A beginner's Guide to #Parkinsons On IRC Also known as a "chat Room" but not the same as a "web site chat room". You've heard a little or a lot about #parkinsons and you want to know how to get there. For those in the know and who want it short and sweet. Using Mirc, Pirch, or other IRC Client, log on to IRC and when connected type /join #parkinsons Mind the spelling and don't forget to press enter ;) For those just beginning their encounter with IRC...... The first step is the correct program. There are three popular programs available. For the MAC the program of choice is IRCLE. For IBM and compatibles using some flavor of windows there are two programs, PIRCH and MIRC. AOL Not being an AOL person and out of touch due to a heavy work load and little spare "on" time I can'na be much help. MAC The web site http://www.xs4all.nl/~ircle/related.html is one of the places I know about where IRCLE is available. It is a web site dedicated to IRCLE. MIRC Mirc is probably the most popular program for accessing IRC. It can be downloaded from either of these two sites. http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/6000/ http://www.mirc.co.uk/ These are by no means all of the sites available on the web. PIRCH Pirch is very much like Mirc and has become the preferred program on #parkinsons with the current version of MIRC running a close second. Pirch is available at http://www.bcpl.lib.md.us/~frappa/pirch.html IRC: What is it and how to get there. http://www.netsurf.org/~violet/jwz/irc-faq.html This site is a large list of programs used to access IRC. Additional information concerning IRC and the undernet can be obtained at the following site. http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/irc/ The above sites were active as of 4/20/1998. (MotherHen) Barbara's contribution.... IRC Information Mirc - http://www.mirc.co.uk/get.html Ircle - for MAC's http://www.xs4all.nl/~ircle/ This site I found looking for information to help you. It has almost anything you need to begin. http://www.neosoft.com/~biscuits/niu.html It contain information for all irc's even the MAC. It explains how to get started and the various networks and channels. Spending some time there could be helpful to all of us. Whatever program you chose, you will need to download it. Make a file possibly named irc and save the download in it. This file comes in a compressed format to save download time and space. After you have downloaded the software it will need to be de compressed and installed. If the file that you downloaded ends in .exe then it will be self-extracting (meaning that it will decompress automatically when you double click on it). If it ends with a .zip then you will need a compression program like WinZip. (With WinZip if you double click on the zip file it will automatically start up and you will be able to extract the files into a directory of your choice. After the decompression run the install. Don't be alarmed if it does it automatically, some programs are set up that way. Now the fun begins. Just remember, after you are logged on the "undernet" server then you will type /join #parkinsons End of Mom's stuff. I hope the above information helps. Marvin Giles (WerPuppy)