Charles, I am trying to follow this in the context of my question. Are you suggesting that one of these avenues, one of the networks you referenced, may have a portal structure in place that might let me visit. interact.airmedia.org and access their chat/conference client there, which is proprietory java based, and not a messing service? I realize you have said you do not know much, but is this in part what you are suggesting I need no irc client there is a fine one here at shellworld. However at the moment there is no irc portal that connects to this site, and i am not sure if one can be created. That falls under the reeventing the wheel category perhaps. thanks, Karen On Tue, 13 Sep 2005, Charles Hallenbeck wrote: > Karen, Anne, and all, > > Others have had more experience with text mode conferencing in Linux > than I, but for what it's worth, here is my experience: > > There are numerous IRC clients that work well enough in Linux. I have > used BitchX to participate in text mode conferences with little or not > difficulty, after tweaking the default configuration a bit. I have been > told that there are better clients than BitchX for the purpose, but > never moved on up to another. > > Currently I am using jabber very successfully for instant messaging, > relying on the client called "imcom" for the purpose. There are > conferences available on the jabber network, and I have also > successfully participated in one of them using imcom. > > In addition to providing instant messaging and conferencing, jabber > supports gateways to the major proprietary conferencing and messaging > services such as ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, and the > rest, but I have not attempted to use those gateways (or transports in > jabberese). I know of at least one serious speakup user who uses them > happily, and at least one other who has had enormous difficulty doing > so. I also understand that the new Google Talk service relies on the > jabber protocol, or a jabber-like protocol, but again I have not > attempted to interact with it, and do not know if they do conferences > anyway. Jabber uses the terms "MUC" (multi user chat) and "conference" > interchangeably. > > The various IRC services and the jabber network are all GPL, and there > are client programs to access them for all the major platforms, Windows, > Mac, and Linux. > > While it is possible to do text mode conferencing in Linux, my > experience has been that it is usually a very rapid fire experience that > challenges my reaction time to participate effectively. In short, it is > no fun! But it is do-able. > > That's it, you have just picked my brain clear to the bone. > > Chuck > > -- > The Moon is Waxing Gibbous (72% of Full) > But you can still get downloads from http://www.mhcable.com/~chuckh > or you could Jabber me, using JID chuckh at hhs48.com > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup >
