Woops! I forgot to update this part of the site to reflect the network change. Sorry, folks!
also, and I know this is late: mIRC 6.21 was released a few days ago. Visit the mIRC web site to download it and read what is new. It is primarily a bugfix release.
A 'Getting Started' tutorial has been written for tIRC! Now, there is absolutely no reason why everyone can't start using mIRC. Again, we feel that it is a much more powerful program and we are only holding ourselves back by sticking with custom-written clients like FC. To access the tutorial, please visit the documentation section.
I have heavily reworked this site because it seriously needed a face lift. Since the script has evolved way beyond requiring Microsoft Agent, I have rewritten the site so that it doesn't look like Agent is necessary anymore. Hopefully, things are a bit more organised now.
As mentioned a few months back, I am no longer the head coder for tIRC--I have left the project to Aladdin and mo, Admin and user of the TalkingIRC Network. Since, however, things are taking longer than expected for the newest version of tIRC (mostly the fact that we have lives and other personal things getting in the way) I decided to take an evening and redo this site. So, do expect to see contributions towards the project from me from time to time.
The developer of tIRC, ace, had been on IRC for a little over a year when he started working on tIRC. He had tried several different methods of making IRC accessible--a few self-coded projects as well as one or two speech plug-ins for mIRC, a popular Internet Relay Chat program expandable through scripts. After hanging out on a few IRC networks, he decided to write his own full mIRC script to customise mIRC as much as possible to be usable by the Visually-Impaired. Being inspired by Slayer script and Kickchat$cript, ace began coding his mIRC script in June of 2002.
While the aim of most script writers is to code a lot of fun graphics, aliases, and other eye-candy crap into mIRC, ace had another approach. Sure, he wanted his script to boast a lot of features but his main goal was making mIRC accessible to screen reader users. After four years of development, tIRC has grown and matured a lot. It can now interface to several speech output engines and contains heeps of features.
Here is a short list of tIRC's features:
Please Note - As of March of 2006, ace is no longer the head coder of tIRC. Due to his deteriorating interest in coding, he has passed the job of keeping tIRC alive to his friends Aladdin and mo. Mo has written a lot of the code in tIRC and has been a team member since the early development stages. Aladdin is a Network Administrator on the TalkingIRC Network, where the developers of tIRC hang out. Stop by and say hello! Also, tIRC is open-source; feel free to contribute code and ideas to the project.
This section is very important! We strongly believe that all users should read the supplied documentation before asking for any assistance. We have had too many users ask stupid ass questions that are answered in a document somewhere. This section isn't here just for looks - use it or you'll be ignored.
Finally, I've written a short tutorial aimed at getting the user setup and running mIRC with the tIRC script! I am planning on converting it to HTML but, for now, it is a downloadable zip file with text files. Simply download it, press enter on the file, and you will see a list of files--chapter1-5.txt and readme.txt. Read the readme.txt file first then proceed to Chapter One. Again, HTML is coming soon. I will add it to this section when its ready.
tirc_qr.zip (11 KB)
The first document you should read is the tIRC licence agreement. I assure you, it isn't long as most of them are. It will take you no longer than two minutes, if that, to read it.
This next document is changed with each new release of the script. It highlights new features, bug fixes, and modifications to the script. It contains a summarized version of the ChangeLog entry for the current release as well as the ChangeLog entry itself. It is highly recommended that you read this file.
Although it is not complete, the manual file is another recommended source of reading. You should find many of the tIRC features explained there. It will be updated and finished as time permits.
Other documents not as necessary to read as the ones above:
Getting tIRC up and running is actually very simple. Since the script interfaces directly to JFW and Window-Eyes, the two most popular Windows screen readers, you only need to download the mIRC chat client and the tIRC script. If you are not using JAWS or Window-Eyes, please skip to the section entitled Using tIRC with Microsoft Agent. Otherwise, follow the instructions below.
