let you in and display a 
welcome message.

IRC is organized into "channels", each of which represents a distinct 
conversation.  You can think of channels as "chat rooms".  We'll hold 
the eml discussion in the "#eml" channel.  In order to participate, 
you'll need to "join" that channel.  With mIRC, you can do so by typing 
"/join #eml" at the command prompt, or you can tell it to join #eml when 
you first connect to the server.  In either case, you should see a new 
window with a list of people in the channel.  Typing a message on the 
command line sends that message to everyone in the channel.

I am already (and usually) logged into IRC, so you can connect anytime 
to test your connection.

There are a lot of other commands in IRC for cutomizing the environment, 
most of which you won't need. Let me know if you run into any problems.

Matt

-- 
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Matt Jones                                    jones at nceas.ucsb.edu
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/    Fax: 425-920-2439   Ph: 907-789-0496
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)

Interested in ecological informatics? http://www.ecoinformatics.org
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