mIRC v7.1 languages and codepages - mIRC Discussion Forums

This sucks, because scandinavian ppl cant go any #äö channels if you have enable UTF-8. And if you disable UTF-8, you can go #äö channels, but if you write words contain äö-letters, mIRC show those like chinese!

You can use and read text in any channel including those as long as the channel was created as UTF8. Some networks allow that, some do not. Even if the network allows it, you have to create a new channel with the UTF8 name and move everyone to that channel. All major IRC clients support Unicode, so that is the better option as long as the network supports the channel name. Just get everyone to stop using the outdated codepages. If you really don't like that option, mIRC 6.35 works fine.

Also, this isn't a bug.

a bigger problem is that a channel in upper and lower cases are treated as two different channels. the channel #åäö, #åäÖ, #åÄÖ, #ÅÄÖ etc are all different channels.

This maybe doesn't mean much to a big part of the mIRC users, but imagen if #mIRC and #mirc and #MIRC was three different channels, it would be rather anoyong.

As pointed out by Riamus, this is not a bug. Disable UTF-8 if you don't want to use it. mIRC does not handle codepages anymore, because they are obsoleted by Unicode. If you want to still use codepages, you need to use an older version of mIRC.

Originally Posted By: argv0

As pointed out by Riamus, this is not a bug. Disable UTF-8 if you don't want to use it. mIRC does not handle codepages anymore, because they are obsoleted by Unicode. If you want to still use codepages, you need to use an older version of mIRC.

It is still a problem when upper and lower case letters are treated as different characters.

That isn't something mIRC has any control of. Sure, mIRC could automatically change your characters to all lowercase so that you don't have to think about it, but if someone makes a channel with uppercase, you wouldn't be able to join it. If it's such a problem, then tell anyone who makes a channel to use only lowercase.

Again, non unicode encodings are not supported by mIRC. If it's a problem for you, your solution is to:

- join another channel,
- have the users move over to a unicode version of the channel,
- use mIRC 6.35

At least one of those suggestions is doable.

Out of curiosity, how many of the users in the channel you're trying to join are on clients that are NOT mIRC? My guess would be that the majority are on pre-7.x versions of the client.

Originally Posted By: Riamus2

That isn't something mIRC has any control of. Sure, mIRC could automatically change your characters to all lowercase so that you don't have to think about it, but if someone makes a channel with uppercase, you wouldn't be able to join it. If it's such a problem, then tell anyone who makes a channel to use only lowercase.

But if we again take the channel #mirc as example, how would the owner of that channel feel if someone else registered the channel #mIRC, #miRC, #mirC. #Mirc, #MIrc, #MIRc, #mIRc, #MirC, #mIrC, #MiRc and #MIRC?

Doesn't it make sense that all spellings of a channelname goes to the same channel with the same users in it?

That is entirely up to the ircd and network and not mIRC. mIRC cannot force networks to allow or disallow different naming schemes. Even websites are often "duplicated" by slightly changing a common address and using it to get hits on a completely different site. The channel (or site) owner may not appreciate it, but there is little that can be done other than to register those channels (or hosts) yourself and redirect people to the main location. mIRC's job isn't to police channel names. As it is, you can already have something like #mïRC or even m1RC. Whether the difference is capitalization or different accents on the characters or numbers used for some characters, it's possible to "duplicate" a channel. Capitalization isn't really some special thing that allows people to do that. It's just the one way where someone could accidentally do it.

A-Z and a-z are already treated as the same on both websites and channels. That isn't something mIRC manages, but is done on the ircd/network side. It's also up to them to choose whether or not to treat unicode characters case-insensitively (where capital and lowercase are treated the same) in channel names. If you want to try and push that issue so it gets changed, I'd suggest bringing this up to the various ircd developers.

Originally Posted By: Riamus2

I'd suggest bringing this up to the various ircd developers.

