IRC is sort of like a free chat room. Anyone can host their own IRC server and people can connect to it, join "channels", etc. It's often used as a place users can find help with others that have their same common interest. For example, there's a server called "freenode" which is quite popular and has rooms for rails, ruby, python, and most anything you can think of.
Jeff Sandberg, a Rails Veteran who has decided to help out the group, helped set up an IRC server called snoonet that we'll be using for a URails channel that Jeff and I will usually be in when we're at our computers, where you can ask any Rails-related questions and where we can collaborate when we're working on URails stuff at the same time. This will be much easier than the mailing list or email.
- Adium - Free and I use this as my jabber client, and while it's an excellent jabber client, it disconnects every 5 minutes from IRC, which is annoying. So I don't entirely recommend it.
- Colloquy - Free and what I now use (at Jeff's recommendation). Works well enough.
- Linkinus - $10 and Jeff says it's worth it if you use IRC a lot. Or have $10 to spare.
- XChat - Free. Probably works fine, though I haven't tried it. Works with Windows too.
- KCIrc - Free. Probably works fine too.
- mIRC - Free. Probably good.
This link will just open up a web client, which works well too.
It's not so important which you choose, really, you can always change later if it sucks.
Upon running the program, if it doesn't prompt you to connect initially, go to File -> New Connection (or whatever) and you'll be prompted for a nickname and a server.
- nickname - Whatever you want
- server -
irc.snoonet.com
Now, once you're in, your client may pop up a "Welcome!" chat screen. From within any chat screen, you can issue IRC commands to do things like register your nickname, open up a new channel, etc.
If a window doesn't pop up, try to find a way to open one manually. If there's a reference to a "console", "NickServ", or "ChanServ", that's what you want.
You can enter the channel by issuing this command:
/join #urails
And you're in! You should see a "member" list somewhere that lists me, Jeff, and maybe others.
It's wise to register your nickname so the server doesn't hassle you about it in the future and so it isn't taken by someone else. Issue this command:
/ns register <password> <nickname>
where <password> and <nickname> are your chosen password and nickname. You'll then be sent a confirmation email with a command you just copy-and-paste into the IRC window and boom, you're good to go.
Might seem like a bit of a hassle, you don't have to do it if you don't want, but IRC is very widely used in the tech world so it might be wise to get familiar with it for stuff outside of URails. Plus, it will be the most efficient way to get help from others in the group. See you there!