fIRC Android Chat Client released!
Android December 22nd, 2008A few months ago Google and T-mobile introduced the T-mobile G1 (aka googlephone). What makes this smartphone so special, is the fact that the operating system (Android) is open source. While most end-users wouldn’t care about this, developers have more freedom in improving or fixing parts of the OS.
As usual we Europeans get all the ‘new’ electronic devices 6 months later than the US or Asia. Often these devices cost more as well (for example iPhones, PSPs, NDS) because someone decided that 1 USD == 1 EUR. Luckily I was able to get a T-mobile G1 just before I left the states 
.
Today I released my first application on the android marketplace (something similar like the apple store). It is an IRC chat client called fIRC:
fIRC chat is a free IRC client.
Current features:
- Connect to irc servers such as Freenode and EFnet
- Supports only one channel for now
- Only landscape mode for now…
Available user commands:
- To change your current nickname: /nick changeme
- To request a user list: /userlist
Todo:
- Server message output
- Multichannel support
- PM support
- A better way to visualize the userlist (another listview?)
- Nicer GUI for the chat area
A few screenshots:
Suggestions, bug reports and comments can be posted here. The project page can be found here.
,
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:15 am
Great work Falcon, my Dev Phone 1 is on it’s way and Android is a great mobile os. Right now I’m mostly writing apps for iPhone and since I don’t have G1 yet I’m testing Android apps in simulator only.
Keep up the good work. Do you plan to release the source or you wait till the Android Market have support for paid apps ?
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:50 am
Thanks Pawel,
nice to hear that you’re getting a G1 as well
!
For now I’m keeping this chat client closed source. I don’t know if I will ask money for this application when the Android Market for paid apps is launched… depends on how popular this application is gonna be
.
December 25th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Looking good. Exciting project. Looking forward to see more of it.
December 28th, 2008 at 2:07 am
I work with gamesurge irc a lot. I was wondering if you will offer that as a server you can connect to. I’m also part of a ‘group’ called clanbots there. ( http://clanbots.org ) please let me know cuz I’ve used a sidekicked for years and the only thing I thought it lacked was a irc client. Keep up the good work. Can’t wait to see the next version.
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:14 am
I’ll try to support irc.gamesurge.net
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:55 am
Hey just had some ideas I love this app bt how about having a profile and just clicking on the user to see it with icons or pic and have options to pm that person just by clicking their name
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Heya,
on IRC users usually dont have a pic or icon to identify themselves. I guess the PM interaction you describe should be possible
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Hi, cool program,
this may be a silly question, but can the program only connect to the Freenode and EFnet IRC servers, or is it usable with any IRC server?
I’ve tried to log onto an IRC server that I use, but it comes back in the server status window saying error: closing link and registration timed out.
Thanks
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Hi Matt,
well due a stupid bug (Incomming Ping messages need to be replied with Pong, but I made a mistake by placing it on the wrong location) its only working on freenode and efnet.
In my current development build I fixed the ping pong issue and now it connects to gamesurge and quakenet.
I will update the app as soon…
January 7th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Thanks for a great IRC client! One request: Could you make the permanent “ongoing” notification optional? I find it distracting up there in the notification bar, which I try to keep free for incoming email/twitter/AIM/etc. It would also be cool if I could configure it 1) to send a notification when my name is mentioned in chat, in addition to when I get a PM; 2) to vibrate and flash the LED, instead of making noise when it notifies me, much like I have my email etc. configured to do.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Glenn:
I’m glad you like the client.
About your suggestions:
- The notification part will change (top bar and PM), I will probably add a settings menu so you can customize the notifications.
- Hmm notification/highlighting on nickname… (should be possible).
January 12th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Great work on the app.
Bug report: I have not been able to connect to gamesurge successfully yet. Getting report of invalid username, have tried multiple variations with no luck.
Feature requests: 1) Save favorite setups. 2) Perform some commands per server so we can automate identification etc.
January 12th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
@Ryan: Gamesurge should work, just be sure to adjust your ident and realname properly.
Be sure its all in lowercase, no numericals and no spaces.
FR:
…
1. that is on my todo list
2. that is gonna be a bit more difficult
February 2nd, 2009 at 2:10 am
Just downloaded this today- great app. Do you have any plans to add support for operator commands?
February 11th, 2009 at 8:33 am
I cant seem to connect to gamesurge on my phone for some reason. Is there a support forum for this app?
February 11th, 2009 at 11:38 am
I dont have a support forum atm. Try changing your ‘realname’ and ‘ident’ to something without spaces, capitals and numbers. Gamesurge should work just fine.
February 13th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Thank you it’s working now. Leaving the realname and ident boxes blank is a bad idea. I couldn’t connect until i put something in them, and as laurence said dont use spaces, capitals, or numbers.
