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Stay Connected To IRC Chat 24/7 Using Quassel

Dave Drager — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:01:04 +0000

Back in the 1990’s, the only “instant messenger” system in use was IRC chat. Its use actually predates the web and the http protocol. IRC is still going on strong today – it is used by countless groups including developers, businesses, hackers and everyone else in between. Since it is such an established protocol, there are tons of clients out there. I wanted to feature one that really stands out of the pack – Quassel.

What makes Quassel IRC different is its client/server architecture. A typical IRC chat client is just that, a client. When you disconnect your client or end your program, you are disconnected from IRC. Quassel really brings IRC chat to the next level. It splits your IRC client into two parts – the “client” and the “core”. The core is actually what connects to the external IRC servers – your client simply connects to the core and from there, you access IRC networks.

So why bother with a 24/7 client? It is very beneficial to catch up on what has been going on since the last time you connected. For developers this means that you can see past discussions, for business it lets you keep up on what is going on. There are many reasons. However I think you will agree with me that once you learn about 24/7 IRC chat, you won’t want to go back to the old ways.

First you download the “core” application on a PC that you leave running all of the time. This PC can be a server or it can be a regular computer that you leave on 24/7. I have this running on a server in a data center so that the connection to the internet and server uptime are rock solid. They have both the core and client available for Windows, Linux and Mac – also the source code is freely available.

After running the core, you have your client to setup and configure. All configuration of the ‘core’ server is done via the client on another PC (or on the same PC, it does not matter at this point which computer the client is running on). Upon first connection to the server, it will give you the option to “Launch Wizard” to setup the core.

Once your Quassel user is set up, you can authenticate to the core. Next up will be setting up your identity. Later on you can even have separate identities for each IRC chat network that you connect to! For now, enter your username and other information and continue. By default it will connect you to Freenode but you can connect to any network you want, or multiple IRC networks.

For added security between your client and core, you can encrypt the connection. Quassel core has SSL capability added in, or if you have a Hamachi network set up you can use the IP address of your Core server for the hostname (the port is 4242).

I’ve been using Quassel for over a year now and it is definately a project to watch. mIRC is the most popular IRC chat client, but I’ve found that Quassel is just as good, and as stable. It is a great way to manage your connections to multiple IRC networks while maintaining your connectivity. It is being actively developed so look for more features such as scripting coming out soon!

And just to address the command line lovers out there – I wanted to note that this has been possible for a long time on the command line side using something like screen and irssi. However the ability to have a remote, stable connection for GUI users has been a long time coming.

Do you use Quassel? Or do you have another preferred IRC client? Let us know all about it in the comments.

Get: Quassel.

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10 Essential Software Apps For Web Development on a Mac

Ellie Harrison — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:34:39 +0000

Whether Macs are the best computers for web development is up for debate, but one thing can be agreed upon – there are some great software apps for web development on a Mac.

Here’s a list of 10 essential software apps for web development on a Mac.

10. TextWrangler is a multipurpose text editor that works for editing code and plain text documents. It can even open files from (and save them to) remote FTP and SFTP servers.

9. Inkscape is an open source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator. It is the first open source program to adopt Spiro curves. You can also go through their clip art collection and find dozens of images made with Inkscape that are free to use or modify.

8. Cyberduck is the all-in-one FTP, SFTP, Amazon S3, WebDav and Mosso Cloud Files browser application. Web developers often need to switch between different file systems, and Cyberduck does this without a hiccup. It works with Textmate (which has a free 30 day trial), so you can open files from Cyberduck in Textmate, edit, save and upload. Read more about FTP clients for Mac here.

7. Gimp is the second-most popular photo editing software program on the market, second only to Adobe Photoshop. The difference? Gimp is absolutely free! You can do just about everything in Gimp that you can do in Adobe Photoshop, so web developers will find this a welcome and wallet friendly addition to their software arsenal.

6. Aptana takes up where Textmate leaves off in some aspects. It is a full featured code editor, but adds the FTP support of Cyberduck, as well as important web technologies like Ajax, Adobe AIR and PHP. Read more about Aptana here on MUO.

