what is smIRCle?

smIRCle is a new IRC client written by me. It is currently the only MacOS freeware IRC client. It is still under development. You can test it in its current state, but be sure to read the Readme file.
smIRCle is loosely based on the sources of ircle 1.5.1 written by Olaf Titz back in 1990-92 which I took over and developed further. It is in no way related to ircle 2.x and ircle 3.0 except that those were originally based on the same sources.
smIRCle is Freeware, meaning that you dont have to pay me anything for using it. However I do retain the copyright to it, so noone is entitled to sell it. It is not in the public-domain. I might make the sources available if there is interest for them.
smIRCle is year 2000 ("Y2K") compliant.

Design:

smIRCle offers a uncluttered interface unmatched by any of the other IRC clients available for mac. Furthermore I want to make using IRC easier for first-time users. Back in 93 it took me considerable effort to get a chat started with the ircle available then. Things have surely improved, but I consider setting up most chat clients to be much too complicated still.

System Recommendations:

  • Any Macintosh or compatible computer with a 68020 or better processor running system version 7.1 or above. A 68000-based system like a Mac+ will not work. On systems lower than 7.5 you need to install the DragLib if you want to use drag-and-drop and the ThreadsLib and OpenTransport to enjoy the version control system (all available from Apple .
  • smIRCle needs about 700KB for the 68K and about 900KB for the PPC version. Without virtual memory, the PPC version needs about 1.1MB, more if you are on a lot of channels at the same time.
  • AppleGuide should be installed if you want to use the help system. To be able to use hyperlinks to web-pages, the internet-config system should be installed (it is automatically on system 8.5 and higher).

Features:

Version Control Client alerts users whenever a new version is available
Setup Assistant makes setting up smIRCle really easy
Macintosh PPC and 68K versions identical in features.
ircd 2.7-2.10 compliant. Updated to new servernumbers
identd (RFC 1413) implemented.
Multiple server connection at once
DCC and CTCP Protocol implemented. No MacBinary file transfers yet
One-click operation for many basic features
Live scrolling of text in channel windows (Netscape-like)
Apple Guide Help system
Popups for convenient actions on selected nicks
List of Nicks on every channel. Visible even if its window is in background
Notify/ignore lists.
Colours. Uses the mIRC colouring scheme.
Sounds. configurable sounds for various events.
Drag-and-drop. You can drag Text from and to smIRCle to send it to a #channel or to any other nick you have a /dcc or /query chat with.
Stats panel on the Actions window there appears a panel where statistics about your connection are noted:
green: the lag time from you to your server. Increases when your machine or the server is busy. If it get really high or changes a lot a change of servers could be wise.
red: the number of clients your server carries. This can account for long lag-times and difficulties in reconnecting.
blue: Memory. The amount of free memory available to smIRCle. if it goes low, sounds cease playing and Alerts may pop up requesting you to close windows.

 


Start