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How to join #pkhax on the Mac
The easy way:
The easiest method is to go to Snak.com and download Snak. Snak is a $20 shareware
application and the best IRC client available for the Mac. It runs in both OS8-9 and OSX. When you first run Snak,
it prompts you with a set-up assistant. When you get to the networks settings, put "DynasyNet" as the name of the network,
"irc.dynastnet.net" as the name of the server, and "#pkhax" as the channel to join. If all went well, you should now
be in the #pkhax IRC chan.
The cheap way:
Since Mac OS X is based on Unix, there are all kinds of IRC clients
available for the Terminal. The easiest method is to download Fink,
an environment to simplify installing Unix applications on OS X,
and FinkCommander,
a GUI frontend that makes using Fink even easier. Be warned, Fink
could potentially take up a lot of internet bandwidth (modem users
beware) and lots and lots of disk space (users with small hard drives
had better monitor disk space closely when using Fink). With Fink
and FinkCommander installed, fire up FinkCommander and type "irc"
into the edit field and select "description" from the pop-up menu
beside the field. A decent assortment of free irc clients are shown.
Click on an IRC client and then select "Install" from
either the Source or Binary menu item. B*tch-X is a dandy IRC client,
as is ircii. Before using a graphical IRC client (noted by the word
"graphical"in the description), you need to install an X-Windows
system. X-Windows is not based on OS X, but rather a windowing system
for Unix. The Apple
distro is now in it's third incarnation as a public beta, but
is still stable and works well. To use an IRC client after you have
installed it, type the name of the application as it appeared in
FinkCommander into the Terminal. For graphical IRC clients, fire
up Apple's X11 first and then use the Terminal or X11's built in
command line interface. For most command line clients (text based
IRC clients in the Terminal), you can type "/server irc.dynastynet.net"
to join the server and then "/join #pkhax" to join channel #pkhax.
The cheap and easy way
Thanks to the magic of open-source, you can use Fire, an instant messaging client with support
with several chatting protocols including IRC. I must say that it seems a bit weird to IRC this way, especially since I routinely use
a different client, but it should feel more natural to IM'ers. Anyway, download the lastest release of Fire and install it.
The "Accounts" window should open when you run the program, if it doesn't, select "Accounts" from the "Window" menu. Add a new
IRC account by clicking the guy with the plus sign on him and selecting "IRC account." Add your nick to the box. A password isn't
necessary unless you have registered your nickname. Put "irc.dynastynet.net" in the server field. Close this window. Now, click
"Add a buddy" from the "Buddy" menu. Select "irc" from the service pop-up menu and put the name of the IRC room that you want to be in
into the name field. You must remove the pound sign, however. Therefore, if you wish you go into "#pkhax," you must put "pkhax" into
the name field.
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