Since most of you use Windows, I suggest getting mIRC is the best choice, since this is the most popular IRC client program at the moment, and very easy to use. You can find it on the Official mIRC Homepage, maintained by Tjerk Vonck, located at http://www.mirc.co.uk. Check it out for information on the latest version, ftp sites, bugs, fixes, links to mIRC-related pages, and IRC in general.
Once you have installed the program, simply click on File, choose Setup, enter a screen name in the Nickname field (what you want to call yourself while on IRC) and another one in the Alternate field (in case your first screen name is already in use by someone else). Entering your Real Name and e-mail address is optional. You should also enable Identd, since almost all IRC networks request it. Enter your nickname as User ID, use UNIX as system and 113 as port.
When all that is done, choose an EFNet-server from the list and click on Connect. If that server won't let you in, simply choose another one until you succeed. Make sure to use EFNet servers only, or you might find the channel empty most of the time. If you live in Germany, by all means try to use an IRC server in America, since the German side of EFNet for some reason isn't connected to the American side anymore since at least two years.
The available Sonic channels at the moment are
/join #channelnamefor example
/join #sonicFor further information about mIRC and IRC in general, check out http://www.mirc.org/ or http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/mirc/si.html.
irc.sega.com port 6667But don't tell SEGA about it. :)
If the IRC servers listed in the mIRC program won't work for you, here an additional list of servers that you could use:
irc.wu-wien.ac.at 137.208.3.30 Austria yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au 130.194.9.1 Australia speech.elec.uow.edu.au 130.130.88.116 Australia poc.dfat.gov.au 152.91.70.43 Australia irc.belnet.be 193.190.198.2 Belgium irc.magic.mb.ca 204.112.14.17 Canada irc.mcgill.ca 132.206.27.12 Canada irc.cs.mun.ca 134.153.1.2 Canada irc.vianet.on.ca 204.50.187.50 Canada irc.polymtl.ca 132.207.4.8 Canada irc.span.ch 194.51.197.1 Switzerland irc.blackened.com 192.195.240.63 USA, Arizona, Tucson irc.cris.com 199.3.12.20 USA, Michigan, Bay City irc.neosoft.com 198.64.213.130 USA, Texas irc.usa.pipeline.com 38.9.10.2 USA, NY, New York irc.portal.com 156.151.1.101 USA, California irc.voicenet.com 192.204.28.19 USA, PA, Ivyland irc.winternet.com 198.174.169.50 USA, MN, Eden Prarie irc.colorado.edu 128.138.129.31 USA, Colorado irc.rutgers.edu 165.230.224.131 USA, New Jersey irc.ais.net 199.0.154.13 USA, Illinois irc.bridge.net 204.253.4.4 USA, Florida, Miami irc.epix.net 199.224.64.19 USA, Pennsylvania irc.gate.net 199.227.0.17 USA, Florida irc.phoenix.net 207.43.3.5 USA, Texas, Houston irc.stealth.net 206.26.140.20 USA, NY, New York irc.felk.cvut.cz 192.108.160.15 Czech Republic irc.cis.vutbr.cz 147.229.245.10 Czech Republic sunsite.auc.dk 130.225.51.30 Denmark irc.clinet.fi 194.100.0.7 Finland irc.funet.fi 130.230.1.11 Finland irc.freenet.hut.fi 130.233.208.41 Finland irc.lpt.fi 193.166.64.3 Finland irc.otol.fi 193.64.225.62 Finland irc.oulu.fi 130.231.241.30 Finland irc.pspt.fi 192.98.38.220 Finland irc.eurecom.fr 193.55.112.8 France irc.bme.hu 152.66.116.1 Hungary irc.biu.ac.il 132.70.1.23 Israel irc.tau.ac.il 132.66.16.5 Israel irc.isnet.is 193.4.58.52 Iceland irc.cselt.stet.it 163.162.4.38 Italy irc.ccii.unipi.it 131.114.28.21 Italy irc.cc.yamaguchi-u.ac.jp 133.62.128.16 Japan irc.kyoto.wide.ad.jp 133.4.8.5 Japan irc.agh.edu.pl 149.156.96.12 Poland irc.mimuw.edu.pl 148.81.12.44 Poland irc.lublin.pl 193.59.55.167 Poland irc.dd.chalmers.se 129.16.117.11 Sweden irc.swipnet.se 193.12.122.33 Sweden irc.fri.uni-lj.si 193.2.72.13 Slovenia irc.uni-mb.si 164.8.65.104 Slovenia irc.csie.nctu.edu.tw 140.113.17.161 Taiwan irc.seed.net.tw 139.175.251.50 Taiwan serv.eng.abdn.ac.uk 139.133.221.13 United Kingdom stork.doc.ic.ac.uk 146.169.43.2 United Kingdom serv.cs.man.ac.uk 130.88.229.190 United Kingdom dismayl.demon.co.uk 158.152.1.76 United Kingdom