05b. Getting fills from IRC Introduction There has been a great increase of groups and people who post stuff in ABA/ABMA that won't do fills in the newsgroup, but request you get them from IRC. This small section is a guide on how to accomplish this. This is not a large tutorial on the use of IRC, but just a practical guide to get what you need. This guide requires little knowledge, so if you have used IRC before just skip to the section you need to see. IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat and as the name indicates is used for chatting (real-time communication with other users). These discussions are organized in so-called channels. Besides chatting there is also the option of transferring files through DCC (Direct Client Connection) or CTCP (Client To Client Protocol). The channels are organized on servers of an IRC-network. There are a lot of those IRC-networks with Dalnet (http://www.dal.net) and EFnet (http://www.efnet.org/) probably being the largest for anime related binaries at this time. Of these two Dalnet seems to be the most used at the moment, so this section will focus on that network. Connecting Since I'm using a Windows based operating system (the same as large part of the world) this will focus on a well known IRC-client called mIRC (http//www.mirc.com/). For those with linux or mac OS please go to IRCHelp (http://www.irchelp.org/) for a client for your OS. After you've downloaded mIRC it's time to set it up and connect to your nearest Dalnet server. mIRC comes with a list of Dalnet servers so find the one nearest to you as it's likely to be the fastest. Check the Dalnet site for the most recent list. Before you can connect you have to set up a username with a nickname. Choose something unique as 'John' will probably have been taken. The default mIRC configuration after setup is good enough to be able to connect, but check 2 things: The Ident server must be enabled and under menu 'DCC->folders' edit the default folder to the folder where you want to download to and make sure you set ignore on for harmful files like '.exe, .com, .vbs, etc.' I believe this is set as a default, but I'm not sure. This prevents you from receiving those possibly virus/worm-infected files. After these steps you can connect to the server. Most likely a channels folder will pop up when you connect, but you can ignore that for now as we now have to register your nick. This is necessary since most (anime)channels only allow access with a registered nickname. You can find how to do this on the Dalnet site (under Services->Nickserve). (All the commands for this must be typed in the Status window). Just make sure that after the REGISTER you also IDENTIFY otherwise you won't be recognized. Every time you connect to a Dalnet server after this you always must IDENTIFY, otherwise the server doesn't recognize you. If you don't want to forget this you can put the necessary IDENTIFY line in the mIRC options under IRC->perform. Here you can specify which commands must be executed when a connection is established. Dalnet is far from perfect and from time to time Nickserve will be unavailable. If this happens then just try again at a later time. Going to the right channel Now we're connected to the server it's time to go to the right channel and get the required fills. If you need to go to a channel of a group you already know where to go to. Just type in the Status window /join # for example: '/join #ccs-central' and it then opens the channel. Other groups require a key. #Animempeg (http://animempeg.mushhaven.net/) uses this at the moment. Here you have to type /join #animempeg and at the now this is: '/join #animempeg spamless'. Since this can change make sure to read their site. If you have to go to a person, but don't know on which channel(s) he/she is you have to type /whois in the Status window. For example: '/whois snoopynme'. This gives a summary of info on that person and a list of which channel(s) he/she is on at the moment. Just double click on any of those channelname(s) and the channel will open. Of course you can also use the /join method. The channel After you're in the channel make sure to read the topic (first few lines when you join). It usually includes some useful info. Just like anywhere on the net make sure you use the proper netiquette. You can get kicked out of a channel and even be banned from it's use in the future. Therefore it's always wise to read the rules of a channel be typing '!rules' in the channel window. If available this will display a list of guidelines for this channel. Make sure to obey them if you don't want to get kicked out. On the right is the list of users currently in this channel. There can be a few signs in front of the names. You can find what they mean in the mIRC helpfile or on IRCHelp. The one thing to remember at this time is that the people with a '@' before there name are the operators of this channel. Piss any of these people off and they will kick you. Of course you can always ask these people for help if you need it. Just remember that they might not be here at the moment, so don't repeat the question over and over if they don't seem to respond. Always try to remain polite... It is possible to get kicked or banned for no apparent reason. This usually indicates that there have been a lot of problems with the domain you're using or just because the ops think the channel is too full at that time. If this is the case then try again at a later time as you might be able to get in then. After you've read the rules it's time to get a list of the so-called FServe's (fileservers). These are the place where you can get your file(s). The command for this is '!list' or '!servers'. This displays a list with a lot of info about the Fserve's available at the moment. Just look for anything with the name fills in it, since this will probably be the one you're searching for. To connect to such a server you must use the trigger to activate said FServe. This usually is a command with a '!' in front of it. Just type the trigger in the channel line and a dialog will appear for a 'DCC chat'. You need to press 'Accept' here. It's also possible that a trigger is in the form of /CTCP the procedure for this is the same. Just type this line in the channel window and a similar dialog will appear. The FServe Sometimes a FServe also has rules, so make sure you read them if there are any. Never try to get a complete episode from a fills server unless you've asked that person before. Type 'help' in the DCC window to get a list of commands. Things like 'dir' (directory listing), 'cd' (change directory), etc. will appear. Of course the first thing to do is a 'dir' and go to the right folder (with 'cd') if that applies. When you reach the right place and have done a dir you will see the file(s) you need. Just type 'get ' to get the required file. For example: 'get baka.r06'. This files will then be placed in the queue until your turn comes up. There is a maximum of files that you can queue, so try out how much that is (usually 1 or 2). You can see the sends in progress of the fileserver by typing 'sends'. You can see your (and other people's) place in the queue by typing 'queues'. This gives you an indication on how long it'll probably take before your file is sent. After you finished with queuing files you have to type 'quit' to stop using the FServe. If you don't do anything for about 30 seconds most fileservers will disconnect you automatically. You can close the now inactive window after the connection is terminated. You now have to make sure you don't disconnect from IRC, or leave the channel, since your queues will be deleted if you do. Just leave mIRC running and go and do something else or chat with the people on the channel until the time comes that your file is send. And yes, this can take several hours. If it's time for your send a dialog appears that someone is trying to send you a file. Just Accept and the file will be sent to you in the folder you specified earlier. If you want to Accept DCC-sends automatically just make the necessary changes in the DCC->Options on auto-get. After all your fills have completed you can leave the channel (/part) and disconnect from IRC (/quit). One small situation I would like to clarify here since it usually gets a lot of questions. Sometimes you see massive amounts of people leaving the channel at the same time. This is called a netsplit and has to do with the server that splits off from the rest. Just stay in the channel and don't disconnect as the situation will be restored within minutes. I know this is hardly an explanation, but if you want more details read the FAQ's on IRCHelp. Closing up This small should provide you with the most basic info you need to get your fills. Make sure to check out the links below for more detailed info and FAQ's if you have more questions. If that isn't enough ask any of the ops in a channel, or if you can't get that far just ask in the newsgroup. There will always be a helpful person trying to help you out. But try to help yourself before you ask someone else. Useful links: http://www.dal.net http://www.efnet.org/ http://www.irchelp.org/ http://www.mirc.com/ http://animempeg.mushhaven.net/