Well, the point is, to my knowledge no ircd (atleast not dalnet and undernet), support upper and lower cases for none a-z chars. Implementing something into mIRC that is not supported by the major networks is not very smart. It can maybe push the developers into action and add the support, but it is not a small change of the ircd and will take time. Until then we are left with this problem. And if someone register the channel #Ö with the networks channel registration service, and later the network decide that #ö and #Ö is the same channel, it will cause yet another problem where one user loose a channel in favor of another.

This just wasn't smart to ad until the major networks fully supported utf-8.

You still haven't answered my question:

Originally Posted By: magic

Out of curiosity, how many of the users in the channel you're trying to join are on clients that are NOT mIRC? My guess would be that the majority are on pre-7.x versions of the client.

Originally Posted By: argv0

You still haven't answered my question:

Originally Posted By: magic

Out of curiosity, how many of the users in the channel you're trying to join are on clients that are NOT mIRC? My guess would be that the majority are on pre-7.x versions of the client.

That doesn't matter, since it is the new mIRC that cause the problem. I got no idea what chat clients other use, I my guess would be the same as your. The problem comes by adding a feature that effect the network in such a big way as this do. I got no problem at all with channel text beeing in utf-8, even tho i suspect it would cause problem for mIRC itself when they click a #channelname and it leads to wrong channel.

To me there is several bigger problems.

- channels in upper and lower cases are not treated as same channel.
- when above is fixed, there is a problem merging those channels into one channel again, this cause a headache, because even if the oldest channel owner get to keep the channel, it will make some users upset.
- several different channel names for the same channel depending how you mix upper and lower cases in channel names.

another possible problem would be for networks that allow utf-8 nicknames (undernet doesn't) this would mean that the name Björn and BJÖRN are two different nicknames, so messages to an upper and lower cased name would end up at different users.

I know we can tell all users to disable utf-8 in mIRC until the network supports utf-8, but still, enabling it by default have caused a problem and wasn't the smartest thing to do until all major networks fully supported utf fully.

Originally Posted By: argv0

As pointed out by Riamus, this is not a bug. Disable UTF-8 if you don't want to use it. mIRC does not handle codepages anymore, because they are obsoleted by Unicode. If you want to still use codepages, you need to use an older version of mIRC.

Where do you download an older version of mIRC?

Here.

Edit: the link to older versions on that page seems to be dead though unless it's just me!

Originally Posted By: hixxy

Here.

Edit: the link to older versions on that page seems to be dead though unless it's just me!

The download link for mIRC 6.35 on that page works for me.

Originally Posted By: magic

Well, the point is, to my knowledge no ircd (atleast not dalnet and undernet), support upper and lower cases for none a-z chars. Implementing something into mIRC that is not supported by the major networks is not very smart. It can maybe push the developers into action and add the support, but it is not a small change of the ircd and will take time. Until then we are left with this problem. And if someone register the channel #Ö with the networks channel registration service, and later the network decide that #ö and #Ö is the same channel, it will cause yet another problem where one user loose a channel in favor of another.

This just wasn't smart to ad until the major networks fully supported utf-8.

I understand your point, but please consider that mIRC was not the first IRC client to support UTF-8... in fact, it was one of the last major clients to do so. This problem really has nothing to do with mIRC.

Working for me now too. The mIRC website and forums in general have been up and down for me today.

Originally Posted By: magic

Well, the point is, to my knowledge no ircd (atleast not dalnet and undernet), support upper and lower cases for none a-z chars.

See, that's the point right there. The ircds are the ones who control that. Not mIRC. Someone can just as easily create two channels with different capitalization in other clients. It has nothing to do with mIRC and again, it isn't mIRC's job to force that issue. If it did and other clients let people name the channels whatever they wanted, then no one using mIRC could enter the channels made by the other clients.

And, like what has been mentioned, mIRC is definitely not the first to add UTF8 support.

