Dream 54/Amiga_Dream_54.iso/RiscPc/Freenet/lirc.arc/!LIRC/!Help

Text File | 1998-08-01 | 16KB | 359 lines

                                     LIRC Help
                                     ---------


General use
===========

Running this requires some toolbox modules, and obviously an internet stack.

It also requires some knowledge of IRC. There are plenty of texts about this,
and I'm not going to repeat it. I will include a couple of links at some point.

Clicking Select on the iconbar icon will open the main windows and attempt to
connect to your chosen server (if either if these things has not already
happened).

Clicking Adjust will show the Choices, and these are probably what you will
want to change first.


Setting up choices
==================

'Server' is any irc server you like and have access to. There are a few
common choices supplied (and some not so common), but you will have your own
preferences after a while. The list is stored in the Servers file, and you
can edit this to suit yourself.

Be aware, that servers are connected to a certain irc network, and there are
a few of these networks around. Some of them have chosen not to follow
rfc1459 to the letter, and you may have problems with them. For example,
DALnet allows very long nicknames, and will not work with LIRC.
IRCnet, Undernet, and EFnet have been used without problems.

'Retry after' is used if you lose the connection. It will automatically try
to reconnect after the specified time.

'Nick', 'User', 'Password', and 'Real name' are all given to the server when
you connect. Usually you will leave password blank, meaning 'none'.
You might find that the nickname you've chosen is already in use. In this
case LIRC will keep trying, while appending an increasing number to your nick
until it is accepted. If this has happened, you might want to change it to
something else, using the command:
/nick <another_nick>

'User info' and 'Finger info' are not given to anyone, unless they ask with
the corresponding ctcp requests.

'Terminal lines' sets the height of the window, in lines.

'Line spacing' sets the space between lines, in pixels.

'History lines' defines how many commands will be stored in the history
before it starts discarding the oldest ones.

'Import period' is used when you drag a text file to the entry-icon. The file
will be sent to the current channel, one line at a time. The Import period
is how long a pause there is between each line sent.
If you set this lower (i.e. faster) than 'Message penalty' (see below), long
files will cause lines to queue up in the output buffer. This can be confusing,
so don't do it unless you have a specific reason.

'Logging' turns on and off the log files. These are stored in the 'Logs'
directory, given a name that says when they were started.

'Speech' turns on speech, using either Superior Software's Speech! module,
or J. Duddington's !Speak application.

'Cut speech' applies only to !Speak, and will cut off previous sentences
when a new one arrives.

'Auto CAPS' turns on a special feature, that is not very style-guideish.
When the caret is gained, a local CAPS state applies. When it is lost,
the previous state is restored. This can be very handy, but you need to
be aware of what is happening.

'Auto-open friends' will enable opening of new terminal windows automatically.
This can be a great irritation if it is done when anybody sends you a message
(e.g. spam-bots etc.). So only people that are listed as 'friends' will
make a new window open when they speak to you privately.

'Fixed lists' makes the People and Channel list windows stay the same visible
size, even when entries are added or removed. They will also scroll down
if a new entry is added, but it would be invisible (below the bottom edge).

'Inbound flood protection' is best left alone unless you have a problem
with it. The numbers refer to the limit before the protection kicks in.
For example: All msgs, Max number = 8, Time = 2.00.
This means that if more than 8 messages are received in under 2 seconds,
it is an offence, and the sending party will be ignored until you say
otherwise.
This protection can be overridden by the list of 'Friends', see below.

'Outbound flood protection' is protection against being kicked off the server
for sending too much data. You can alter this because different
servers (and networks) impose different limits. It is not easy to find out
exactly what the limit is on a given server, abd the easiest is probably
to ask the administration. If you ever get kicked off with the reason
"Excess flood", either the 'Message penalty' or the 'Time base' is set too
low.
The explanation of what happens to your outgoing messages is as follows:
Assume a Time base of 10 sec, and a Message penalty of 2 sec.
If you send messages with 2 seconds or more between them, nothing happens at
all. If you send them faster, with e.g. 1.5 seconds in between, the remaining
0.5 second penalty is added to a total every time. When this total is more
than 10 seconds (i.e. after 20 messages), they start being put on hold in a
queue (this is when the server would have kicked you off). The queued
messages are then sent off as time passes, exactly when it's safe to do so.
While this is happening, the bar at the left of the input line is all red.
This bar shows the 'penalty total' mentioned, and goes from 0 (all grey) to
'Time base' (all red).

