Advanced IRC with Smuxi - page 2

Smuxification

To set the username and password the first time, run this on the system that you want host the server:

smuxi-server --add-user --username=myuser --password=password

That's it. Now you have a user for the Smuxi server. If at some point you forget the password for your user, you can modify it with this:

smuxi-server --modify-user --username=myuser --password=newpass

Now launch the Smuxi frontend. Go to the Engine menu, and select Add Smuxi Engine. Walk through the configuration assistant to set up the initial engine. You will be able to specify a SSH tunnel if you like, and keep your conversations encrypted across the network between your server and the Smuxi frontend. Note that it doesn't do anything to encrypt the connection from the IRC server(s) to Smuxi's server engine.

To use a new engine, select Switch Remote Engine and select the server you just configured. If you selected Use as new default engine when configuring the new engine, you'll automatically use that when you connect.

The actual Smuxi frontend is not drastically different than Xchat or other GUI IRC clients. In fact, Smuxi is pretty streamlined. It has a tabbed interface and supports connections to multiple IRC servers.

Ubuntu 10.10 users will see that Smuxi integrates with the "Message Menu," so if you are mentioned in IRC, you'll see a green message icon in the notification area. To modify that or disable the feature, go to File and then select Preferences, and select the Interface tab. Notifications are under Notification (not surprisingly...).

Spend a few minutes poking around the preferences and you can have Smuxi tamed in no time. For me, the remote connectivity plus GUI front-end is a killer combo. Whether I'm working from my laptop on the couch, my office, or somewhere else entirely, I can maintain the same IRC session with no hassle and no interruption.