What it comes down to is that Unicode is here and it's here to stay. It has been around for around a decade. Ircds have had plenty of time to add support and haven't bothered. That isn't mIRC's fault. mIRC and other clients can't just sit around stagnant for decades just because ircds are lazy. So, because it's here to stay, it would be smart for anyone who has such concerns about capitalization to name their channels with all lowercase (as that will be how most people try joining the channels anyhow). And if they don't want someone to create a channel with a similar name, they will need to create it themselves. Once again, this is not mIRC's job. It is up to the ircds to support or not support those kinds of channels and up to the channel owner(s) to handle the situation in a way that makes the most sense for their situation.

So you refused to answer my question? I'll take that as: all of the users are pre-7.x versions of mIRC.

"The new mIRC" is not "causing" the problem. If every user was on "the new mIRC", there would be no problem.

AFAIK, mIRC 6.x is one of the few IRC clients to not use UTF-8 by default.

Originally Posted By: argv0

So you refused to answer my question?

He did answer it here:

Originally Posted By: magic

I got no idea what chat clients other use, I my guess would be the same as your.

That's not exactly an answer, that's just evading the question. I didn't ask him to guess, I asked him to check. Checking would confirm my assumption that the problem is due to the fact that those users are all on old versions of mIRC-- and therefore it's a complete non-issue if people just upgrade their clients. That is, this issue is not an "irc-wide" problem, it's related to one specific client. That means it will become less of an issue as people simply upgrade to 7.x. The issue isn't as complicated as implementing server-side anything. It's simply about educating users to upgrade.

Originally Posted By: argv0

That means it will become less of an issue as people simply upgrade to 7.x. The issue isn't as complicated as implementing server-side anything. It's simply about educating users to upgrade.

You seem to totally misunderstand the problem, the problem is with users that use the new version of mIRC. If they update they will have problem since the irc servers treat lower and upper cases as different characters. The solution would be to tell all users that has a problem to deactivate utf-8 support in mIRC to be able to join their old channels.

You see, when they type #ö in old mIRC, they join one channel, if they type #ö in new mIRC, they join another channel, and if they type #Ö they join a third channel, none of these channels are the same.

so users with channels registered with channel services are now unable to join their registered channel unless they, and all their friends, deactivate utf-8 support, or wait for the networks to update channel service, and the ircd.

So the answer to the problem is not to upgrade mIRC, but to either wait until all networks update services and servers to support utf-8, or to tell all users with problem to deactivate utf-8 support in mIRC.

Originally Posted By: magic

You see, when they type #ö in old mIRC, they join one channel, if they type #ö in new mIRC, they join another channel, and if they type #Ö they join a third channel, none of these channels are the same.

Or, the channel owners can move their channel to a valid UTF8 name in all lowercase and then everyone can upgrade and use the channel without problem. The first and second #ö you listed are different because the first one isn't valid UTF8. If the channel owner just registers the channel as UTF8 and leaves it as lowercase (since most people joining a channel will type the channel in lowercase), that will solve the problems. In fact, anyone with older versions of mIRC could still access that channel after the change as long as they have UTF8 enabled in options.

Again, mIRC isn't changing. Networks and ircds aren't going to change very soon. If channel owners care at all about having their channels set up so that the highest number of people can access them without problem, they should move the channels to valid UTF8 channel names. Sure, it's a pain to move a channel. I've done so multiple times. But it's not the end of the world and it is by far the better option rather than maintaining the channel in non-UTF8. Many people want to update to the latest version of mIRC and, in the end, many will just stop visiting any channel they can't access after updating rather than trying to make it work. Any decent channel owner should understand this and make the effort. Even when networks add support for UTF8, there is a good chance they'll still allow the outdated channel names and you'll still be in the same situation. Better to change now than later.

All major clients support UTF8 channel names and even older mIRC versions will if set up properly (though people should just update anyhow), so changing the channel name to valid UTF8 makes the channel available to virtually everyone, whereas leaving it in non-UTF8 makes it unavailable to a large number of users. Again, any channel owner who cares at all about the channel should understand this and make the effort to change. It only benefits them to do so.

