Intro
Welcome to RedBrick
This is a brief introduction to some of the more common services available to you now that you have a RedBrick account. For more detailed tutorials on the services mentioned, simply follow the links provided!
Chat
One of the most common ways for Redbrick members to stay in touch is through Chat, or IRC (Internet Relay Chat). IRC basically lets you chat with a lot of different people at the same time.
To begin using chat, simply type 'chat' into your terminal. There are lots of different chatrooms, or "channels" on Redbrick, the default one being #lobby.
There is also a WebChat client available, so you can talk to your friends on Redbrick through your browser. [www.redbrick.dcu.ie/chat/]
You can get more info about chat and its different commands and features by visiting the IRC page.
When you join Redbrick, you get your own email account, your address being <username>@redbrick.dcu.ie.
By default, your mail will be forwarded to your DCU account, so that you won't miss any mails. To turn this off, type "noforward" in your terminal.
Redbrick has a variety of different ways in which you can read and send mail. By just typing "email" in your terminal, you can use Mutt to check your mail, but there are also two clients available if you'd prefer to read your email in your browser.
Redbrick now has two Web-based email clients, SquirrelMail and RoundCube. These can be accessed by pointing your browser at webmail.redbrick.dcu.ie.
Newsgroups
Newsgroups (the boards) are a place for our members to exchange views,seek help or generally rant about anything they want. The default news reader on RedBrick is called Slrn. To start is simply type 'news' or 'slrn' into your terminal. With slrn you can read and post to all of the RedBrick NewsGroups plus some intersocs Newsgroups.
Web Browsing
RedBrick has some text based Internet browsers installed, named 'lynx' and 'links'. To run either of these browsers simply type either lynx or links into your terminal. To view a perticular website straight away type the name of the browser followed by the url e.g lynx www.dcu.ie.
RedBrick Software
RedBrick has a vast array of software installed on the system that was written by our members. As you gain more experience using your account you will come across the various programs out there.The most used of these is rbusers. If you type rbusers into your terminal you will see a list of users currently logged onto the system. Hey is also one of these programs. Hey is RedBricks version of instant messenger software (although we are implementing jabber now in addition hey). It enables users logged onto the system to send messages to each other. See the hey tutorial for more information. Another useful program is huh. If you type huh into your terminal you will see a list of the last few users who heyed you. The list of user written software is endless and you will come across loads of them on your travels.
UNIX
RedBricks operating system of choice is UNIX. Our primary server (murphy) is running the Ubuntu Linux operating system and our secondary server runs Debian (carbon and deathray). In the Windows point and click world, dont let a command line usage put you off. Once you get comfortable you'll be amazed how much you can accomplish in a command line UNIX environment. A standard user only need a very basic knowledge to gain usage from their RedBrick account. For a starting point see the Intro To Unix tutorial.
And More
For a list of main features at anytime type 'help' into your terminal. Once you are comfortable with the general setup of your account and the system take a look at the other tutorials to learn a little more and improve your use of Redbrick.
Good luck, and enjoy your redbrick experience.
[ Author : Declan McMullen (skyhawk) : 2003 ]
[ Updated : Una Kehoe (Keloe) : October 2003 ]
[ Updated : Diarmuid Bourke (drag0n) : August 2006 ]