Hello programs,
On behalf of the CSC Systems Committee I am pleased to announce the availability of the CSC's own installation of the ZNC IRC bouncer for our members, at https://znc.csclub.uwaterloo.ca. To learn how to configure and use your CSC ZNC account to connect to IRC networks, please see the 'Client setup' section of the new ZNC page on the CSC wiki at https://wiki.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/ZNC.
This is the second of several steps we at the CSC Systems Committee are taking to bring modern user freedom- and privacy-respecting communication tools to our members. This is now more crucial than ever, as we have all grown our dependence on remote communication tools due to the ongoing global crisis, and as Fall 2020 starts with classes held online.
Starting today, CSC members can use their CSC account credentials to log into znc.csclub.uwaterloo.ca to access the CSC-hosted version of the ZNC IRC bouncer [0]. ZNC is free/libre software [1-2] under the Apache 2.0 license, and self-hostable by anyone. The CSC ZNC was set up with the help of the Systems Committee's newest member, Max Erenberg (merenber). Thanks for all your help and work on this, Max!
[0]: https://wiki.znc.in/ZNC [1]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html [2]: https://github.com/znc/znc
Upon your first login to CSC ZNC's web interface, it will automatically create an account for you, with the freenode network pre-configured, where you can join our #csc channel along with channels of many other free software projects. As an IRC bouncer, ZNC keeps you connected and logged into the IRC networks you configure it for and the channels you join in, so that when you close your IRC client or turn off your computer you won't miss any of the conversations that took place while you were gone. After configuring your CSC ZNC account, you would then change your IRC client's configuration to connect to the CSC ZNC instead of the IRC networks directly.
The CSC-hosted instance of The Lounge [3] announced earlier [4] covers part of a bouncer's use-case while providing a user-friendly web IRC client. Since IRC bouncers most often implement their functionality on top of the IRC protocol, they can be used with any IRC client and not bound to the browser like The Lounge is.
[3]: https://chat.csclub.uwaterloo.ca [4]: https://mailman.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/csc-general/2020-July/000837.h...
We will be updating the "How to IRC" page [5] of the CSC Wiki with information about the newly introduced CSC The Lounge and CSC ZNC services as the easiest and most flexible ways of connecting to IRC respectively for CSC members going forward.
[5]: https://wiki.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/How_to_IRC
Want to learn more or find more user freedom- and privacy-respecting remote communication tools? See [6] for a large list of free software tools you can use to communicate with your peers and/or loved ones in privacy and freedom.
[6]: https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Remote_Communication
Have a question or suggestion? Do not hesitate to write to us at the Systems Committee syscom@csclub.uwaterloo.ca; we look forward to hearing from you!
Amin Bandali Systems Committee Computer Science Club University of Waterloo