Some questions about IRC
reddit / irc

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[deleted] · 2014-04-15 17:57

I started using IRC for the first time today, and I have a few
questions about it:

* Is IRC encrypted? What is the encryption method? I thought this
would be an easy google find... but no, apparently not.

* Do you have to be connected to the *correct* network to get to a
certain channel? i.e. if I wanted to get on #asoiaf, do I *have* to
use freenode or can I also use EFNet to access the same channel?

* Can I use IRC directly from the terminal in Ubuntu?

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StoleAGoodUsername · 2014-04-15 18:10

IRC can be, but is not inherently encrypted. You basically connect
with SSL if you want encryption. You'll have to look up instructions
for specific networks. If you're only chatting on public channels,
this isn't really necessary, since they're public anyway.  Yes,
channels are network specific. Freenode's #Linux is not the same as
EFNet's #Linux.  Use irssi to connect to IRC networks in a terminal.

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owat · 2014-04-15 18:47

If you want encrypted IRC use client plugins like fish.

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CannedDeath · 2014-04-15 21:06

For SSL, the networks that have it usually use port 6697 or 9999.
Also smaller networks often use self signed certificates, so you may
have to accept invalid certificates.

In addition to irssi, weechat is also a good terminal-based client.

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[deleted] · 2014-04-15 23:00

irssi always gets an upvote from me. It's easily my favorite client.

For the OP, it can be useful to have some quick references handy for
irssi when you start using it, like
[this](http://quadpoint.org/articles/irssi/) or
[this](http://www.foxhop.net/irssi). The [official
documentation](http://www.irssi.org/documentation) is solid, too.

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recourse9 · 2014-04-16 05:46

No love for BitchX?

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FrankieSayRelax · 2014-04-16 07:49

There's also erc if you're into emacs on the command line. It's pretty
good once you configure it.

M-x erc or M-x erc-tls

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[deleted] · 2014-04-16 10:03

I've honestly never used it. Should I give it a try? What makes it
better or different than irssi?

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recourse9 · 2014-04-16 10:04

Nothing really... Its an old client.  The name kicks ass thats about
it.

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[deleted] · 2014-04-16 10:05

I've always been more of a vim user, but just last week I started
putting some effort into learning emacs, so I'll have to give this a
try. Thanks for the recommendation.