CGI-IRC trouble?

[techmaster-glitch]

Okay, so, I've been using llearch's cgi-irc interface for his chat server. Everything used to work just fine. I was running winXP and IE 7 (yeah yeah, I know).

Well, I've just reformatted the computer completely. Wiped everything out, on the way to getting all my stuff reinstalled. So far, everything seems to be the same winXP, except I had to download 72 updates for it, and IE6, which was updated to 7. I also downloaded flash and java players...but anyway. The cgi-irc interface doesn't "work" anymore. I join a channel, and none of the usual information shows up (title, connected names, etc), it's just blank white. It takes typing in joining -another- channel for the first one to show anything. And then, lines don't show up. It takes minute for any lines, my own or someone elses, to show up, if they do at all.

So, in all my reinstalling of crap, I suppose I've missed something. What did I miss? Is there anything that cgi-irc needs to run right?

[Drayco84]

Only 72 updates and IE was upgraded to 7.1? I'd say you outta run the updater again. Latest ver. of IE is 8.

Regardless, I'd like to help you further on getting the CGI-IRC to work, but the problem's you're describing are EXACTLY why I started using a client. (And as you know, I use Firefox.)

Lemme check a couple of chat clients out and see what I can find/what settings need to be changed to work with the chat.

[techmaster-glitch]

Well, erm, the thing is, this -should- be the exact setup I had before, which worked just fine. It just appears that I am in fact missing something, so I need to know what I haven't gotten yet that will make cgi-irc work like it used to.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

* llearch n'n'daCorna shrugs

it's a cgi. It shouldn't need anything other than a standard browser to actually work. If someone can tell me a better client to run on the server, I'm more than happy to try things out. In the meantime, have you considered trying mibbit? Or a real client?

[Drayco84]

Okay, I found a workable one, Pidgin. (You can get it here: http://www.pidgin.im/.)

When you first run it, it'll ask for a bunch of stuff. Fill out the following:
Protocol: IRC (It's a dropdown menu.)
Server: irc.llearch.net
Password: (Whatever the heck you want. This is the client's password.)
(Leave everything else alone.)

It should open up a window that says Buddy List. And the bottom is a long bar with a dropdown menu. Set that to "Available" and it should connect to the server. Type in "/list" then enter, and it'll bring up ANOTHER window full of the channels. Join the ones you want or use Add Chat and put in your alias and password to join in automatically when you connect.

EDIT: Minor clarification.
And sorry llearch. I'd recommend something but I just don't know what to recommend. So, I simply use Chatzilla.

[techmaster-glitch]

   llearch; and I also forgot to metnion, this actually seems to be a somewhat common problem. Plenty of people have come around the chat servering using the cgi-irc interface, and report the same problems I'm having now. I never had these problems myself until I reformatted. And then, just as often, plenty of computers work just fine, like the ones on my college campus (from winXP to Vista and IE 6, 7, and 8 ). So, there's gotta be something missing, just don't know what it is... totally random shot in the dark, maybe it has something to do with connection settings...

Drayco; you know I don't want to bother with downloading a "real" client. I'm not that desperate yet.


EDIT: actually, another thing that makes me think it has something to do with connection settings is, last night, while I was getting drivers and updates and schnazz, there was -one- time where cgi-irc worked perfectly (after having been screwy in the way I'm describing). Then the connection hiccuped, and it hasn't worked right since. Might it have something to do with how a connection prioritizes/transmits data?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

EDIT: Minor clarification.
And sorry llearch. I'd recommend something but I just don't know what to recommend. So, I simply use Chatzilla.

Oh, no. I wasn't talking client-side (for which pidgin isn't the best, IMHO, since it's designed to do IM - I use it for that - but will work; personally, I'd suggest ircle or irssi or similar for linux or possibly mac, mirc or chatzilla for windows) but server-side; I'm more than happy to change cgi-irc for something else, if someone can point me at anything else that will do the same job. Only I can't find anything else... other than mibbit, and that's already linked on the usual page.

EDIT: actually, another thing that makes me think it has something to do with connection settings is, last night, while I was getting drivers and updates and schnazz, there was -one- time where cgi-irc worked perfectly (after having been screwy in the way I'm describing). Then the connection hiccuped, and it hasn't worked right since. Might it have something to do with how a connection prioritizes/transmits data?

Might be. Nothing I've done changes how that works, and all the details I can see show it to be an IE problem.

Since I don't have windows, I can't break it in the same way. So.. no chance of fixing it, even. (well, I do have windows. When I have windows open, I can't reach the server, so... It's either windows or the server, not both :-/)

[127.0.0.2]

I'm more than happy to change cgi-irc for something else, if someone can point me at anything else that will do the same job. Only I can't find anything else... other than mibbit, and that's already linked on the usual page.

Freenode and Nightstar have installed qwebirc a while ago. From what it looks, it's a decent ajax-based web client that uses long polling instead of HTTP streaming to keep everything up to date. From what I know, that method makes less trouble with proxies and is also less subject to quirky, unpredictable browser bugs, than HTTP streaming is. You might give it a try.

You can try out Nighstar's one here.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

It's not (immediately) available as a debian package - that's my main limitation.

If I have to go build a package, it makes for a bunch more overhead in looking after the server. And that's a problem, because I have sod-all time to monitor it as it is...

[127.0.0.2]

There also are lots of java applets that don't seem to need anything on the server side. But most of them are also, honestly, f-ugly...