WeeChat

weechat is the preferred irc client of most members of vtluug. It is very featureful, requires little initial configuration, and is based on ncurses.

Features

This is a partial list of weechat features

• IRC proxy and weechat relay
• 256 colour
• Highly customizable
• Macros
• Extensions in python, perl, ruby, TCL, bash, and other languages

How to use for idling purposes

Say you wanted to idle on #VTLUUG using weechat. Just do the following:

1. <Optional> Find a linux box, up 24/7, for hosting weechat. Many VTLUUG members use acidburn for this purpose.
2. Make sure weechat is installed. This step is done for you on acidburn.
3. Log in via SSH. For those new to ssh, you can do this for acidburn by typing ssh yourUsername@acidburn.vtluug.org in your favorite terminal.
4. Open a new tmux session. If you're new to tmux, read up on it here.
5. Launch weechat. (NOTE ON NAVIGATION: You can change "tabs" in weechat by holding alt and pressing left or right arrow, or jump to a buffer by typing it's number while holding alt.
6. Type /server add oftc irc.oftc.net
7. Type /set irc.server.oftc.nicks "mynick,mynick2,mynick3,mynick4,mynick5". You only need one nickname, but you may put in more than one nick as shown.
8. <Optional> Type /set irc.server.oftc.username "My user name" and /set irc.server.oftc.realname "My real name" to set other identifying info.
9. <Optional> To connect automatically at startup:/set irc.server.oftc.autoconnect on
10. <Optional> To autojoin certain channels, /set irc.server.freenode.autojoin "#channel1,#channel2"

A lot of the content from the above was taken from the (very useful) WeeChat quick start guide.

If you're interested in syncing weechat to an Android device, click here.