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Show HN: Subway, a persistent web client for IRC

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Re: Show HN: Subway, a persistent web client for IRC

#31

Post by nuclear_eclipse »

jroll wrote: post #21
nuclear_eclipse wrote: post #8

Not to be negative, but what does this have that couldn't be done better with ZNC and a proper IRC client? I get a persistent connection to the IRC server, logs and push notifications to my phone when I'm not connected or paying attention, and I can connect from as any IRC client I want to, or connect from multiple clients simultaneously. [1] Granted, the web client does look really really nice, but as a whole it see…

I would have loved to have this when I worked at a company that only allowed HTTP(S) through the firewall.

My point is there are already plenty of pure web IRC clients that don't rely on a local database; none of them (that I've seen) have any sort of nice interface like this does. There are also plenty of applications that will proxy non-HTTP connections over HTTP proxies. Corkscrew [1] also allows you to tunnel SSH connections over HTTP proxy, and you can use SSH to tunnel just about anything else you need.

Re: Show HN: Subway, a persistent web client for IRC

#32

Post by [deleted] »

wickedchicken wrote: post #11
akavlie wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What tech stack would you use, if you built a client like this?

It has less to do with technical reasons and more that node (and javascript in general) rubs me the wrong way. If the tech works for you then roll with it. Personally I think go works where node is often used, but fits my style of development better. Not to throw more feature work on you guys, but I always thought it would be neat to have an IRC client email you if someone mentions you while you were away...

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Subway, a persistent web client for IRC

#33

Post by nuclear_eclipse »

Zev wrote: post #24
wickedchicken wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm thinking more of a notification. Imagine monitoring a product support channel: if someone mentions you you want to know about it so you can pop into the channel if needed. I don't want to stare at a chat screen all the time.

If you have an iPhone, you can use ZNC and Mobile Colloquy to get push notifications on highlights.

Alternately, if you don't like Colloquy or don't have an iPhone, I wrote a module called ZNC Push that works with multiple push notification providers, including Boxcar, Prowl, and Notify My Android. I'm also happy to integrate more providers if someone has any requests.

http://noswap.com/projects/znc-push/ or https://github.com/jreese/znc-push

Re: Show HN: Subway, a persistent web client for IRC

#34

Post by guruz »

nuclear_eclipse wrote: post #8

Not to be negative, but what does this have that couldn't be done better with ZNC and a proper IRC client? I get a persistent connection to the IRC server, logs and push notifications to my phone when I'm not connected or paying attention, and I can connect from as any IRC client I want to, or connect from multiple clients simultaneously. [1] Granted, the web client does look really really nice, but as a whole it see…

If you (still) think a IRC bouncer is a good tool then you'd be surprised by something like quassel :)

http://quassel-irc.org/

Re: Show HN: Subway, a persistent web client for IRC

#37

Post by Arelius »

akavlie wrote: post #3

The other collaborator here. I started with a similar client called web-irc, to make a better open source web IRC client. I combined forced with thedjpetersen because his tech stack was almost identical. And it looked better, to boot :-) Tech used: Node.js, node-irc, socket.io, Backbone.js, and MongoDB for optional message logging on persistent connections. Feedback and contributions welcome. This article is linked t…

I had tried to setup web-irc previously. It was just so sensitive to particular library versions, I never got around to getting it working.

Re: Show HN: Subway, a persistent web client for IRC

#38

Post by nuclear_eclipse »

guruz wrote: post #34
nuclear_eclipse wrote: post #8

Not to be negative, but what does this have that couldn't be done better with ZNC and a proper IRC client? I get a persistent connection to the IRC server, logs and push notifications to my phone when I'm not connected or paying attention, and I can connect from as any IRC client I want to, or connect from multiple clients simultaneously. [1] Granted, the web client does look really really nice, but as a whole it see…

If you (still) think a IRC bouncer is a good tool then you'd be surprised by something like quassel :) http://quassel-irc.org/

I actually looked into Quassel a while back, and although it looks interesting, the biggest issue I had with it was the apparent inability to mix existing IRC clients into a Quassel setup, not to mention it lacks a unified set of notifications.

With ZNC on my server, I can connect any standard IRC client to it, whether its Irssi or Weechat running in screen on my server, Xchat on my desktop machines, or AndChat on my phone. I also receive only a single push notification to my phone when I get mentioned or PMed, and can literally connect from anywhere to respond.

Re: Show HN: Subway, a persistent web client for IRC

#39

Post by jroll »

nuclear_eclipse wrote: post #31
jroll wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have loved to have this when I worked at a company that only allowed HTTP(S) through the firewall.

My point is there are already plenty of pure web IRC clients that don't rely on a local database; none of them (that I've seen) have any sort of nice interface like this does. There are also plenty of applications that will proxy non-HTTP connections over HTTP proxies. Corkscrew [1] also allows you to tunnel SSH connections over HTTP proxy, and you can use SSH to tunnel just about anything else you need.

I'm aware there are other solutions. Compared to all the work I did to properly tunnel SSH over HTTPS (it was a pretty good firewall, apparently), deploying a node app is trivial.

Re: Show HN: Subway, a persistent web client for IRC

#40

Post by mattdeboard »

wickedchicken wrote: post #20
mattdeboard wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use a bouncer like znc (or this) and you don't have to get emails, it'll just be there when you get back

I'm thinking more of a notification. Imagine monitoring a product support channel: if someone mentions you you want to know about it so you can pop into the channel if needed. I don't want to stare at a chat screen all the time.

This is already a solved problem. Even emacs has notifications for IRC.
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