How to use IRC to get more books!

Here's an IRC how-to. Use this, go there, and you'll be in heaven...

How to get books from IRC:

If you're on Windows, download mIRC from http://www.mirc.co.uk/
Mac users might want to try ircle, which seems quite popular: http://www.ircle.com/

The following instructions apply to mIRC, as I don't have a Mac:

Download and install mIRC.

I don't remember exactly how the initial screens go...you probably need to give yourself a name.

There are two steps to connecting: a server and a channel.

You want an IRC server called Undernet.

Choose the Undernet server nearest to you geographically.

Connect.

Once you are connected a dialog box will pop up.

This is the "channels folder".

Each server carries a number of channels: not all are listed here.

Enter bookz into the text field and click on Join.

You will then join the channel and a window will appear.

The new window (titled #bookz) consists of three sections:

1. On the right hand side is a list of people in the channel.
   People with @ and + are servers: not all of them may be active.
   
   
2. On the bottom left hand side, a single line where you input your commands (I'll call this the command line)
   
   
3. A description of what is going on in the channel.
   You can see what other people are doing and messages people are exchanging.
   
   
4. In the bookz channel servers tend to use a program called "sdfind" to serve their books, so we'll deal with that.
   It's very easy.

-------------- BOOK CATALOGUES --------------

Say there is a person labeled @ddddddd on the right hand side channel member list.

Type in:

@ddddddd

to get his list of books. They will be sent to you as a file.

When ddddddd is ready to send the file to you, a popup dialog will ask you if you want to receive a file.

Say yes or accept (whatever it is)

When the transfer has finished, you will find the file on your hard drive, probably in the C:\Program Files\mirc\download directory

Open the file up.

You should see some instructions in there, and a lot of lines starting with !ddddddd

These lines are the commands you need to get each book. An example line is:

!ddddddd Pratchett, Terry - disc 15 - Men at Arms.zip --------------------- 206Kb

Sometimes the file size is not listed.

Copy the command line for the book you want (do one book at a time until you have a bit more experience)

It's better if you don't copy the file size and all those hyphens, e.g. just copy

!ddddddd Pratchett, Terry - disc 15 - Men at Arms.zip

Paste it into the command line in mIRC and hit enter to submit the command.

After a few seconds, you will see a message saying that your request is in a queue.

When the server is ready, it will send you the file and you will see a dialog box asking if you want the file. Accept and wait until the download finishes.

-------------- FINDING BOOKS / SEARCHING --------------

There's another way to find books instead of looking in the book catalogues.

Say we are looking for the Terry Pratchett book "Carpe Jugulum"

In the command line, enter @find jugulum (it's case-insensitive)

Each server that has a file with the word jugulum in will tell you the file names.

Towards the top of the screen, buttons will appear with server names on. Click on a button to see a new window with that server's answer in.
(Note that the servers can take up to a minute to reply fully.)

An example of a window's contents is:

I have 2 match(es) for Jugulum Copy and Paste !Dunamai FILENAME to the channel to request. (0/3) Free slots, 1 Queues.

!ddddddd Terry Pratchett - Carpe Jugulum v1.0.lit -----339Kb
!ddddddd Pratchett, Terry - disc 23 - Carpe Jugulum.zip----264Kb

If one of those files is the one you want, follow the instructions.

Copy the line and in the main window paste it into the command line. e.g. I would copy and paste:

!ddddddd Pratchett, Terry - disc 23 - Carpe Jugulum.zip

into the main command line.

Note: I find copying to be a bit odd in mIRC.
You have to go left to right to highlight the text you want and, *while* you are pressing the mouse button, choose CTRL-C on the keyboard. CTRL-V will do the paste.

-------------- OPTIONS --------------

There are lots of options. I'll discuss two.

All these "accept file" dialog boxes are annoying, so we'll make mIRC accept all files automatically.

In the toolbar towards the top of the screen, click on the DCC Options button.

An options popup will appear.

On the right hand side, - in the "On Send Request" section, choose "Auto-get file" and "minimize" - "If Auto-get and file exists", choose Resume.

You may find sometimes that you cannot download certain files.

By default mIRC blocks certain filetypes. pdf, amongst others, is included in those filetypes.

To disable this, in the DCC Options window, choose DCC - Folders, and in the DCC Ignore section, choose Disabled in the drop down list.

(Note: this will mean that any type of file can be received, including executable programs. If you find an executable that you haven't asked for in your download directory, then delete it.)

-------------- TALKING TO PEOPLE --------------

Enter something into the command line, hit enter, and everybody else will be able to see that text.

People are usually helpful. However, please remember that they are under no obligation to you. In fact, they may not actually be physically at their computer, so don't be surprised if nobody answers.

If you double click on a name on the right hand side list, you'll be able to talk directly to that person in a new window.

I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you've been invited to, as it's considered impolite.

-------------- RULES --------------

1. This is not like a newsgroup.
   Act like a twat and you'll be kicked out.
   
   
2. You do not have to provide files to download them. It is acceptable to leech. It is nice to contribute though (see below).
   
   
3. Most servers allow you to queue a maximum number of files. These limits vary.
   The servers will tell you their individual limits when you request a file.
   
   
4. Do not make lots of requests simultaneously or enter a lot of speech in a short space of time.
   The administrators will think you are "flooding" and will kick you. Should this happen you should be able to rejoin the channel though.
   
   
5. If you request too many files from a particular server, or request a file you already have queued, a new window (minimized) will appear where
   the server will tell you what you've done wrong.
   
   
6. If you're on a slow connection, you may want to think carefully about downloading a large file (there are 50Mb files out there). You will block up other people's access to that server for a long time. There is no rule against this, it's just being polite to others.
   
   My recommendation is to download a bit, then manually stop the download after a while. Then I re-request the file and resume.
   This way I get the file and allow other people access to the server.
   
   
7. No advertising etc.

-------------- CONTRIBUTING --------------

If you want to give a file to one of the servers (good for you), click on the DCC Send button in the toolbar.

Enter the name of the server (or choose it from the drop down list if you've used it before).

From the file panel below, choose the file you want to send.

Click on the send button.

Almost all the servers auto-accept files, so the transfer will start within seconds.

It is preferred if you archive the file (zip, rar etc) before it is sending.
This speeds up the transfer as the file is smaller.

Please don't give the servers files that they already have. It just means more work for them.

-------------- ANYTHING ELSE --------------

1. FServes: these are another way of providing files. Some like them, some don't. In essence, it is like navigating an FTP site by typing commands.
   
   
2. The status window: you can usually ignore this.
   
   
3. Sometimes there are people behind the server, sometimes not. Be especially nice to them, just in case.
   Do not slag them off if they are slow or something. They can block your downloads etc.

DO NOT immediately turn around and repost what you've found in IRC in ABEB.

The majority of what you find on IRC originated in ABEB at one time or another, and would simply be wasting space that could go towards NEW releases.

Or, to make it a little more clear, Occupational_Z once put it this way in ABEB.d

" If the shit is on IRC, why post it here? This ain't kindergarten, you get no points for *sharing*."