[aquaclear]

Which irc client is the most powerful? Not necessarily the most feature filled because feature filled is not always the best. I would prefer cli since I am trying to learn but gui is okay if the performance and power justify the eye candy involved.

I am leaning towared irssi as many cli people seem to favor it. I know this topic has been covered a lot but there seems to be little in the way of actual pros and cons. If the response to this thread can be in the following manner then maybe we can reduce redundancy and duplicate threads in the future when people use the search feature for an irc client.

ie.

IRC client name : (cli based or gui):
Install Method (website binary/source or fink or both)

pros - this is based entirely on opinion of course but please be constructive.

cons - again constructive subjective criticism

Thanks.

Edit: Thanks to all who kept the beforementioned format. It is a lot easier to read and helps keep the thread on topic. The message by macgorilla is an excellent example. Good info without too much bias.

[MacGorilla]

X Chat: GUI.
Can be installed as an X11 app via fink or DarwinPorts. There is native Aqua version that is called X-Chat Aqua that be found on VersionTracker.
Pros: fast, stable, relatively easy to use.
Cons: UI is not not Mac like. This can be a pro because the UI acts exactly the same across all the platforms X Chat runs on.
(Thi is my irc client of choice).

BitchX: cli
Installed via fink.
Pros: many people consider this the best IRC client. Runs on about every platform known to man.
Cons: rather steep learning curve. All configuration done via text files. (Once configured BitchX is stellar).

Least favorite: Snax. Easy to use but Shareware and there are much better free alternatives.

[jzaw]

dunno about the worst ... but xchat on apple x11 is fab

runs obsidian.pl fserve script nicely in xchat vers 1.85

but vers 2.x is the most uptodate one

so basically i run both ... one as a dumb fserve and the other as my interactive client

oh btw youll speed up your irc logins if you install fakeidentd and open / route port 113

if you fink for xchat you should get vers 2.x ... not sure if apt-get is still offering 1.85 but if you opt for obsidian fserve script ... youll need 1.85 ... let me know i can forward you the binary for that if you need it

[Cipher13]

Best: irssi: cli. Via fink.

Why? It's neat, powerful, looks good, never crashed or behaved in a way it shouldn't, well thought out, etc. I just really like it, I guess.

I like epic too.

[entrox]

Best: Telnet to port 6667

Pros:

• No fancy shmancy features that confuse you.
• No bloat.
• Works anywhere.

Cons:

• You need to know the RFC by heart.
• Must reply manually to PING requests

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by entrox:
[B]Telnet

Cleartext... *shudder*

[bousozoku]

I had the best luck with AthenaIRC, which is a Carbon-ised, GUI application. I found it the easiest with which to moderate a channel as scripting was fairly straightforward, even if the documentation for scripting wasn't.

[IUJHJSDHE]

Originally posted by MacGorilla:
BitchX: cli
Installed via fink.
Pros: many people consider this the best IRC client. Runs on about every platform known to man.
Cons: rather steep learning curve. All configuration done via text files. (Once configured BitchX is stellar).

Yep, Best IRC client ever. It does take a while to get the hang of it, but once you do, it really does EVERYTHING you could EVER want and irc client to do, and quite a bit more!

BitchX RULES!!!!!!!

[VEGAN]

I'm quite happy with ircii, it's CL (only?) and available via fink.

[Wevah]

IIRC, BitchX is built on the ircII source...

[Axel]

Originally posted by Cipher13:


Cleartext... *shudder*

IRC communications are not crypted, as far as I know. It's insecure to use telnet as a remote login tool, but if you specify a different port (like 6667) as an argument to the telnet command, you just act like you're an IRC client. The only drawback is you have to know the protocol for the server to understand you.