IRC chat

PBirc is a plug-in that gives callers a full-screen IRC chat client inside the board. It looks like the classic BBS IRC doors, with a topic bar, the chat, a status bar and an input line, but it is a ProBoard plug-in: no door files and no extra program. It connects out from the board's computer to the IRC network you choose, and opens no port on your board.

• Several windows, one for each channel and private conversation, switched with Ctrl-N and Ctrl-P, Alt-1 to 9, or /win. A nick list beside the chat.
• About 50 slash commands: /join, /part, /msg, /query, /me, /nick, /away, /whois, /who, /list, /topic, /mode, /kick, /ban, /ignore, /server and more. /help lists them. Tab completes nicknames and commands.
• Scrollback with PgUp and PgDn, mIRC colour and bold codes, five colour themes (/set theme bitchx|ice|green|amber|mono), timestamps and a bell for private messages. Each caller's choices, aliases and ignore list are remembered.
• Flood protection, an idle limit, and a warning before the visit's time runs out.
• A plain line-by-line mode for callers without ANSI colour.
• Secure connections (TLS) through Windows' own SChannel.
• Login to a network's account services: a name and password as a server password, SASL (PLAIN) or a NickServ identify, chosen per network.

1. Open Network > IRC Chat in PBConfig. It starts with Libera.Chat as an example. Edit the networks, tick Enable and click Save (this writes Configs\PBIRC.CFG).
2. Put PBirc.p3x in your PEX folder (PBInstall does this).
3. Add a menu item with function 60 and the data PBIRC. A first word picks a network straight away, such as PBIRC Libera. The option /T turns off colours for every caller.
4. Nothing needs restarting. The next caller who opens the menu item uses the new settings.
5. The board's computer must be allowed to connect out to the IRC server's port: 6667 plain, 6697 secure. Nothing needs forwarding in the router.

With one network configured, the caller goes straight in. With several, a short numbered list appears. If a network needs a login, the caller is asked for a name and password before connecting; the password is never shown, logged or kept.

MRC chat rooms are a separate plug-in (MRCChat.P3X) with the /mrc command.