Connecting to The Unofficial PortableApps.com IRC Channel

As the channel #portableapps on irc.freenode.net gets more popular from my recent release of X-Chat Portable, I thought it would be handy to post a tutorial on connecting to the channel using some popular open source IRC capable clients.

This is mainly a place for developers to get and provide help on creating portable applications, but can also serve as a nice chat place, and hopefully support for people as well. For those that don't know, IRC is basicially a 'chat room', mainly for development and support.

Currently, this channel is Unofficial but I hope that John does support it and eventually we can get this going as a alternate support route.

These instructions are still kind of rough, but I hope to update them and add some more clients (with your suggestions) soon.

Configuring Pidgin (Recommended)

1. Download Pidgin or Pidgin Portable.
2. Install and run Pidgin
3. In the 'Accounts' window that pops up, (can also be accessed by going to Accounts -> Manage in the Pidgin menu) select 'Add'.
4. Under the 'Protocol:' list, select 'IRC'.
5. Under 'Screen name' add which name you would like to be seen in the
   channel as and leave the Server as irc.freenode.net.
6. Select 'Save' and close any other account windows that may be open.
7. When Pidgin show it has connected to the server, go to Buddies -> Add Chat and select yourscreenname@irc.freenode.net (IRC) from the account list.
8. Under 'Channel' input #portableapps, optionally select a group, the Autojoin checkbox, and click 'Add'.
9. Now double click on the channel in the group you added it too, (probably labelled '#portableapps' and the window should open, or it will be open in an existing set of conversation tabs.

Configuring X-Chat

1. Download X-Chat or X-Chat Portable Development Test.
2. Install and run X-Chat.
3. In the 'XChat: Network' List window that appears, (this can also be accessed from X-Chat -> Network List in the X-Chat menu)enter your User Information if needed and then scroll down and select FreeNode, and then click 'Edit...'.
4. Under 'Connecting' optionally select 'Auto connect to this network at startup' and then under 'Channels to join:' enter #portableapps.
5. Click close in the 'XChat: Edit FreeNode' window, and optionally select 'Skip network list on startup', then click 'Connect'.

Configuring Miranda IM

1. Download Miranda IM or Miranda IM Portable.
2. Install and run Miranda IM.
3. Create a new profile in the 'Miranda IM Profile Manager' window that appears, call if what you want, example 'Home'
4. Cancel through the next to protocol windows that appear, and the in 'Miranda IRC' enter what you want for the 'Nick' and then of course your full name in 'Full Name'. Push OK.
5. At the 'Import Information Wizard', just select 'Cancel'
6. Now, open the Miranda IM window by clicking on the little 'stone man' in the system tray, if not the window is hiding behind some others.
7. Select the Miranda IM logo -> IRC -> Quick connect.
8. Under 'Server name', select  'FreeNode: Random
   server' from the dropdown list. Click connect
9. Now go to the Miranda IM logo -> IRC -> Join a channel and enter #portableapps. Click OK.

Configuring ChatZilla

1. Download the ChatZilla extension for Firefox or Firefox Portable
2. Install the extension from within Firefox and restart Firefox.
3. Go to Tools -> ChatZilla to run.
4. In the window that pops up, you will see '[INFO] Available networks are...', click 'freenode'
5. When the it connect to freenode in a new tab, type '/join #portableapps' into the input box, and you can change your nick by clicking on it beside the text box -> Change nickname....

Configuring PJIRC

FreeNode hosts a public version of the web-based IRC client, PJIRC.

1. Go to java.freenode.net
2. For 'Nickname:', type in an uncommon nickname.
3. For 'Channel:', enter 'portableapps'
4. Click 'Connect'.

Or alternatively, click here, enter a nickname, and click connect.