5. Firefox is a must have for web development because of three great add-ons – Firebug, the Web Developer toolbar and ColorZilla. Firebug lets you edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page; while the Web Developer toolbar adds additional tools like clearing cookies, disable CSS, display ruler and display source. ColorZilla lets you pick colors from websites or images online, so you can match them to your web designs, plus measure the distance between two points on a website.

4. JAlbum helps you make attractive photo galleries for websites. JAlbum comes with various templates built-in, but you can also customize your own template to better match a web project you’re working on. Read about 5 more Excellent Mac Apps for Graphic & Web Design

3. Colloquy is a basic IRC client that every web developer will use at one point or another. Many web platforms use IRC for support, including WordPress.

2. MAMP is what you need to manage websites locally when you are without an internet connection or want to test changes without making them live on a website. It is easy to install MAMP and have access to Apache, PHP and MySQL for Mac OS X. It is also a stand-alone program, so if you need to install it, it won’t interfere with your OSX installation. Plus, you can use it to install WordPress on your Mac.

1. iTerm is a feature-filled Terminal emulator for OSX. You can bookmark your frequently used sessions, have tabbed windows with multiple sessions and more.

Do you have any suggestions for better similar apps? Let’s hear them in the comments!

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How To Setup a Fake IRC Server with phpFreeChat

Jason K — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:11:33 +0000

Internet Relay Chat. One of the early forms of communication on the Internet, IRC featured a very basic chat protocol. While Tim has explored creating an individual IRC channel, we’ll be creating a fake IRC server using phpFreeChat, which allows you to create separate “channels” and various other features reminiscent of IRC (though certainly not as advanced). You’ll need a web server with PHP.

Installing phpFreeChat

Grab the latest phpfreechat-x.x-setup.php at Sourceforge (1.2 is the latest version at the time of this writing).
Upload it or move it to a local web server directory. We’re going to be using a XAMPP installation, so we’ve moved it to the root directory. You don’t want to put the install file where you want the chat to be.
Navigate to the file. Our URL would be http://localhost/phpfreechat-1.2-setup.php. You’ll be greeted with a Pre-Install Check. Hopefully it looks like the picture below. Hit ‘Next’.

You’ll be prompted for an install path. By default it creates a phpfreechat directory in the current directory, but you can change it to whatever you wish. Hit ‘Next’.

It’ll ask you to confirm the install. Click ‘Next’. Watch the pretty progress bar. Once it’s finished, click ‘Next’.
It’ll have installed itself in the directory of your choice, ours being http://localhost/phpfreechat/. Do as it says and delete the phpfreechat-x.x-setup.php file.

Quick Configuration

Setting up the Admin Account

The equivalent of an IRC channel op, the admin password allows you to gain access to privileges such as kicking, banning, and viewing user IP addresses. Admin status is global across all channels.

Open up index.php in the installation directory. Add the following line (before: $chat =…)

$params['admins'] = array(‘username‘ => ‘password‘);

Replace username with the desired username, and password with the desired password.

Remove the following line:

$params["isadmin"] = true; // do not use it on production servers

Save the file. Head to the chat room, and type /rehash

Change your nickname to the username specified in step 1 by typing /nick username

Type /identify password where password is the password you specified in step 1 – If all goes well you should be identified.

Prompt for Nickname Upon Entry

By default, the chat assigns you a nickname guest followed by random numbers. To force the user to choose a nickname when they enter:

Remove the following line from index.php:

$params["nick"] = “guest”.rand(1,1000); // setup the intitial nickname

Save the file.

Rehash the chat with /rehash – make sure you’re logged in as admin, indicated by the shield icon next to your name.

Remove Censor and Flood Protection

Add the following line to index.php:

$params['skip_proxies'] = array(‘noflood’,'censor’);

Save and rehash the chat.

Final Notes

Important Commands

/nick username – Change your username to username
/identify password – Gives you admin rights, given the right username and password.
/op username - Gives username admin rights.
/kick username reason – Kicks a username with a given reason.
/join room – Joins room “room”. If it doesn’t exist, it’s created.
/help - Your best friend.

