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

Setting up/idling in Weechat tutorial

If you want to get started idling in #VTLUUG, 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 /connect oftc</oftc>
8. 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.
9. <Optional> Type /set irc.server.oftc.username "My user name" and /set irc.server.oftc.realname "My real name" to set other identifying info.
10. <Optional> To connect automatically at startup:/set irc.server.oftc.autoconnect on
11. <Optional> To autojoin certain channels, /set irc.server.freenode.autojoin "#channel1,#channel2"
12. In order to reduce spam, we require all IRC users to have their nicks registered and verified with NickServ to be able to speak. You can register your chosen nick with

/msg nickserv register YourPassword your@email.address.com

and then you must identify on every login with

/msg nickserv identify YourPassword

you can make weechat do this automatically with

/set irc.server.oftc.command "/msg nickserv identify YourPassword"

Finally, go to services.oftc.net and follow the instructions to verify your account.

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, look at this tutorial.