Install

First you have to install irssi.
REMEMBER: irssi is a command line IRC-Client for Linux / Unix. This means that there is NO graphical user interface and you can't use it with windows.
Commands you have to type are shown italics. The '~$' only indicate that your are on commandline as normal user, '~#' indicates that you are root.
On Debian:
Go to the command line
Become root:
~$ su
 Password:
Enter the password you need, then type:
~# apt-get install irssi
If you are asked if you wish to continue press y (it could be another letter, depending on your language)

Of course you also could use a graphical fronted like Adept, Synaptic, aptitude or things like that to install the package irssi

On Ubuntu
~$ sudo apt-get install irssi
You get asked for YOUR password, please type it (you won't see what you type) and press Enter.
If you are asked if you wish to continue press y (it could be another letter, depending on your language)

Of course you also could use a graphical fronted like Adept, Synaptic, aptitude or things like that to install the package irssi

Now start irssi through typing 'irssi' on commandline. It shows you a welcome screen. You could connect to IRC now, but it is easier to save some settings now for later use, so please type "/quit" and press enter.

Now change to your config directory.
Note: If you changed to the root account with 'su' you should now type 'exit', so that you do not use irssi as root.
~$ cd ~/.irssi

Use an editor of your choice to open the config file; I prefer vim:

~$ vim config

Now change the config to your needs, or download the sample configuration file from the ScoutLink website. Overwrite your local sample with the downloaded file and only change your user information at the bottom of the file.
Save the file.

Now start irssi

then type:

/connect ScoutLink

More information about using IRC can be found at our "First steps" document.

This is only a short document because we think that anybody who wants to use a command line IRC-Client should be able to perform some basic operations like cp, mv, wget and so on.