Best 'way/program' to access IRC? I use Adium now. Anything better
maybe?
reddit / irc

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Ayakalam · 2014-05-27 15:39

Hello all,

So, I am kinda new to IRC, and I set it up on my Mac last week via
Adium.

Now, I would also like to set it up on my Windows machine, but figured
I would ask the community here, what 'method/program' you recommend
for accessing IRC with.

Things that are important to me would be being able to hotkey through
different channels swiftly, maybe a sign or something when someone has
mentioned my name/alias, etc. Adium does those things, but.. maybe
therie is a better/nicer way?

I mainly want to use it for chatting on channels where I can get help
on various topics.

Thanks!

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[deleted] · 2014-05-27 17:21

[deleted]

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sentriz · 2014-05-27 19:19

Yep, [HexChat](http://hexchat.github.io/)'s where it's at. Free, open
source, customizable, scriptable, multi-network support with auto-
connect, join, and identify.

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twodayslate · 2014-05-27 19:57

I personally use irccloud

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wmcscrooge · 2014-05-27 20:48

weechat is pretty great. Not sure how it performs/looks on windows,
but it's amazing on linux.

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moo9001 · 2014-05-27 20:50

Quassel-irc.org

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Joester98 · 2014-05-27 23:14

On OS X, you can try out or buy
[Textual](http://www.codeux.com/textual/) (or compile it).

I personally use [Limechat](http://limechat.net/mac/).

With Windows and Linux, I'd recommend
[Hexchat](https://hexchat.github.io/) or if you want to use a text-
based client which has a slight learning curve,
[Irssi](http://irssi.org/).

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Ayakalam · 2014-05-28 00:19

Thanks - also, why do some people use 'text-based' vs gui based
clients? What is the usefulness (or not) of one over the others?
Thanks.

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Joester98 · 2014-05-28 01:13

Usually text-based clients can be quicker and less resource heavy, and
nice if you're comfortable using an interface that requires only the
keyboard.

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Paradox · 2014-05-28 05:13

I generally like textual. Its on the MAS.

Its [pretty](http://i.imgur.com/QvQ68UB.png)

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lunchboxg4 · 2014-05-29 02:52

Also, you can run them through a utility like tmux or screen, and if
you do it from a remote, always-on server, you have persistence (of
sorts). They also tend to be infinitely more customizable in lots more
ways than just the UI.

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lunchboxg4 · 2014-05-29 02:54

I love [Colloquy](http://colloquy.info) for the Mac. It's pretty,
scriptable, and quick. Very no-frills, but rock solid. But you asked
about Windows, and Colloquy isn't for Windows.

If you have access to a third-party *nix box, irssi is nice and you
can connect to it from anything. Check out
[Blinkenshell](http://blinkenshell.org/wiki/Start) for a remote box if
you like. I haven't used them, but they're recommended by people I
trust.

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lunchboxg4 · 2014-05-29 03:07

Agreed (just installed the trial). But the icon is horrendous.

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XavierNite · 2014-11-12 15:03

[HexChat](http://hexchat.github.io) is pretty awesome, I have
personally used it on OSX & it's pretty well supported.