Alternative Chat Clients

Below we list a set of (free) chat clients that may be used to connecto the AAVSO IRC server which hosts the Citizen Sky chats.

Pidgin

Pidgin is an open source chat client capable of working on multiple chat networks.  It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Instructions:

1. Download and install Pidgin for your computer.
2. Start up Pidgin.  From the Accounts menu, choose Manage and then Add.
3. In the resulting dialog window, set these options:
   1. Protocol: IRC
   2. Username: whatever you want
   3. Server: mira.aavso.org
4. On the advanced tab, verify the following:
   1. Port: 6667
   2. Encodings: UTF-8
5. Save these settings and close the account management window.
6. Now, under the Buddies menu, choose Join a Chat.
7. In the join a chat dialog set the following options:
   1. Account: choose the IRC one you just added.
   2. Channel: #aavso
   3. Password: none needed
8. Then click Join.  The resulting window is the chat window.  If you have used IRC before, all of the standard commands will still work.  You can send private messages in the normal way, or double-click on a users's name in the right panel.  Close this window.
9. Lastly, back in the main window, the #aavso channel should be listed in your buddy list.  If it is not:
   1. From the Tools menu, choose room list.  Select your IRC account and click the Get List button.  Select the #aavso chat room from the menu below and then click the Add Chat button.
10. Now, double-click on the #aavso chat room, that should open the AAVSO IRC chat window.

We also suggest that you close Pidgin (done by clicking Buddies and then Quit) and start it up again to make sure #aavso is in your buddy list.