I’ve been out of the loop on IRC for a few years, and have had some recent inklings of checking it out again. So I have two questions for the SDMB :
Are there any really good stand-alone IRC clients that are free? (I used mIRC back in the day, but it was not technically ‘free’.)
Which IRC servers actually still see a decent level of traffic? I’d probably be most interested in trivia channels and possibly roleplaying channels., if that helps narrow it down.
On the rare occasion I need to use IRC, I use HydraIRC. It’s free, open source and perfectly decent.
I’ve no idea which servers offer a lot of general traffic - my use is just stuff to do with another forum.
I’ll check it out. Does it allow windowed management of multiple channels at once?
Yes.
Edit: Actually I’ll modify my “Yes”. It allows tabbed management, not sure if it does separate windows. It’s easy to have multiple channels open though.
I use ChatZilla (not stand-alone) and mIRC. The favorite amongst friends seems to be KVIrc.
I have downloaded - but not yet installed - HydraIRC. I’ve used ChatZilla in the past and did not care for it; and mIRC is fine, I just wanted something a little more recent than the ancient copy I’ve been using, and I suspect mIRC has gotten a little better about preventing long-term free use in the intervening years.
Never heard of KVIRC, may look into it if Hydra doesn’t pan out.
So as to part B of my post - any lively server networks for trivia / roleplaying? EFNet? DALNet? Undernet?
It doesn’t matter what networks are the most active in general; what matters is what particular channels are the most active. Try:
and search for trivia, roleplaying, etc
so you find channels like trivia-world on Dalnet or
trivia on Efnet
Eh. I’d like to have a very active network that spawns lots of different channels, rather than trying to target specific channels.
It looks like RP Channels are all but dead on EFNet, DALNet, and Undernet. I’ve spotted Sorcery.Net and DarkMyst - I think I used to play on both of those. Anybody know any other good RP IRC networks?
And I have decided to just go with mIRC - it’s what I know, and honestly? I can afford $20 to register it.
And the $20 is lifetime, to boot!
Yeah, that’s what I noticed while I was poking around. I figure that’s fair. It also covers the software on three computers, if memory serves.
Yes, I just checked the site. Per the “Register mIRC” link:
Question: Can I use my registration on more than one computer?
Answer: If you are a home user, yes, you can use your registration on up to three computers.