Chat Programs

[TheTramp]

Hiya

I believe that Franck said that he is going to attach a chat room to this forum, which is a cool idea.

In the meantime, why don't you all get a chat program? There's a few available, my favourite is the yahoo one which you can get from http://messenger.yahoo.com/

If you get it, add me - SteveTheTramp

So far, I have DS, Emma & CJ (on AIM), and Sheena. It'd be fun to be able to chat to a few more people....

Steve

[Emma]

I'll second that, and put in my vote for icq - www.icq.com, which is my favourite ;)

..anyone would think I always like to be awkward ha ha ha ha :wink:

[Dreadful Scathe]

They all have merit but the only way to get talk to anyone on any messanger service is to use Trillian (http://www.trillian.cc), it supports ICQ, MSM,Yahoo,AOL,and IRC.

I use it all the time go get it and try it out , theres a free version.

[Emma]

I'm on msn as etcher67, by the way.

*edited cos I just noticed it says trillian supports icq and msn....hmmmmm...interesting...*

[TheTramp]

DS

Now, how did I just know that you were gonna say that!! :D

I tried Trillian once, but it was buggy - didn't manage to import any of the people from my YIM contact list onto it's contact list, and since I have over 100 people there, I decided I couldn't be bothered typing them all in again and got rid of Trillian.

Is there a new version out? Might be persuaded to give it another go.

Steve

[Siobhan (Forum Plant)]

sorry to be a bit thick but what is the main difference between a forum and a chat room? Is a chat room like msn?????

[TheTramp]

Download YIM and find out.... :D

Basically the difference is that a forum you post a message and go away, and anyone else can come along and read it, and add to the thread.

Think of a chat program as more like a phone call, you open it up with someone in your address book, and type directly to them.

And a chat room would be like a conference call that anyone can log into - again, it's real time, rather than posting a message.

Hope that helps (I'm still a bit asleep after the weekend, so forgive any crapness :D)

Steve

[Dreadful Scathe]

Originally posted by Siobhan
sorry to be a bit thick but what is the main difference between a forum and a chat room? Is a chat room like msn????? A forum is a web based 'bulletin board' where you post messages, threads etc....

....msn , icq etc. arent chat rooms - they tend to be personal i.e. you add people you know to a list and it makes you aware if they are online or not. Although you can chat to lots of people you know at the same time its not 'public' like a chat room would be as anyone that contacts you is contacting you personally

...IRC (internet relay chat) which is a series of servers that clients logon too (www.mirc.co.uk for a client). Once logged on you can join a chat room by name ( such as #ceroc ) and talk with whoever is in there already. So IRC is more like an online version of this forum as the structure is similar, its just 'live'. You also get web based clients but they run exactly the same way, they just happen to run in a browser rather than as a seperate program.

Trillain I gave a link for above handles all the major messenger programs as well as being an IRC client so you get the best of both worlds.

[Lou]

:sad: Can't use it. I can't connect through our firewalled poxy server.

[Dreadful Scathe]

I have a firewall problem too, but luckily i have broadband at home so I can access it via a browser using VNC and see my desktop from work.

Firewalls are a problem for quite a few of us on here i imagine :(.

[TheTramp]

Hmmmm.......

DS.

You wanna explain that more slowly for me please (since I'm in the same situation as you). :D

Steve

[Dreadful Scathe]

Originally posted by TheTramp
Hmmmm.......

DS.

You wanna explain that more slowly for me please (since I'm in the same situation as you). :D

Steve

actually my previous explanation was nonsense as I have a Virtual Private Network connection as well. :sorry

Most companys firewalls (i think) tend to block everything unless its using a proxy server. So when you connect somewhere with a browser it works because under Internet Options/Connections youve specified the address of the proxy server to use. Information returning to you goes via that proxy too. For any other program to work it must also allow for proxy servers, Trillian and mirc both do (but ive had problems even still but in theory if you copy the proxy settings from your browser into trillian it should work).

As for my 'explanation' i just use VNC (look here (http://www.realvnc.com/) ) for remote desktop access as it is the same as actually sitting in front of my home machine and therefore doesnt require me to install anything extra on my laptop (we hotdesk here) for that to work though i needed the VPN connection set up so my machine appeared to be part of the local network, needed because VNC itself has no allowance for proxy servers. Or as Siobhan put it 'poxy servers' ;)

[Lou]

Originally posted by Dreadful Scathe
Or as Siobhan put it 'poxy servers' ;)

*kick* That was me. And it was deliberate. :what:

[Dreadful Scathe]

Originally posted by Lou
*kick* That was me. And it was deliberate. :what:


oops sorry Lou , so it was :) My short term memory is..er...oh..dont remember

you werent wearing pointy shoes when you kicked me then were you, thatd really hurt :(

[Lou]

Originally posted by Dreadful Scathe
oops sorry Lou , so it was :) My short term memory is..er...oh..dont remember

you werent wearing pointy shoes when you kicked me then were you, thatd really hurt :(

I'm a goth - I always wear pointy shoes! :wink: :grin: :yum:

[Will]

Franck

I vote for Microsoft Messenger. Generally less people will have firewall problems using that than the alternatives.

Will

[Franck]

Originally posted by Will
I vote for Microsoft Messenger. Generally less people will have firewall problems using that than the alternatives.No vote needed Will, and in any event, you'll find that, being a mac man, I am staunchly anti Microsoft :sick:

The Chat part of the Forum when I identify it will probably a dedicated programme, based on Java.
My main concern is security at the moment, so that you can all use your Forum user names without fear of impostors...

My personal favourite for chat is ICQ as well. Simple and efficient.

Franck.

[DavidB]

Originally posted by Franck
No vote needed Will, and in any event, you'll find that, being a mac man, I am staunchly anti Microsoft Funny that. Aren't Microsoft the biggest Macintosh software house outside of Apple?

This is a quote from CNET News:
"For many Mac owners, it took the release of the Mac OS X-ready version of Microsoft Office last fall before they would upgrade to the new operating system."

David
(doing Gus's job)

[Dreadful Scathe]

Originally posted by DavidB
"For many Mac owners, it took the release of the Mac OS X-ready version of Microsoft Office last fall before they would upgrade to the new operating system."


Thats pure propaganda that is - not the fact you mention but the fact the people are led to believe that they need Microsoft Office when there are better alternatives - Star Office, Open Office etc..theres even students that buy MS Office for the 'cheap' student price of around 80 quid, again because they think they need it - when everything they want to acheive could be acheived with FREE software like Open Office.

Microsoft are a marketing company pure and simple, all their ideas come from elsewhere :).

[horsey_dude]

Originally posted by Siobhan
sorry to be a bit thick but what is the main difference between a forum and a chat room? Is a chat room like msn?????

The main difference is that on a forum people think about what they want to say and you don't come away wishing you could send a fatal electric shock to them through the keyboard. I am sure Steve will run a much tighter ship in his room but chat rooms seem to attract the most juvenile pathetic losers who can't string a coherent sentence together.

it would be great if you could just chat away to people on the other side of the world about topics you are interested in (i.e. CEROC) but you never seem to get people like that in chat rooms.

Sorry if this comes accross as really negative but I just havn't had any good experiences with them.