How To Install HexChat IRC Client On Ubuntu Linux

HexChat IRC Client 2.14.3 has been released. How to install HexChat IRC Client on Ubuntu Linux.

HexChat is an IRC client based on XChat, but unlike XChat it’s completely free for both Windows and Unix-like systems. Since XChat is open source, it’s perfectly legal. HexChat was originally called XChat-WDK which in turn was a successor of freakschat.

Features

  • Easy to use and customizable interface
  • Cross-platform on Windows and Unix-like OSes
  • Highly scriptable with Lua, Python, and Perl
  • Translated in multiple languages
  • Fully open source and actively developed
  • Multi-network with auto-connect, join, and identify
  • Spellcheck, Proxies, SASL, DCC support and more

HexChat IRC Client 2.14.3

Run the following commands in terminal to install HexChat IRC Client on Ubuntu Linux:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install flatpak
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub io.github.Hexchat
flatpak run io.github.Hexchat
Once installed, you can start using IRC.

Using HexChat

The first time you start HexChat you’ll see the Network List as seen
below:

_images/network_list.png

Here you can specify your global logon details. The Nick name will be
your name visible in IRC channels (or second/third choice if it’s
already taken), and the User name is how you identify yourself to the
server.
You can pick a server from the default list, or if it’s not there, you
can add your own by clicking the Add button:

_images/network_list_add.png

After you named it, click Edit… and specify the details of your
connection. You need at least the following information to join to a
certain group of people:

  • server address
  • server port
  • channel name

You can see an example below:

_images/network_list_edit.png

In this example, the server address is irc.foo.bar and the port
is 6667. The channel of choice is #lobby. Favorite channels are
joined to automatically upon connecting to the network. After you
finished editing, click Close to return to the Network List.
Now select the network you want to connect to and click Connect. After
a successful connection you’ll see the following window:

_images/connection_complete_msg.png

If you don’t want to join a channel just yet, leave it as it is. If you
know the channel name already, specify it with the second option. In
case you want to browse through the channel list, select the third
option. Then press OK to close this window.
After you successfully joined a channel, you should see something like
this:

_images/channel_window.png

That’s it, you’re online. Now you can learn more about HexChat and
customize it for your needs. This website is a good starting point, but
you can find a lot more on the net. Have fun!

How To Install HexChat IRC Client On Ubuntu Linux originally posted on Source Digit – Linux, Ubuntu Tutorials & News, Technology, Gadgets & Gizmos.