AmIRC is an
MUI-based
IRC
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called '' channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat an ...
client for the
Amiga. First released in 1995 as a shareware, it was later open-sourced. AmIRC offers large degree of configuration with an easy to use interface.
History
Developed by Oliver Wagner (VaporWare) and first released in 1995,
AmIRC was then in a direct competition with fellow Amiga IRC client, Grapevine.
The application was originally distributed as a
shareware product: as such, it allowed the user to run the software, but only for 30 minutes at a time over a 30 day period.
AmIRC was included in the Amiga Surfer Pack, a package containing several Internet related applications, released by the Amiga Technologies in 1996.
Last major AmIRC version released by VaporWare was 3.5 in 2000, beta releases continued until 2002. Development restarted in 2007, when Nicolas Sallin introduced with a consent of VaporWare an unofficial AmIRC port for
MorphOS
MorphOS is an AmigaOS-like computer operating system (OS). It is a mixed proprietary and open source OS produced for the Pegasos PowerPC (PPC) processor based computer, PowerUP accelerator equipped Amiga computers, and a series of Freescale dev ...
and later also for AmigaOS 3.x, a keyfile was no longer necessary. Another development branch was started in 2011 by Costel Mincea for
AmigaOS4, this fork was
open sourced in 2012.
Features
The software permits a large degree of configuration, with users having control over text styles, colors, and sound effects.
It requires MUI (Magic User Interface) and supports
ARexx
ARexx is an implementation of the Rexx language for the Amiga, written in 1987 by William S. Hawes, with a number of Amiga-specific features beyond standard REXX facilities. Like most REXX implementations, ARexx is an interpreted language. Program ...
scripting language allowing other applications to integrate with it.
Among other features, it is possible to log-in to selected IRC channels at startup.
The software also supports IRC-like Arcnet chat system created by the same author and used by the Amiga Technologies for their internal communication.
Reception
AmIRC was well regarded in its time. By words of the ''
CU Amiga
''Commodore User'', known to the readers as the abbreviated ''CU'', was one of the oldest British Commodore magazines. With a publishing history spanning over 15 years, it mixed content with technical and video game features. Incorporating ''Vi ...
'' magazine reviewer: "one of the most polished Internet clients ever seen on any platform"
Commended were its easy to use interface, high degree of customization and good documentation.
On the downside, ''CU Amiga'' review mildly criticized inclusion of only a few entries for the United Kingdom market in the default phone book.
There were also some limitations despite the rich features, although AmIRC (version 2.0 reviewed) could connect to multiple channels, it was not able to connect to multiple channels on multiple servers.
References
External links
AmIRC homepage
Internet Relay Chat clients
Amiga software
pt:AmIRC
simple:AmIRC
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