AustNet Support Department - New User's Guide

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Introduction

No idea how to use IRC? Absolutely lost and bewildered by the complexity of IRC? AustNet proudly presents a New User's Guide, aiming to give you peace of mind by offering simple solutions to get you connected in no time.

What is AustNet?

AustNet is a multi-user, multi-channel chat network. It allows people all over the internet to talk to one another in real-time. Each AustNet user has a nickname they use. All communication with another user is either by nickname or by the channel that they or you are on (A channel is a specific forum comprising of users).

Each person has their own unique nickname.
A channel is a group of people talking.
There are thousands of channels and nicknames.

How do I get onto AustNet?

In order to connect to AustNet, you must obtain an IRC client. An IRC client is a software program that allows you to connect to IRC servers. If you do not have a client, simply download the program matching your operating system from here. Once you have downloaded a suitable client, you need to install it. Installation via Windows is done by simply opening the file you downloaded. For Macintosh and Unix users, you will need to uncompress your downloaded files and then install or compile them. Once you have successfully installed your IRC client, its time to advance to the next stage.

You need an IRC client to connect to AustNet.
An IRC client is a program, like Internet Explorer, Eudora or Netscape, that can connect to Internet Relay Chat and resides on your own computer.
You use your client to connect you to an IRC server.

How do I connect to an AustNet server?

Now that you have your own IRC client, you need to connect your client to an official AustNet IRC server. Browse through the IRC servers listed in your client's server list and look for an AustNet server closest to you. If you cannot find AustNet, read on for a comprehensive list of AustNet servers. It is strongly recommended that the server you select is geographically located as close as possible to where you are situated. If all else fails, you can simply type the following commands to get you to an AustNet IRC server:

/server au.austnet.org
This will connect you to an Australian AustNet server.
/server ca.austnet.org
This will connect you to a Canadian AustNet server.
/server eu.austnet.org
This will connect you to a European AustNet server.
/server nz.austnet.org
This will connect you to a New Zealand AustNet server.
/server sg.austnet.org
This will connect you to a Singaporian AustNet server.
/server us.austnet.org
This will connect you to an American AustNet server.

You need to connect your client to an AustNet server.
If you are unsure, simply type: "/server irc.austnet.org" at your client's prompt.
If you are further having difficulties with this, mail [email protected].

I'm connected! What now?

Now that you have connected, you can join in the fun of chatting to other AustNet users world-wide. All IRC commands begin with a "/" character. Anything that does not begin with a "/" character is assumed to be a message to someone and sent to your current channel or query window.

The following commands are every-day IRC-life commands, that are essential for you to be successful move around AustNet. For extremely new users, it is recommend that you print them out and keep them beside you for future reference.

Command Description

/list Lists AustNet channels, number of users and topic.

/join #channel Allows you to join in a conversation with other people who are also on the channel. If the channel did not already exist, it will be created for you and you will be in charge of it.

/part #channel reason Will leave the channel that you specify.

/names #channel Shows the nicknames of all users on the specified channel.

/nick nickname Change your nickname (limited to 15 characters).

/quit reason Disconnects you from IRC, and leaves a reason.

/whois nickname Displays information on the specified nickname.

/away reason Leave a message explaining that you are not currently paying attention to IRC.

/msg nickname message Sends a message to another nickname.

/invite nickname channel Invites another user to a channel. You must be on the channel and have ops for this to work.

/topic channel topic Changes the topic for your current channel.

/mode channel mode Change the mode of the channel
Modes for channels are:
m - make channel moderated s - make channel secret p - make channel private l - make channel limited, where number is the maximum number of users allowed t - make channel topic limited o - Makes nick a channel operator i - channel is invite only n - No external MSGs to the channel are allowed (message disabled) k - Password for a channel

On AustNet, there are a lot of places where you can "hang out" - those places are called channels. You can compare conversations on a channel to a conversation among a group of people: you see/hear everything that is said, and you can reply to anything that's said. What you type is received by everyone who's willing to listen - and everyone who is late will not hear what is said before unless repeated by one of the users who were there (who said "real life").

All channels on IRC have names. Channels begin with a # character (hash) followed by some kind of text-string, like #help, #chatzone or #funfactory. Usually, the name of the channel will indicate the type of conversation that's going on in there.

All IRC commands begin with "/".
To chat, simply /join #chatzone and type what you wish to say.