source: doc/user-guide/quickstart.xml @ 4804b2f

Last change on this file since 4804b2f was 4804b2f, checked in by Wilmer van der Gaast <wilmer@…>, at 2011-08-17T22:28:10Z

Quickstart update from pleia2.

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1<chapter id="quickstart">
2<title>Quickstart</title>
3
4<para>
5Welcome to BitlBee, your IRC gateway to ICQ, MSN, AOL, Jabber, Yahoo! and Twitter.
6</para>
7
8<para>
9The center of BitlBee is the control channel, <emphasis>&amp;bitlbee</emphasis>. Two users will always be there, <emphasis>you</emphasis> (where "you" is the nickname you are using) and the system user, <emphasis>root</emphasis>.
10</para>
11
12<para>
13You need register so that all your IM settings (passwords, contacts, etc) can be saved on the BitlBee server. It's important that you pick a good password so no one else can access your account. Register with this password using the <emphasis>register</emphasis> command: <emphasis>register &lt;password&gt;</emphasis> (without the brackets!).
14</para>
15
16<para>
17Be sure to remember your password. The next time you connect to the BitlBee server you will need to <emphasis>identify &lt;password&gt;</emphasis> so that you will be recognised and logged in to all the IM services automatically.
18</para>
19
20<para>
21When finished, type <emphasis>help quickstart2</emphasis> to continue.
22</para>
23
24<sect1 id="quickstart2">
25<title>Add and Connect To your IM Account(s)</title>
26<!-- quickstart2 -->
27<para>
28<emphasis>Step Two: Add and Connect To your IM Account(s).</emphasis>
29</para>
30
31<para>
32To add an account to the account list you will need to use the <emphasis>account add</emphasis> command: <emphasis>account add &lt;protocol&gt; &lt;username&gt; &lt;password&gt; [&lt;server&gt;]</emphasis>.
33</para>
34
35<para>
36For instance, suppose you have a Jabber account at jabber.org with handle <emphasis>bitlbee@jabber.org</emphasis> with password <emphasis>QuickStart</emphasis>, you would:
37</para>
38
39<ircexample>
40        <ircline nick="you">account add jabber bitlbee@jabber.org QuickStart</ircline>
41        <ircline nick="root">Account successfully added</ircline>
42</ircexample>
43
44<para>
45Other available IM protocols are msn, oscar, yahoo and twitter. OSCAR is the protocol used by ICQ and AOL. For more information about the <emphasis>account add</emphasis> command, see <emphasis>help account add</emphasis>.
46</para>
47
48<para>
49When you are finished adding your account(s) use the <emphasis>account on</emphasis> command to enable all your accounts, type <emphasis>help quickstart3</emphasis> to continue.
50</para>
51
52</sect1>
53
54<sect1 id="quickstart3">
55<title>Step Four: Managing Contact Lists: Add, Remove and Rename</title>
56
57<para>
58Now you might want to add some contacts, to do this we will use the <emphasis>add</emphasis> command. It needs two arguments: a connection ID (which can be a number (try <emphasis>account list</emphasis>), protocol name or (part of) the screenname) and the user's handle. It is used in the following way: <emphasis>add &lt;connection&gt; &lt;handle&gt;</emphasis>
59</para>
60
61<ircexample>
62        <ircline nick="you">add 0 r2d2@example.com</ircline>
63        <ircaction nick="r2d2"> has joined <emphasis>&amp;bitlbee</emphasis></ircaction>
64</ircexample>
65
66<para>
67In this case r2d2 is online, since he/she joins the channel immediately. If the user is not online you will not see them join until they log on.
68</para>
69
70<para>
71Lets say you accidentally added r2d3@example.com rather than r2d2@example.com, or maybe you just want to remove a user from your list because you never talk to them. To remove a name you will want to use the <emphasis>remove</emphasis> command: <emphasis>remove r2d3</emphasis>
72</para>
73
74<para>Finally, if you have multiple users with similar names you may use the <emphasis>rename</emphasis> command to make it easier to remember: <emphasis>rename r2d2_ r2d2_aim</emphasis>
75
76<para>
77When finished, type <emphasis>help quickstart4</emphasis> to continue.
78</para>
79
80</sect1>
81
82<sect1 id="quickstart4">
83<title>Chatting</title>
84
85<para>
86<emphasis>Step Five: Chatting.</emphasis>
87</para>
88
89<para>
90First of all, a person must be on your contact list for you to chat with them (unless it's a group chat, <emphasis>help groupchats</emphasis> for more). If someone not on your contact list sends you a message, simply add them to the proper account with the <emphasis>add</emphasis> command. Once they are on your list and online, you can chat with them in &amp;bitlbee:
91</para>
92
93<ircexample>
94        <ircline nick="you">tux: hey, how's the weather down there?</ircline>
95        <ircline nick="tux">you: a bit chilly!</ircline>
96</ircexample>
97
98<para>
99Note that, although all contacts are in the &amp;bitlbee channel, only tux will actually receive this message. The &amp;bitlbee channel shouldn't be confused with a real IRC channel.
100</para>
101
102<para>
103If you prefer chatting in a separate window, use the <emphasis>/msg</emphasis> or <emphasis>/query</emphasis> command, just like on real IRC. BitlBee will remember how you talk to someone and show his/her responses the same way. If you want to change the default behaviour (for people you haven't talked to yet), see <emphasis>help set private</emphasis>.
104</para>
105
106<para>
107You know the basics. If you want to know about some of the neat features BitlBee offers, please type <emphasis>help quickstart5</emphasis>.
108</para>
109
110</sect1>
111
112<sect1 id="quickstart5">
113<title>Further Resources</title>
114
115<para>
116<emphasis>So you want more than just chatting? Or maybe you're just looking for more features?</emphasis>
117</para>
118
119<para>
120With multiple channel support you can have contacts for specific protocols in their own channels, for instance, if you <emphasis>/join &amp;msn</emphasis> you will join a channel that only contains your MSN contacts.
121</para>
122
123<para>
124Account tagging allows you to use the given account name rather than a number when referencing your account. If you wish to turn off your gtalk account, you may <emphasis>account gtalk off</emphasis> rather than <emphasis>account 3 off</emphasis> where "3" is the account number.
125</para>
126
127<para>
128You can type <emphasis>help set</emphasis> to learn more about the possible BitlBee user settings. Among these user settings you will find options for common issues, such as changing the charset, HTML stripping and automatic connecting (simply type <emphasis>set</emphasis> to see current user settings).
129</para>
130
131<para>
132For more subjects (like groupchats and away states), please type <emphasis>help index</emphasis>.
133</para>
134
135<para>
136If you're still looking for something, please visit us in #bitlbee on the OFTC network (you can connect via irc.bitlbee.org), or mail us your problem/suggestion. Good luck and enjoy the Bee!
137</para>
138
139</sect1>
140
141</chapter>
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