Pretty simple; here’s a quick recipe on how to bake this cake on Pidgin.

• Start Pidgin and go to Accounts –> Manage Accounts, then click on Add.
• Set the options:
  • Protocol: IRC
  • Username: whatever you wish
  • Server: irc.freenode.net
  • Password: blank

Leave the rest as it is, unchecked and unfilled, for that is the way things should be, sometimes. Click on Add!

• Now go to Tools –> Room List.
• Under Account: Select your freshly baked IRC account.
• Click on Get List. Wait for a while, while the oven does its thing, and you’ll be presented with a whole list of chat rooms, along the number of users in each chat room and the topic of discussion.
• Now it’s time to sink your teeth in! Select a chat room. You could either:
  • Double click it to join immediately.
  • Click on Add Chat to add it to your buddy list, so you’re automatically connected to the server every time you start Pidgin.
• When you click on Add Chat Pidgin’ll ask you to enter an Alias, which is just a convenient way for you to address your chat room. Of course, that won’t be true if you decide to call it Chatroom1 or A2 or something; so it’s usually nicer left blank.
• The two check boxes at the bottom of this window are pretty self–explanatory. If not, they will be once you try them out! You didn’t know the chilly was spicy till you feasted on one yourself, did you?

That’s it! You’ve just set up the most responsive troubleshooting helpline you’ll ever use; cheers!