The Basics

A list of the rooms you’re currently in is shown as tabs at the top of the chat, click to switch rooms (equivalent of IRC channels). You can create new ones using the aforementioned /join command.
You can view the IP address and an option to private message a user by clicking on their name in the list.
Explore around. You can find phpFreeChat documentation on their website.

Do you prefer to use any other IRC-type chat software for your website? If so, recommend it to us in the comments. Or if you have any problems setting this up, leave a question and we will try to help you.

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How To Create Your Own IRC Chat Channel

Tim Watson — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:01:03 +0000

Long before Twitter, Google Talk, AIM, and even ICQ, there was Internet Relay Chat (IRC), a very basic client/server chat protocol. If you want to see what it’s about, or you simply long for the good ol’ days, I’m here to show you how to create your own IRC channel.

Think of a channel as an individual “room” on a larger IRC server, usually dedicated to a certain topic or organization. Your own mileage may vary. To create and access IRC, you’ll need an IRC client like any on this list. I’ll be using the ChatZilla extension for Firefox.

If you’re new, I suggest reading IRC Help before jumping in.

You’ll notice that ChatZilla presents you upon startup with links to some popular networks. For the purposes of this demonstration, I connected to Freenode, however due to its policies against off-topic channels, I suggest using the Foonetic server instead. Just type “/server irc.foonetic.net” to connect to it.

Chances are, your initial username will be taken and you’ll be given something like “Tim____”. You can change your nickname with the command “/nick NickName” (no quotes). If you plan on using your channel often, you may wish to reserve your chosen nickname with a password. You can do this with a command in the format “/msg nickserv register password email@address“. When you return to the server later, you may login with “/msg nickserv identify password“.

Now that you’ve got your nickname registered, it’s time to create your channel. This can be done with the command “/join channelname“. The channel name can be any old nonsense. Try to make sure that your channel name is unique so that you don’t drop into another channel unannounced.

Once you’re in your channel, you have the option to register the channel, in order to maintain operator “(op)” status in the channel. To do so, your command is “/msg chanserv REGISTER #channelname password description“, replacing words when appropriate.

I’ve created a channel for #MakeUseOf on the Foonetic server, and anyone is welcome to drop in and say hi. Have fun with the old-school chit-chat!

Do you have a favorite IRC client or server to suggest? Let us know in the comments.

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Demo Great Webapps with Yahoo! BrowserPlus

Aibek — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:38:10 +0000

Web-based tools are becoming increasingly popular as the division between the desktop and the internet begins to blur. Adobe Air brings webapp functionality to the desktop. Now what about desktop functionality within a browser? Well, it seems as if Yahoo wants to get in the game by introducing BrowserPlus.

BrowserPlus allows developers to create dynamic web apps that mirror the functionality of desktop programs. As of now, community developers do not have access to the code, but everyone gets a sneak peek into three useable Yahoo BrowserPlus demos and what it can offer.

1. BrowserPlus PhotoDrop

The first app that you can demo is PhotoDrop, which is basically a Flickr upload tool. It does everything that you expect, such as batch editing of tags, simple photo editing tools, and effects. However, what’s great about using BrowserPlus for an app like this is the ability for you to drag and drop photos from your desktop straight into your browser. This added functionality really adds to the ease of use of the app, and is just one of the many services BrowerPlus offers (you can check the API of some of the services offered by BrowserPlus here http://browserplus.yahoo.com/services/).

2. IRC Client

The next one you can demo is an IRC client. This IRC client is fast, easy to use and looks great running in your browser, as the UI is purely AJAX. Another great feature that BrowserPlus shows off through this IRC client is built-in text-to-speech as well as desktop notifications.

3. JSON Inspector

The last app that you can demo would be more useful to developers, rather than the average internet user. It’s a browser-based JSON inspector, which is useful for cross-platform developers as they are in the processing of accepting web standards.

Well everyone, there you have it. Yahoo BrowserPlus seems promising, with its variety of useful services and tools. I’ll be excited to see what powerful and functional webapps gets created when developers get their hands on the code.

(By) David is a creative individual trying to find his place in this world. Visit his tech blog, Beta Cubed – B^3

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