If the network and services support utf channel registration :-)
If it doesn't there is a problem, and thats the case on for example undernet.

That doesn't make sense. There is no such thing as "utf channel registration". Channel names are strings of bytes. Any valid "string of bytes" that can be /join'd can be registered as a channel.

If not, your network services are significantly broken.

Originally Posted By: magic

If they update they will have problem since the irc servers treat lower and upper cases as different characters. The solution would be to tell all users that has a problem to deactivate utf-8 support in mIRC to be able to join their old channels.

I understand the problem quite well, and no, that is not the solution. The solution is to use UTF-8 channel names as suggested by Riamus. Again: want to know why the majority of users on those channels are on old versions of mIRC? Because those are one of the only clients that can visit these channels in the first place. In case you weren't paying attention, mIRC is one of the few clients that only recently started using UTF-8. Just about every other client already uses UTF-8 out of the box and can't even access your channel. So who are you really hurting? Users with old versions of mIRC-- nobody else.

For reference, these are the statistics from the channel #montréal on Undernet that I just retrieved (nicknames stripped from output):

Originally Posted By: #montréal

(23:50:20) -> [#montréal] VERSION
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.2 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.6 Linux 2.6.32-bpo.5-amd64 [x86_64/1.20GHz/SMP]
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.12 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.16 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.16 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.31 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.2 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.16 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.01 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.8 Ubuntu
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.21 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: ( NoNameScript 4.22 :: www.nnscript.com :: www.esnation.com )
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.31 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:20) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: - all that i can do is break myself in two -
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.03 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: PnP 4.22.2 - http://www.kristshell.net/pnp/
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.2 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: ZNC 0.062 - http://znc.sourceforge.net
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.32 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.3 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.2 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.21 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.16 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: KVIrc 4.1.1 svn-5163 'Equilibrium' 20101102 - build 2010-11-22 16:39:34 UTC - (Build 7600)
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.6 Ubuntu
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: SegaIRC v1.0.3release / MegaDrive16 version (340575) / (Copyright Sega'99 - all rights reserved)
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: XBotserv(v15.2) (High Power Tech) By BuDDyWeeD 2009© -> http://xps.systemzone.org
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.19+ctcpfix
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.32 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.19+ctcpfix
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.2 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) -SuccubeZzz- © Script Magic V8 © pour usagers et pour opérateurs débutant comme opérateurs expérimentés! --> www.canaladulte.gtx.fr Essayez-le!
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: PnP 4.22.2 - http://www.kristshell.net/pnp/
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: ZNC 0.094 - http://znc.sourceforge.net
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.8 Ubuntu
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.6-2 Windows Vista [AMD/3,01GHz]
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.16 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.2 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.14 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.8 Ubuntu
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: XBotserv(v15.2) (High Power Tech) By BuDDyWeeD 2009© -> http://xps.systemzone.org
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.2 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: ( NoNameScript 4.22 :: www.nnscript.com :: www.esnation.com )
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: CHfriend
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: ircN 8.00 (20100904) - this world rejects me -
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: PnP 4.22 - http://www.pairc.com/
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: elfenoir BETA 83 V.2007
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.34 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.34 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: ßüÐ§Ç®îþt v1.01 for mIRC v6.2 32bit - http://www.SexualPredatorsAlert.com
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: MTLGuard v 1.07 par James007
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.21 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:21) -|RX|Merlins|- I am using «-{ßüÐ§Ç®îþt}-» v1.01 - http://www.SexualPredatorsAlert.com
(23:50:21) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.19+ctcpfix
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.19+ctcpfix
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: AYA Bot V0.1 By NaRRaToR
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.19+ctcpfix
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.19+ctcpfix
(23:50:22) -[RX][AnGeL]- J'utilise .::::::| Radioextreme |:::::. v1.1 fait par |DJ|BUGZ| Telecharger sur [url=Http://radioextreme.org/radioextremev1.1.rar][url=Http://radioextreme.org/radioextremev1.1.rar][url=Http://radioextreme.org/radioextremev1.1.rar]Http://radioextreme.org/radioextremev1.1.rar[/url][/url][/url]
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.19+ctcpfix
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.20
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.19+ctcpfix
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC32 v4.6 K.Mardam-Bey
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.19+ctcpfix
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.20
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.20
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: eggdrop v1.6.20
(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: (c)rackrock\BitchX v1.1 for mIRC 6.35 ...it's an addiction
(23:50:24) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:24) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(23:50:24) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey

