#Pianotech IRC "Primer"

[Vanderhoofven]

Dear Friends on the Pianotech mailing list,

Here is a short "primer" about IRC and the #pianotech channel on IRC.

My wife discovered IRC several months ago, and she knows much more about it
than I do.  She has helped me prepare this for you.



***********************IRC PRIMER**************************


*****************Please Note this***************************
*  Pianotech will refer to the Pianotech mailing list      *
*  #pianotech will refer to the #pianotech channel on IRC  *
*  (Please note the # sign in front)                       *
*  I will try to keep these distinctions when writing this.*
************************************************************

IRC is a way to "chat" in real time over the Internet.  Using your computer
modem and phone line you connect with one of the IRC Servers and you can
chat with other users on one of the many "channels" available.  There are
all kinds of channels where people talk about the common interests they
have.  These common interests are as diverse as the people using IRC.  The
channels range from the obscene to the humorous to people playing games and
anything in between.  If you have ever been on AOL, a channel is like the
chat rooms on America Online.  Unfortunately, IRC is not available on AOL
unless you also subscribe to GNN.  We don't know about the availability of
IRC with the other major online services (CompuServe, Prodigy).  To use IRC
you will need full Internet access.

The Application for the permanent #pianotech Channel has been sent off to
the IRC Server, and has been approved.  In a week or so there will be a
permanent channel on the Undernet called #pianotech where piano technicians
and interested others can come and "chat" live via the Internet.  I am
Channel Manager for #pianotech at this time, so any questions or problems
can be forwarded to me.

There are three major "Nets" on IRC: Undernet, EFnet and DALnet.
The #pianotech channel is set up on the Undernet.  To chat with other piano
technicians on the #pianotech channel you must have access to the Internet
and you must have an IRC program.

There will be regularly scheduled times when it will be fairly certain that
you will be able to chat with another piano technician.  Other times, you
may not find anyone on the channel.  Currently Tuesday evening at 7:00 pm
CST seems to be the best time to find someone on the #pianotech channel.
There is a good chance that you will find someone to chat with other
evenings as well.  It would be good if we utilized the channel for different
types of meetings, for example, to discuss specific topics such as concert
tuning, dampers, regulation, PTG, or whatever.  If someone wants to schedule
a special meeting, just post the time and day to the mailing list.  I will
personally consider it a success if there is one other piano technician I
can chat with!  Other nights while I am working, I will try to get my wife
to log the chat sessions so I can read them when I get home.

 John Musselwhite frequents The #pianotech channel also, and I have really
enjoyed talking with him on IRC.  He is very interesting, and I feel like I
know him better.  I think the #pianotech channel will be a way for piano
technicians to meet and talk with each other in a different way than the
Pianotech mailing list allows.  I don't know that #pianotech IRC will ever
be as much of a resource for me as the Pianotech mailing list, but it has a
lot of potential.

Here is the URL for an Internet Relay Chat Page.
http://www.world.net/~pirovich/irc.htm
This will answer a lot of questions you might have about IRC and give you an
overview of the nets and what IRC is.  Here you will find a list of many
different servers for the Undernet.

Here are a few Undernet servers which can be used to access the #pianotech
channel:

vancouver.bc.ca.undernet.org
davis.ca.us.undernet.org
phoenix.az.us.undernet.org
us.undernet.org

There are many us.undernet.org servers.  If the last one listed is used, one
of the servers will be found to connect to.  This is useful in the event
that a specific server to which you are trying to connect is full.

mIRC is a very good IRC program for Windows, and you can download it free!
Here are the URLs of two mIRC homepages:

http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/1822/index.html?
(Homepage of the IRC Chat client mIRC - Index)
This page includes *lots* of information and will probably answer almost any
question that you might have about IRC and mIRC.

http://mars.superlink.net/user/mook/mirc/
(The mIRC Homepage - Index)

A useful page for those who would like instructions for downloading and
installing mIRC is:
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/1822/install.html?
(Instructions for Net Newbies and Download Dummies; Downloading, Installing
and Setup of mIRC)

Once you install mIRC, open the Help menu and choose Basic IRC Commands.
This will give you a *very* helpful list of the most frequently used IRC
commands!

Homer is an IRC program for Macintosh computers.
ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/mac/tcp/irc/
(Sorry, we don't have a Mac, so we don't have any helpful information on
setting up and using Homer.)

If you use the #pianotech channel and wish to be auto-opped, please send me
an e-mail message telling me so.

Any questions may be directed to myself (David A. Vanderhoofven) at
dkvander@clandjop.com, or to John Musselwhite, RPT, at
musselj@cadvision.com.   If you have any questions, please ask.

I urge those of you with direct access to the Internet and an IRC program to
join us on #pianotech for some good discussions and fellowship.

Sincerely,


David A. Vanderhoofven
dkvander@clandjop.com
Joplin, Missouri, USA
Associate Member, Piano Technicians Guild
web page:  http://www.clandjop.com/~dkvander/