|
One of the channel’s founders, Susan Carroll (Portia) is also one of our longest time regulars. |
|
Sciastro |
|
Astronomy Chat on IRC |
|
About Sciastro |
|
History and People #sciastro was founded by a committed group of individuals in 1996 to provide a forum for amateur astronomers to chat, share their experiences and meet others with the same interests. Currently our channel OPs are
Sealth (co-founder and current channel manager) Portia (co-founder and channel manager for 8 years) Mizar (observing systems automation and robotics expert, accomplished observer and writer) BobCA (ccd imager and visual observer—almost 10 years on the channel) Alnitak (photographer extraordinaire, 6 years on the channel) Universe (author of many popular books and articles on astronomy) Steve1000 (electronics engineer and accomplished amateur telescope maker)
We have many regulars who possess expertise in a variety of areas relating to astronomy, including visual and photographic astronomy (both film and CCD imaging) and amateur telescope making . Our OPs and regulars are enthusiastic about the hobby and very willing to share what they know with anyone who has an interest in the hobby.
Network Conventions and Commands Assuming that you are using a stand-alone chat client to connect to Starlink-IRC, (e.g., PIRCH, mIRC) rather than the Starlink-IRC web portal, you can obtain help with the client program usually by clicking the ‘Help’ item in the client program’s Menu Bar. Our purpose here is to assist you in getting help with the network itself once you are connected. Our channel OPs will be glad to help you in this.
Each IRC network, of which there are many, has its own conventions and command sets. This stems partly from the fact that there are different chat servers running different IRC networks. A chat server is the software that is used to coordinate the network’s physical servers (the computers that actually run the network), handle network traffic and perform other tasks, such as allowing connections (logins) and enforcing network policies.
The most important thing to remember on any network is how to get help. The place to start is to read the MOTD (Message of the Day), which is posted in the initial connection window upon connection to the network.
Once you are actually connected to the network the easiest way to get help on a specific subject is to type “/msg cstar showcommands” (without the quotes), in the initial connection window or in a channel window, and go from there. (‘CStar’ is not a real person, as are the other entries in the user list for a channel, but rather a command processor whose presence in the user list indicates that the channel is registered with the network and that the network is fully functional with respect to the channel.) What this command does is to send a message to CStar to show all available commands. The output for “showcommands” is displayed in the initial connection window.
For example, “showcommands” lists “whois” as a valid command to CStar. To use it type “/msg CStar help whois” in the channel window. CStar will output the following response in the initial connection window:
[20:53] CStar = WHOIS [20:53] CStar [20:53] CStar Syntax: WHOIS [nick] [20:53] CStar For more help on this command, use /msg cstar HELP WHOISMORE
This tells the user that to use the command the user should type “/msg CStar whois [nick]” in the channel window, where “[nick]” is the nickname of an actual user currently connected to the network (e.g., someone in the channel). By typing “/msg CStar help whoismore” the user can get even more information on this command. |
|
IRC Server: irc.starlink-irc.org Port: 6667 Channel: #sciastro
|