Note that the only clients are mIRC 6.x and xchat 2.8.x, xchat making up only a handful of the 97 responding users. Of course there was also some eggdrop responses, but these are generally not considered "clients", so we can ignore these. The important part to note is that there is a huge abundance of mIRC 6.x clients in this channel.

As a control, and to ensure that undernet is not populated entirely by mIRC users, I sampled another channel #philosophy. The findings show that mIRC is indeed popular, but it is not the only client on the network (as the above log makes it seem):

Originally Posted By: #philosophy

(00:07:10) -> [#philosophy] VERSION
(00:07:10) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.16 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.6 Ubuntu
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.1 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: Colloquy 2.3 (4617) - Mac OS X 10.6.6 (Intel) - http://colloquy.info
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.31 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: irssi v0.8.12
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.1 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC32 v5.82 K.Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.3 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.1 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.6 Ubuntu
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.34 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: dircproxy 1.2.0 - http://dircproxy.googlecode.com/
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: Quassel IRC v0.7.1 (dist-aa28596) (built on Sep 21 2010 20:00:44) -- http://www.quassel-irc.org
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.2 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: irssi v0.8.14
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.14 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.1 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.15 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.8 Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 [x86_64/3.11GHz/SMP]
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.8 Linux 2.6.32.23-170.fc12.i686.PAE [i686/2.80GHz/SMP]
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.14 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: Colloquy 2.3 (4617) - Mac OS X 10.6.3 (Intel) - http://colloquy.info
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.8 Ubuntu
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: ZNC 0.076 - http://znc.sourceforge.net
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.6-2 Windows Vista [AMD/2.00GHz]
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.9 Windows 6.1 [i686/2.00GHz]
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: PnP 4.22.2 - http://www.kristshell.net/pnp/
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.6-2 Windows XP [Intel Pentium 4/2.70GHz]
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.1 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.17 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.03 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.6 Linux 2.6.33.4 [x86_64/2.41GHz/SMP]
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: Colloquy 2.3 (4617) - Mac OS X 10.6.6 (Intel) - http://colloquy.info
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: Colloquy 2.1 (3761) - Mac OS X 10.6.6 (Intel) - http://colloquy.info
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.8 Linux 2.6.35.10-74.fc14.i686 [i686/1.00GHz/SMP]
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: irssi v0.8.14
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: irssi v0.8.15 - running on Linux x86_64
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: PIRCH98:WIN 95/98/WIN NT:1.0 (build 1.0.1.1190)
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: PIRCH98:WIN 95/98/WIN NT:1.0 (build 1.0.1.1190)
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: ircN 7.27 + 7.0 - god money's not concerned with the sick amongst the pure -
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat-wdk 1464-5 (xchat-2.8.8) Windows 5.1 [x86/2.67GHz]
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: irssi v0.8.12
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: irssi v0.8.15 - running at Blinkenshell.org
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.31 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:11) [*** VERSION reply]: OS: (Windows 6.1 (Build #7600)) ¤ Up: (1m 1d 16h 59m 13s) ¤ CPU: (2 CPU's - Intel Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @, 3.00 GHz, (2% Load)) ¤ Mem: (Usage: 0/2048MB (0.00%)) ¤ (----------) ¤ HD: (Total/Free: 1.24/0.51TB)
(00:07:12) [*** VERSION reply]: I am using SystemInfo by C}{$ Version 1.5-r4! Download it @ http://scripts.phucknut.net/
(00:07:12) [*** VERSION reply]: SkUT3 (v1.0) by SkorpSSS ]|[ http://skorpsss.free.fr/
(00:07:12) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v7.1 Khaled Mardam-Bey
(00:07:12) [*** VERSION reply]: IceChat 7.70 20101031
(00:07:14) [*** VERSION reply]: irssi v0.8.15 - running on FreeBSD i386
(00:07:14) [*** VERSION reply]: irssi v0.8.15 - running on FreeBSD i386
(00:07:15) [*** VERSION reply]: xchat 2.8.8 Linux 2.6.32-27-generic [i686/800.50MHz/SMP]
(00:07:16) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC v6.35 Khaled Mardam-Bey

