Open Source Comes to Campus/Curriculum/Laptop setup/Linux IRC

On Linux, we'll be using XChat, a popular graphical IRC chat client.

IRC client setup instructions

 * 1) Start a command prompt. You can review how to do this in the command line navigation section.
 * 2) At the command prompt:
 * 3) * If you are running Ubuntu or Debian (or another dpkg-based system), type: sudo apt-get install xchat and enter your administrator password when prompted.
 * 4) * If you are running Fedora (or another yum-based system), type: sudo yum install xchat and enter your administrator password when prompted.

Note that asterisks won't be displayed as you type your passwords. We'll talk more about sudo, apt, and yum later in the day.
 * 1) Read through the material on Getting started with XChat. We'll practice using IRC in depth later in the day.

IRC client practice: joining the OpenHatch channel
During this workshop we'll get practice using IRC and help each other as we contribute to project in the #openhatch channel on the Freenode network.

Here are the connection details for joining the Freenode network and the OpenHatch IRC channel:

IRC server name: Freenode channel name: #openhatch

Given that information, and reviewing the XChat overview above, use XChat to connect to Freenode and join the OpenHatch channel. Pick any nickname you like. :) Once you have joined the channel, say hello!

Registering a nickname on Freenode (optional)
You can pick a permanent name by "registering a nick". This doesn't mean you can't easily go by other names - instead, it reserves the nick you register so it can be used only by you. To register a nick, type the following command into your client's input line:

/msg NickServ REGISTER password youremail@example.com

Replace "password" with a secure password and "youremail@example.com" with your email. Further details are at the Freenode FAQ pages.

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