IRC server for macosxhints?

[mule]

Do people of macosxhints meet on IRC? If so, where is that, or is that majorly secret hehe ;)

If you do not have the ressources to run a server, I just might, I am willing to sponsor one, if you need one.

Just thought I should ask.

-d

[saint.duo]

I think that would be cool to have a macosxhints IRC channel...

[eagle_eyes]

or howabout just using one of the irc servers already out there and registering a channel? It would be fun to have an irc channel

[sbur]

I'm just starting to think about using instant messaging and IRC. (I've been hesitant because I can easily see this as too big a time-suck....) I, too, think it would be kind of cool to have one for OS X hints.

[Jacques]

Doesn't iChat allow for 'chat rooms'? I use to use FIRE (a bit of Proteus at first, but not at all anymore) and ADIUM all the time, but I really do enjoy the iChat integration with Jaguar.

What should the room name be? MACOSXHINTS sound reasonable? I'll go there tonight and check to see if anyone has established the room.. :)

Jacques

[griffman]

People have asked me about this a few times, so here are my thoughts... It would be pretty cool...
iChat rooms are OK, but once they get over about 10 or so, they become hard to manage (no "manager" per se, for one).
IRC would probably be best.
I have no time to look at anything like this...
I have no knowledge to look at anything like this (is there a cost? how does it work? etc.).
I would probably be too busy to stop by very often...So if someone wants to help me with (4) and (5), I'm open to the concept ... as long as people realize that (6) will probably remain true for the forseeable future :-).

-rob.

[eagle_eyes]

There are plenty of servers for IRC out there, and it should cost nothing to use. I have a server that I would propose to use: irc.darkmyst.org It is mostly used by gamers, but it works well with firewalls, and I have had not problems using it with SNAK, and IRCLE. I am on a lot and would be glad to help moderate and setup the channel. Any objections?

[sbur]

Would you help an ignorant user such as myself join in the fun? (i.e. what client to use, how to join, etc.)

[eagle_eyes]

I prefer snak, but there are many other good options as well. You can get the software from version tracker, just do a search for irc or for snak.

As for how to connect.... I have set up a channel with darkmyst. To connect you will need to add the server to the list, as it does not come preconfigured. The server name is irc.darkmyst.org, then when you get in type /join #macosxhints and you will be connected with the channel. I will try to get screen shots of every step along the way posted latter.

I hope that this will work for everyone!

[griffman]

Once we've tested this for a while (thanks, eagle_eyes!), I'll put a blurb up on the main site...

Worked perfectly for me first try, too :-).

-rob.

[Jacques]

If you already use Mozilla, an IRC client is built-in - you won't have to install any other programs and it works well.

[griffman]

Or if you really want to do it the UNIX way, install Apple's X11, then install fink, follow fink's instructions to enable the Apple X11 implementation, and then install xchat via fink ;-).

-rob.

[maousse]

There is also a native, free, os x port of xchat :
x-chat aqua (http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=17132&db=mac) :)

[griffman]

Ah, but what fun is that? :-)

[Didn't know about that one; thanks for the pointer!]

-rob.

[Jacques]

X-Chat is actually pretty nice, SNAK and IRCLE are not freeware.. I haven't lauched Mozilla in quite a while, I may not even have it installed any longer! (Chimera / Safari primaries)

[sbur]

How do I set this up in X-chat? (Not as straight forward as Snaks.)

I've modified the ./xchat2/serv_.conf file to add darkmyst at the above address. I can connect, but I don't seem to be able to join the macosxhints channel.

[edit] I'm not sure what I just did, but I got in....I don't know if I could do it again, though.

[artgeek]

For Xchat Aqua:

I chose a server I never would use in the 'server list', and pasted in irc.darkmyst.org. Delete any alternate servers for the one you replaced. Then change the server name to Darkmyst. Hit connect -> you're in. Thanks EagleEyes for the assist.

see you all there...

ag

(hey, rob what's up with the main macosxhints page?? oopps! its back now. never mind)

[Hes Nikke]

FYI, there is a nice IRC client called OpenMac (http://www.openmac.org) that is designed for IRC newbies, and those to lazy to learn the ins and outs of IRC (like how to set up a client) it connects to a single channel (#openmac) on a single server (frenode (http://www.freenode.org)) and you are away chatting within seconds of fireing up the app.

since this client is open source, it is _extreamly_ easy to recompile it to connect to any channel/server.

unfortonaly i don't have time to deal with 3 projects based on the OM source, but anyone with the developer tools can retool OM to work with any other channel and post the precompiled client for anyone who isn't that confortable with IRC to use :D

[saint.duo]

I'm going to take a shot at recompiling openmac for the macosxhints chat room. Give me a few hours, days, whatever. I'll post the result here when I'm done.

edit
Well, I got it connecting properly. I am now going through and trying to remove all reminants of it being "OpenMac", and customizing it for our channel. I will probably disable the irc nickname registration wizard in the first release, and fix it later. I'm also working on getting the version server working (which is just a matter of me actually doing it). For now, the name is "XHintsChat", and I'm wondering what people think of this. Email me at xhintschat@freefallsoftware.com and let me know what you think of the name, or post here so everyone can see your opinion. I personally don't care what the app name is.