The first step in configuring tIRC is to install the mIRC program. To download this program, please visit the mIRC web site at www.mirc.com. For those of you who are new to IRC, I recommend reading the documents included with the mIRC program.
Please Note - mIRC was not written by the tIRC team! tIRC is a plug-in developed by the tIRC team to make mIRC accessible. Please visit the mIRC Web Site for more information specific to mIRC.
After you have downloaded mIRC, simply run the executable program and follow the instructions. The mIRC installer is a generic wizard-based install. It is recommended that you stick with the default settings that the wizard prompts you unless you know what you are doing.
Now that you have mIRC installed, you should have a mIRC icon on your desktop and a group under Programs in the start menu. It is now time to download and install tIRC, which will open the door to mIRC for visually-impaired people using screen access technology. Activate the following link to begin downloading the tIRC self-extracting installer: tIRC3.8Ralph (244KB, less than one minute on 56K).
After downloading the tIRC self-extracting installer, run it and allow it to install to the default location. It will install to the same directory in which mIRC is located. Since this is a mIRC plug-in, it replaces some files of the program in order for certain functions to work properly.
Now that everything is installed, you may run the program. Simply answer the questions presented to you and you will be up and running in no time!
Since tIRC is now able to interface to the two most popular screen readers (JFW and Window-Eyes) this feature of tIRC is now somewhat obsolete, hence the reason for its sliding down to the bottom of this document. For those of you who require speech access to mIRC but do not own a copy of JFW or Window-Eyes, we are still here for you. Although we do not support Microsoft Agent anymore, we hope that this section will help some people. If there is any great difficulty gaining access to tIRC, please contact us via Email and we will try to assist you. Again, please treat this section as old and out-of-date.
ATTENTION - we do not support users with single-channel sound cards! Your best bet is to dish out $40 and purchase yourself a multi-channel card. Check out the Sound Blaster Audigy II from www.newegg.com. The reason for this is because you cannot hear Microsoft Agent along with your normal speech package at the same time. Thus, you cannot review the screen or use other programs comfortably. The best workaround for users with a single-channel sound card is to use the mute feature of the screen reader and configure it only to apply within the mirc.exe application.
The first component you must download and install is the Microsoft Agent core components package. This is mandatory for all Agent-supported applications, including tIRC. None of the other components or programs on this page can be installed before this. Simply press enter on the link below and choose to save the file. After completion, run the file and accept the licence agreement. The components will be installed.
Next, you must download and install the Microsoft Speech API 4.0:
Install the Speech Control Panel:
The following two components are necessary for speech output. Firstly, you must download and install the Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice American TTS engine. Yes, it sucks that we can't figure out how to use the British English 3000 engine, but oh well.
You must also download a Microsoft Agent character. We only support Merlin; thus, that is all that is available here. It sounds the best out of the other characters; nothing like Eloquence, but you'll get use to it.
Please note - If you wish to use the Eloquence characters included with tIRC, it is not necessary to download any Agent characters.
You may now return to the Downloads section to download mIRC and tIRC.
It is assumed that you have made it through this mini-tutorial and now have mIRC setup with tIRC. If you come across any problems and are unsuccessful with setting up the program, please email irc@talkingirc.net.
Now that everything is up and running, you can use the
/server irc.talkingirc.net
/j #talkingirc
Please do not take it personally if no one answers you! IRC is a very open environment where people express themselves whenever they want to and however they want to. The best thing for you to do is to join the room, say hello, and watch the conversation for a bit. Eventually, someone will talk to you or you may jump into the conversation. If the conversation taking place when you join the channel does not interest you, wait for it to change and join in when you feel that you may make a good contribution to the conversation.
Good luck and have fun!
| ace | TalkingIRC Owner, Project Contributor, Original Author, Retired Head-Coder! | ace@talkingirc.net |
| Aladdin | TalkingIRC Owner, Head Coder | N/A |
| Mo | Head Coder, Documentation Contributor | N/A |