Wirehead Studios

Just a reminder, we have an IRC channel that's up 24/7.  Anyone looking for a game or just wanting to chat in general is invited to drop in, chat, and idle:

Server:  irc.wireheadstudios.net
East Coast:  east.wireheadstudios.net
West Coast:  west.wireheadstudios.net

Channel:  #wirehead

So why aren't you all idling in IRC?  You realize you have a better chance of catching passing development talk or getting in a game, right?

I only go there when I really feel like talking or playing Gen. Actually, last Saturday (I think), I caught Tabun working on Earth's Green Armour. I wonder how it looks...

Sorry if I seem ignorant,  :?:
But how do i get to the IRC channel? Do I use this website: 
http://www.wireheadstudios.org/irc/cgi-bin/irc.cgi
Or is there some other way to get there that I am unaware of?

You can use any IRC client (IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat, and is indicative of the protocol, kind of like HTTP or FTP stands for the protocol of communication used) to access our chat channel. Examples of popular IRC clients are mIRC (http://www.mirc.com) or BitchX (http://www.bitchx.com/),  or Xchat (http://www.xchat.org/), but there are many more (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IRC_clients). Each has their own interface and you'll need to check the manual to see how it works, but they all work basically the same:

1. you connect to an IRC network (for wirehead chatting, connect to "irc.wireheadstudios.net", for instance)
2. join a channel (for wirehead chatting, that would be "#wirehead")

Thank you sir.

-I got Xchat and it says: Connection failed. Error: An establised connection was aborted by the software in your host machine

Looks like you've got a firewall of some sort running? Or, if you're connecting through a local network, perhaps your gateway router/computer is blocking connections on IRC ports?

Yeah, Im on a LAN connection, thats probably it, I'll look into it.

-...It says that it is allowed, do you think it could be somthing else?

I'm not familiar with xchat, so I don't know when it shows the error, but it looks to me like a standard connectivity problem. "aborted by .. host machine" could be entirely correct, in which case it's some kind of local software firewall (say the windows XP firewall), or it could be an incorrect 'guess' and something else is amiss. It's hard to say, but seeing as you can read this site just fine, my guess is that somehow either IRC ports and/or your IRC client are blocked.

An annoying 'bug' with some firewalls (for instance, my Zyxxel router's hardware firewall and Symantec Client Security's firewall) is that, even when ports and software are shown to be allowed to pass, they are in fact still blocked. I'm not saying that that's what I expect to be the case here, but just demonstrating how frustratingly difficult it can be to find the precise cause of connection blockage.

If I'd find myself in your position, I'd (temporarily!) turn off all firewalls and safety catches, test the connection then, and (if it works) re-enable everything, while checking connectivity at every step. Kind of like brute-force debugging. ;] Before that, however, I'd try a different IRC client, just to be sure it's not a weird bug..

Don't use the old Wirehead cgi-irc.  You can connect in but as soon as you type we'll see a disconnect message.  You won't see it on your end, it will just look like nothing is happening.  The cgi:irc interface was broken a long time ago by some kind of server code update and the fellow that knows how it worked is not available for contact at present.  I doubt it will ever be fixed, so using mIRC or Xchat is the way to go.

I would certainly check the Windows Firewall or any other "protection" measures on your machine to see if they interfere with IRC.  Also, are you connecting in from a university or a residence?  I know some universities block the ports needed to connect via IRC.  Usually you need port 6667 and I think port 6668.  DCC file transfers are more tricky but as long as your computer can connect out on those two ports you should be able to connect for chat.

The irc network is experiencing some problems at the moment.  You might be able to get on using the following:

/server irc.wireheadstudios.com

I'll let you know when things are working smoothly again.

IRC network is working properly again.

The Wirehead IRC server is kaput.  We'll be looking at an alternative IRC option.  For now, we have a channel on irc.enterthegame.com channel #wirehead.

Is it supposed to be devoid of life?

Right now... pretty much.  I've not taken the time to transition Idlebot over or reg the channel, and all the usual idlers probably haven't read this message board.

I have to start saving big on my energy bills, so I'm turning my PC off at night. Also, my old server at my parent's place has died on me, so for a while there will be no clients for me on #wirehead at night (in Europe). I hope to have Tabbot back up soon, ofcourse..

Linux server, barely being used. If you want SSH access I can set you up an account.

hellbat.mine.nu