July 26th, 1991 - written by Ronald van Loon (rvl).

[ PART ONE : BASIC COMMANDS, PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS ]

IRC for beginners - an introduction
===================================

[NOTE: IRC II, the client we are using in our group, has most
of this information on-line. If you are stuck, type /HELP and
hit return - if that doesn't work, just try again till it does.
To escape from /HELP mode, keep pressing return until your edit
line (the line at the bottom of the screen) is empty.]

Most of the information in this file can be found in the following
files :

/HELP INTRO
/HELP NEWUSER

IRC - what is it
================

Irc is a multi-user, multi-channel chatting network.  It allows
people all over the internet to talk to one another in real-time.
Each irc user has a nickname they use.  All communication with
another user is either by nickname or by the channel that they or
you are on. 

More about channels later on.

IRC - some basics
=================

IRC is based on a client-server model. Clients are programs that 
connect to a server, a server is a program that transports data
(messages) from one user (client) to another. The client we use
at 3DCV is called IRC II (version 2.1.x), originally written by
Michael Sandrov.

IRC II
======

All IRCII commands begin with a "/" character. 
Anthing that does not begin with a / is assumed to be a message
to someone and send to your current channel, or to a person you
are QUERYing. In the following I will describe the more common
commands used in every-day IRC-life.

If you are not sure about the spelling of an IRC II command,
type the prefix of that command - and press the ESCape key twice.
IRC II (from now on IRC) will give you a listing of COMMANDS and
ALIASes that start with that prefix. Don't forget the "/" in front
of the command, though.

Example :

/W <ESC><ESC>

IRC: *** Commands:
IRC: ***     WAIT           WALLOPS        WHILE          WHO
IRC: ***     WHOIS          WHOWAS
IRC: *** Aliases:
IRC: ***     W              WA             WH             WI
IRC: ***     WLOFF          WLOG           WLON           WS

[Note : This is an example. Your screen may show more Aliases,
and less Commands than shown here, or less Aliases and more
Commands - in other words "your mileage may vary" ;-)]

BASIC IRC COMMANDS
==================

In the following, everything you have to type is preceded with a
colon (:), everything that the client program does is preceded
with IRC: 

    -----

    /LIST		Lists all current irc channels, number of
			users, and topic.
    ----- Example :

    : /LIST

IRC: *** Channel    Users  Topic
IRC: *** +test      1      this is a test channel
IRC: *** #KOFFIE    1

    -----

    /NAMES		Shows the nicknames of all users on each
			channel
    ----- Example :

    : /NAMES

IRC: Pub: +test      @rvloon
IRC: Prv: *          ronaldvl fred

    -----

    /NICK <new_nick> Change your nickname (everyone who wants to talk to
		     you sees this name - also, at the moment, nicknames
		     are limited to 9 characters max. Your nickname will
		     be the same as your login by default. You can also
		     set an environment variable, IRCNICK, which value 
		     will be used instead.)

    ----- Example:

    : /NICK harry

IRC: *** rvloon is now known as harry

    -----

    /QUIT		Exits irc. You can also use /BYE, /SIGNOFF and /EXIT.

    -----

    /HELP <topic>	Gets help on all IRCII commands.

    ----- Example :

    : /HELP HELP

IRC: *** Help on HELP
IRC: Usage: HELP [command]
IRC:   Shows help on the given command.

     [ To save space, rest of explanation deleted ]
    
    -----

    /WHOIS <nick>	Shows the "true" indentity of someone
 
    ----- Example : 
    
    : /WHOIS fred

IRC:*** fred is fred@131.211.145.24 (Fred Appelman) on channel *private*
IRC:*** on irc via server prisma.cv.ruu.nl (The CV stand-alone IRC-server)
IRC:*** Command last received: 6322 :is the idle time f

    -----

    /AWAY <away-message> Leave a message explaining that you are not currently
			 paying attention to IRC.

    ----- Example :

    : /AWAY I am answering Mother Nature's call. Back in 5 minutes.

IRC: You have been marked as being away

    -----

    /AWAY without any additional argument will remove the away-message.

    ----- Example :

    : /AWAY

IRC: You are no longer marked as being away

    -----

COMMUNICATION - PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS
=====================================

    Use the /MSG command (usually /M is an alias for /MSG) to send someone
    a message that only that person can read.

    Usage :

    -----

    /MSG <nick> <msg> 

    ----- Example :

    : /MSG rvloon Where did you put the Motif C++ headerfiles ?

    This will appear on your screen as :

IRC: -> *rvloon* Where did you put the Motif C++ headerfiles ?

    And on rvloon's screen as :

IRC: *YourName* Where did you put the Motif C++ headerfiles ?

    (provided your nickname is "YourName" of course).

    -----

    To answer to such a message, you have two options :

    1) You type /MSG <nick_of_person_who_sent_you_the_message> <reply>
    2) You type /MSG , <reply>

    The comma (,) is an abbreviation for "last person who sent me a
    message". In a similar fashion, the dot (.) in a /MSG command is
    an abbreviation for "last person who I sent a message".

QUERY
-----

    You can have a private conversation by only using /MSG. However, typing
    "/MSG ," or "/MSG <nick>" gets cumbersome. That's where the QUERY command
    comes in handy.

    Usage :

    /QUERY <nick>

    All subsequent text will be send as private messages to <nick> ; all
    subsequent text, that is everything you type in the bottom line which
    doesn't start with a '/'. Also, messages are not sent until you press
    <RETURN> or <ENTER>.

    Use /QUERY with no arguments to end a private conversation.

    I will now show you an example of a private conversation, and the output
    on both screens :

1)  : /NAMES
2)  : /QUERY rvloon
3)  : Goodmorning
4)  : Pretty good, even the weather's fine
5)  : /WHOIS rvloon
6)  : I have to get back to work, I'll drop by later
7)  : /QUERY

    Output on my screen :

1)  Prv: *                              ronaldvl rvloon
2)  *** Starting conversation with rvloon
3)  -> *rvloon* Goodmorning
    *rvloon* morning, how is life ? 
4)  -> *rvloon*  Pretty good, even the weather's fine
5)  *** rvloon is rvloon@131.211.145.35 (Ronald van Loon) on channel *private*
5)  *** on irc via server prisma.cv.ruu.nl (The CV stand-alone IRC-server)
5)  *** Command last received: 46 :is the idle time for
    *rvloon* do you have time for some coffee ? 
6)  -> *rvloon* I have to get back to work, I'll drop by later
7)  *** Ending conversation with rvloon

    Output on rvloon's screen :

3)  *YourName* Goodmorning
    -> *YourName* morning, how is life ?
4)  *YourName*  Pretty good, even the weather's fine
    -> *YourName* do you have time for some coffee ?
6)  *YourName* I have to get back to work, I'll drop by later

[ END OF PART ONE. PART TWO WILL DEAL WITH PUBLIC CONVERSATION ]

Ronald van Loon (rvloon@cv.ruu.nl, rloon@cs.ruu.nl) 
 
3D Computer Vision Research Group, Utrecht University,
Utrecht, The Netherlands.