February 17th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Thank you so much for this app Laurence. It really is the single thing that made me keep the G1. I love that I can connect to any server.
It took me awhile to figure out that the ‘realname’ wasn’t optional but other than that it’s very easy to use and i appreciate that.
Requests:: I don’t know what’s possible and what’s not so sorry about that.
The commands I need the most but don’t have are /oper and /gline I would be thrilled if the client supported Anope services i.e. nickserv, chanserv, and most importantly operserv. Also, a channel list would be good.
Thanks Again!
April 1st, 2009 at 4:51 am
Laurence Muller, Great job on this app. I really love it and like others have said i wouldnt keep my g1 without it.
Thank you so much and keep up the great work.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:15 am
Nice app. I will definitely keep it installed on my phone – being able to connect to irc and talk to people is very important for me.
There are a couple of things that are a bit annoying, however:
* no auto-reconnect (possibly with configurable timer) – my phone disconnects a lot due to bad coverage in some spots I frequent.
* no scrollback in the input line (necessary to re-send stuff when the phone finds out it has disconnected after typing a long line)
* no configurable notification – I’d like to get informed when I get talked to, even on public channels
* App seems to get killed pretty often when I background it… (not firc’s fault, though… just either too little memory in the device or too heavy an application in the foreground)
But anyway – thanks for that great app!
Ulli
May 3rd, 2009 at 4:41 am
Seems to work great, once I got it set up properly. There is, however, one horrible problem. I leave it running indefinitely, and sooner or later it loses the irc connection, refuses to reconnect, and tries to force close when I try to close it, but never properly force closes, so I have to restart my phone to get it running properly again.
Barring, this, it’s fantastic. One suggestion, maybe it could automatically send authentication so I don’t have to pm every time I log in?
September 11th, 2009 at 3:51 am
This works great for me. I was using gamesurge java browser, OMG!! and I was gonna buy one and download it. People in market apps claimed Dev answered e-mails, I sent email with just three questions and never got a reply. Good thing… firc is working fine once u get the hang of it.
GJ!
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:17 am
force closes and not closing completely is an issue with many apps. I downloaded one of the free taskillers to close any app I don’t want running, then I kill the taskiller.
“I sent email with just three questions and never got a reply.” <– I was speaking about another Dev which was a "Pay" application I was thinking of buying.
Laurence sent me an email, just to ask how everything was going and I never even emailed him.
December 5th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
NEW ISSUE RE GAMESURGE as of 12/1/09
revoluti0n
GameSurge Staff
Joined: 02/02/2004
Posts: 69
[United States]
Posted: 12/05/2009 10:22:25 AM
Subject: Re: G-line on cell
Quote
“A specific user was using their T-mobile cell phone to evade some g-lines set on their home connection. Until T-mobile can resolve the issue and remove the user, the g-line is not likely to be removed. Sorry, but sometimes we have to take drastic measures to protect our users and our network.”
———————————————————-
So I guess it does not matter which irc app you use now.
December 5th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I am going to take this on personally.
xintros> hello, i am sorry to bother you but you just locked my topic on the forum.. is there anyone I can speak to or email about my situation?
xintros> #revoluti0n Cannot send to channel
revoluti0n> tmobile would be the only people
revoluti0n> i do not have any information beyond what i posted in the forum
xintros> so I need to contact Tmobile?
revoluti0n> it is not just you; it is all of tmobile
xintros> its one individual and all tmobile suffers or are there more involved?
revoluti0n> normally, when an internet provider fails to respond or take action, that is when the entire isp gets glined
revoluti0n> that is the only conclusion i can draw
xintros> so tmobile is not answering you regarding this? thats it?
revoluti0n> that is the only assumption i can make based on all the information i have at hand
revoluti0n> which is what i have given you
xintros> “assumption” i would like to contact someone who would know more about this please
revoluti0n> people way above me that don’t come online very often, and don’t check the forum
xintros> ok, well, do they have ANY contact info?
xintros> that i can use
revoluti0n> a) i don’t know who set it; b) i do not know who the individuals are that are authorized to ban an entire isp
xintros> well, i would like to find out. how would i go about that?
revoluti0n> i do not know. they do not advertise who they are
revoluti0n> not even to other ircops like myself
xintros> you have no supervisors or anything like that?
revoluti0n> i do, however, not even they know who can gline entire isps
revoluti0n> i am being completely honest with you
xintros> i appriciate that, but I would personally like to investigate this. I will call Tmobile and please just give me a starting point on your end
revoluti0n> my suggestion for a starting point would be to say something like this to them:
revoluti0n> “i used to use irc from my phone, but someone on your network got the entire network banned from the gamesurge network. you can verify this yourself and contact them to fix it”
revoluti0n> that’s about all i can think of
xintros> ok buddy, thanks for your help, sorry to bother you, but gamesurge is a big part of my life