[saint.duo]

It's finished. For now, the nickname registration wizard is disabled. The only thing missing is an icon. I tried to throw together something with an "X" and "#macosxhints" on it, but it looks terrible. So, if someone is feeling artistically inclined, I'd be happy to take icon submissions in either .psd (photoshop) or .icns format. Send them to the email address in the previous post, I've got 15MB of space I can use for attachments and such. As a development build (low optimization, debugging symbols on), it comes out to 3.2MB, or 1MB compressed. So, it should be fairly small when I compile the release build.
I made toolbar buttons for the main macosxhints page, the main forums page, the rules of the road anchor in the forums faq, freefall's site, and an email contact to freefall for support and such.
Version checking is working, and the app no longer contains references to OpenMac, except for the necessary license stuff. I am now waiting for the blessings of the OpenMac team to distribute it.

edit
Well, this copy is now authorized, so I can tell everyone where to get it. :D

The app name became "XHintsChat", and you can get it here (http://www.freefallsoftware.com/files/xhintschat/XHintsChat.dmg).
Version checking does work, so if you use it, you'll know when a new version is available. It connects directly to the macosxhints irc channel. Enjoy Everyone!

[Hes Nikke]

don't forget to get approval before posting it (i know you already posted it...) :eek:

[saint.duo]

I did wait to get approval. I was in the chat room when it was being tested by the developer of OpenMac, and he approved it and added it to the authorized distributors list before I posted it here.

[saint.duo]

test

[Hes Nikke]

sorry, safari had cached an old version of the authorised page, i had to do a super-reload (click reload wile holding the option key) to see that it had been autorised :o

btw, what's new in 1.0.1?

[saint.duo]

1.0.1? In 1.0, I hadn't noticed that there was a dock menu with things other than the norm in it, so I changed them to not point to OpenMac things. :D
silly me

[Hes Nikke]

i just spotted v 1.1.0 on VersionTracker, and there are a couple of bugs..

1st the registration sends the following to the server:
PRIVMSG NickServ :REGISTER foo :foo@bar.com
when in reality it should be
PRIVMSG NickServ :REGISTER foo foo@bar.com (the extra colon is throwing the nickserv off)

2nd, the identificaion sheet isn't spawing when prompted, it should be searching for one of the following strings:
:NickServ!services@darkmyst.org NOTICE HesNikke :HesNikke is a registered nickname -- Please choose another.
:NickServ!services@darkmyst.org NOTICE HesNikke :You have 60 seconds to identify or change nicknames.
:NickServ!services@darkmyst.org NOTICE HesNikke :To authenticate your identity: /msg NickServ identify <password>

/debug is your friend (i put it there just for purposes as this :cool: )

[saint.duo]

Doh!

Thanks for the heads up. I thought I had the nickname reg working right, guess I missed that extra ":".

I was afraid the identify sheet might not work. What's interesting is that I have it looking for "You have 60 seconds to identify or change nicknames."

Of all things to bring up a debug window! If I had realized that was a command and not something to enable in the code.

I'll fix it up tonight.

[Hes Nikke]

ok, so i tried out your nickname registration again and got a step farther...

PRIVMSG NickServ :REGISTER foo foo@bar.com

that worked right, now it needs to capture one of the following lines to move on to the success screen (your getting so close!)

:NickServ!services@darkmyst.org NOTICE HesNikke|xhintschat :Nickname HesNikke|xhintschat registered under your account: XHintsCha@*.forgottennewbies.com
:NickServ!services@darkmyst.org NOTICE HesNikke|xhintschat :Your password is foo - remember this for later use.

as far as the registration sheet goes, that works just fine :)

and no, my password isn't foo :P

[saint.duo]

Bah! Squish a bug here, squash a bug there. Odd, it is checking for "remember this for later use." hmmm.....

[Jacques]

...fewer bugs (http://slashdot.org/articles/03/02/20/1322219.shtml?tid=106), more bugs (http://slashdot.org/articles/03/02/19/2126220.shtml?tid=109&tid=128)...