The practical upshot of which is, that if you ever see an all-red bar, you
will know that whatever message you enter, it will not be sent immediately.

'Reaction times' all refer to the duration of various events.

'Doubt nick/channel after' controls how often a nick or channel will be
checked to see if it still exists. This only happens if nothing have been
heard from the nick/channel for this amount of time.

'Nick/channel activity' refers to the green 'activity bars' you can add to
the People/Channel lists (see below). These times define how long it takes
for the bars to disappear.

'Openî' will open the choices directory in !Boot. This is handy for storing
files that can't be explicitly saved (like !Macros).

'Save&use' and 'Use' are self-explanatory, except you should know that also
the font and colour choices are saved when you click Save & Use.

Note that when you save the choices, or any of the other lists that can be
saved, they will be stored in <Choices$Write>. This means that the default
choices in the application directory are unchanged, and you can overwrite
with a newer version without losing your saved choices. It also means that
you can revert to the default settings by deleting one or more files in the
!Boot.Choices.IRC.LIRC directory.


Terminal windows
================

The Terminal windows are where all the text appears that you receive and
send.
If the window has a target (displayed in the title), you will have the
ability to execute certain commands on that target from the menu.
You can also open the People or Channels lists, which will be described
later.
Lastly, you can redefine the colours and voices used.

If you drag a Zap font file into the window, that font will be used. These
are usually found somewhere in !Zap.Fonts.
Remember to save the choices, if you want to keep your font and colours.

Dragging a different file into the window will prepare a DCC transfer of
that file to the target. The title bar shows the current target at all times.

Anything you type into to 'entry icon' below, will be sent to the current
target. The exception to this is lines starting with '/'. These are commands,
either to LIRC or to the irc server. I won't explain much about them here,
because there is help on every one of them, which you can access by typing
'/?'. If a command is not understood, it is sent to the server, which might
know what to do.

The buttons below the entry icon are called 'Macros' for want of a better name.
They are defined in the !Macros file, and you can make your own.
If you do, save your macro file in the !Boot.Choices directory as mentioned
above. That way they won't be overwritten if you upgrade to a new version.

Other functions of the terminal window are:
Clicking in the window makes it 'current', and it gains the entry-box.
Double clicking on an URL (that shows up yellow), will launch it.
Pressing TAB in an empty entry icon, will type in '/msg <last>', where <last>
is the last person that sent you a private message (or a ctcp).
Pressing TAB in front of some word, will 'complete' that word.
If the word starts with '/', it will complete the command.
If it starts with '#' or '&', it will complete a channel name (using the ones
in the channel list).
If there is a space before it, it will complete a nick, using the 'People'
list.
Pressing up or down arrow will recall previous commands/messages from the
history.
Pressing Return executes the command or sends the message, and clears the
icon. Shift-Return will do the same, but leaves the text in the icon.


List of people
==============

This list contains nicknames known to LIRC. People become known when they do
something that you can see - sending you a message, being in a channel you're
examining, etc.

The appearance of the list is user-defined. The 'NickLine' file contains
instructions about how the list looks, and what happens when you click
in it. The description below applies to the default 'NickLine'.

There are several things you can do to each nick. Some of them are accessible
from the menu, and from clicking in the window:
'Query'  selects that nick as the current target. The same happens when you
         click Select on the nick.
'WhoIs'  requests information (from the server) about that nick. The same
         happens when clicking Select on the '?' button.
'Trace'  requests a trace of the route to that nick.
'Op'     makes that person an operator on the current channel, if you are an
         operator yourself. The same happens when clicking Select on the 'op'
         button.
'DeOp'   takes away operator status from that person. Also only works if you
         are an operator. The same happens when clicking Adjust on the 'op'
         button.
'Kick'   kicks a person off the current channel. You need to be op for this too.
         The same happens when clicking Select on the 'boot' button.
'Forget' removes the nick from the list. It will reappear if the person does
         something 'visible' again.
The 'CTCP' submenu contains other functions. All of them sends a ctcp of that
type to the person in question.

Clicking Adjust on the face to the left of the nick, requests that person's
face. Normally used when you haven't got it already.

