Howdy!

I have been using GNU Screen for loads of stuff to save me from a unreliable connection, however recently I began to use it for IRCing.

The biggest reason here is that I don’t always have a IRC client available or I would have some issues connecting to my bnc due to firewalls etc, but there is always a SSH client somewhere in reach :) .

What everyone who are going to IRC from a screen session will learn very quickly is that screen does not allow you to scroll up and down normally. However, you can do it quite easily.

1. Add this to your $HOME/.screenrc:
defscrollback 5000
This gives you 5000 lines in your scrollback buffer.

2. Jump into a new screen session, cat some long config file and try this:
Press: CTRL+A+ESC
This will send you to Copy Mode.
Now you can try these key combinations:
CTRL+u – Scrolls a half page up.
CTRL+b – Scrolls a full page up.
CTRL+d – Scrolls a half page down.
CTRL+f – Scrolls the full page down.

To leave copy mode you can just press ESC.

Now, you can scroll away and read what people have been saying about you while you were away! :)

Hope this helps you!
Bgrds,
Finnzi