Of the 75 responses here, it's immediately clear that there is more client diversity in this channel. Clients like "Quassel", "PIRCH98" (which incidentally probably doesn't support UTF-8), irssi, Colloquy and IceChat are some we didn't see in the other sample. Also note the fairly large amount of 7.x clients here.

Therefore, this problem is pretty much an "mIRC only" phenomenon (with extremely minor exceptions). As more users upgrade to 7.x, more of them will start populating the utf-8 equivalent channel names, and the problem will disappear. Yes, you will have to move your channel, but no, it won't be such a big deal.

I'd make a graph to show this much more easily, but I don't have the time or energy, but feel free to use this data to do so.

(23:50:22) [*** VERSION reply]: mIRC32 v4.6 K.Mardam-Bey

I don't even want to think about the number of changes that have been made since that version came out... Apologies for making a non-relevant post on the topic.

Originally Posted By: argv0

The solution is to use UTF-8 channel names as suggested by Riamus.

How? Since you can not register utf-8 channels on undernet.

Originally Posted By: magic

How? Since you can not register utf-8 channels on undernet.

I really doubt that is the case. (It actually isn't even possible to block UTF-8 channel names while allowing codepage channel names if you understand how UTF-8 works.) Have you tried registering a channel that was UTF-8? If not, who said that you can't?

Originally Posted By: drum

Originally Posted By: magic

How? Since you can not register utf-8 channels on undernet.

I really doubt that is the case. (It actually isn't even possible to block UTF-8 channel names while allowing codepage channel names if you understand how UTF-8 works.) Have you tried registering a channel that was UTF-8? If not, who said that you can't?

I guess it is possible if you know how to input the channelname in utf-8 format on the webpage where you register channels. But we both know that most users are not bright enough to understand how to do that. If they type a channel name they expect to have that channel registered, and then when they type the very same channel name in mIRC they will join the wrong channel. because their browser type it in one format, and mIRC in another.

Yeah, Undernet doesn't have on-network registrations. It's a very poor setup, but that's how they do it. The solution there is really just to ask Undernet to update their webpage to send the registrations as UTF8. That shouldn't be difficult for them to change if people start requesting it. It shouldn't even require any ircd changes.

It might even take it as UTF8 if you have your browser set to Unicode instead of a codepage, but I haven't ever tried that, so I really don't know. It's still something Undernet should set up on their website even if it is that easy to do locally.

As mentioned, this is something you need to take up with the network. There is no technical reason these channels can't be registered.

However, FWIW, you can send utf-8 through a browser. In fact, pretty much every modern browser will default to sending data encoded as UTF-8, so you don't actually have to "know how" to input the data in any special format. And it will be the same format mIRC uses-- UTF-8. If the data is re-encoded on Undernet's end, that is their problem. If you noticed that they are re-encoding UTF-8 data in some crappy Latin-1 encoding, you should tell them, because it means people aren't getting the channels they are asking for, and not the other way around.

Is there any converter that a person can use to convert our 635 scripts to unicode please.

Most scripts should work just fine simply by loading them into the newer version of mIRC using File -> Load from the Script editor menu, or /load -rs <script_name.mrc>

If you have a script that doesn't load correctly, or work correctly after being loaded, then the script needs to be edited, which would make a posting in the Scripts & Popups section appropriate.

thank you very much