Clicking on the 'square' button will open/close a window with the nick as the
target. This is handy for initiating a private conversation.

Clicking on the 'no entry' button registers/unregisters a ban on that person's
hostmask (in the current channel). You need to be operator to do that.

Clicking on the 'garbage can' button will filter out all or nothing of what
comes from that person's hostmask. See the help on /ignore for details.

Clicking on the 'smiley' button will register/unregister that person as a
friend. Friends can flood you without the flood protection kicking in.

Dragging a file to a nick, will prepare for a DCC transfer to that person.
You need to accept the transfer before it actually starts.

Clicking on the hostmask will send a Info DNS ctcp to yourself. If !IRCInfo
is available, this will return DNS information about that host.


List of channels
================

Like the list of people, this contains a list of known channels. These are
channels that have been seen, plus any in the 'Channels' file. You can use
"/save channels" to save the list, and then add any channels you want to
be known at startup. They will start disappearing if they don't actually
exist.

Again, the list is defined in 'ChanLine'. The following is for the default
ChanLine file.

There are a few funtions in the channel list.
The small green bar shows activity in the channel.
Clicking Select on a channel will make it the current target.
Select/Adjust on the square will open/close a window, like above.
Select on the '?' button requests a list of the people on that channel.
Adjust will enquire about the mode of that channel.
Select on the '+' button will make you join that channel.
Adjust makes you leave.

The menu has the some of the same functions, plus the ability to change the
topic. You need to be op on the channel to do that.

You can also make CTCP requests to the channel. The population of some
channels will regard this as bad behaviour.


List of members
===============

The member lists each applies to a channel you have joined, and contains the
people in that channel. Unlike the other lists, these are kept up to date
with no 'reaction' time. And the functions available are easier to use, as
both the nick and channel names are known.
The 'MembLine' file contains the format of these lists.
The default MembLine file is almost identical to the NickLine file, with
the exception that the 'op' button shows the current op status. This is
possible because the channel is known. Otherwise it works like the People
list. There is no 'Forget' menu entry, because of the abovementioned update
method.


Format of NickLine, ChanLine & MembLine
=======================================

These files contain a line for each icon in a list. A line consists of TAB-
seperated parametres:

<type>    <width>    <select>    <adjust>

There are 9 icon types, some will only work in certain lists.
Each has a default width. For some types, the width is taken from a sprite:

Type    List    Width    Appearance

!face    NM    32    Plots the face if any
!nick    NM    180    Nickname
!host    N    512    Hostmask
!name      C    256    Channel name
!topic      C    1024    Channel topic
!join      C    join    Join button
!talkh    N C    32    Horizontal activity bar
!talkv    N C    8    Vertical activity bar
!op     M    op    Op button
!voice     M    voice0    Voice button
sprite    NMC    ?    Generic button

The "sprite" type is taken as a 'generic button'. The type is the name of the
sprite to use. The sprite also determines the default width.
If the sprite doesn't exist, the 'nosprite' button is used instead.
These sprites reside in <LIRC$Dir>.Sprites

<width> allows you to adjust the widths relative to the default. This is a
signed number of os-units.

If <adjust> or <select> are missing, nothing happens when you click.
Otherwise the given command is executed. Parameters are given to all
commands, and you can use them by including %<number>.
The parameters are:
%0    Channel name (current target in people list ('*' if none))
%1    Nickname (nothing in channel list)
%2    Hostmask (nothing in channel list)

There is a special type too:
!space    <gap>

This doesn't create an icon, but leaves a gap instead. The default gap is
4 os-units between icons, but by using !space, you can have any gap. The
amount you specify is added to the default, so 4 would leave a gap of 8,
and -4 would leave no gap at all.

When experimenting with this, the commands "/load nickline", "/load chanline"
and "/load membline" should prove useful. Again, is it best to save your
modified files in !Boot.Choices, so they won't get overwritten if you
upgrade.


Credits
=======

Thanks are due to:

Gerph    - for good ideas, countless protocols, and support programs.

abca     - for extensive testing and putting up with it.

Chocky   - for extensive testing and a long list of suggestions.

crispE   - for a better icon sprite...

N        - more suggestions...

Spanners - for !SocketMgr

chasm    - for giving a new meaning to the word "face".

And the rest of you, you know who you are.