This lets you join us on the IRC channel, without having to download, install (for which you need administrative rights), configure an IRC client and then having to follow directions or having to learn IRC commands. Instead, you click on the link, and it starts a rich chat interface. It's completely free, no clients to install, nothing to configure, no complex commands.
It should work in all java-enabled web browsers (unless your specific configuration prevents it). If you don't have a Java VM installed, you can get the Sun Java VM (J2SE) at: http://java.sun.com/j2se/index.jsp.
Note that some older versions of windows have the old Microsoft Java VM installed, which *might* work too (Win XP SP1 and prior, Win2000 pre-SP4, or upgraded from pre-SP4, typically older OS installs), even though it reached its end-of-life and is not supported anymore (MS JVM for short, is an outdated, very buggy, very insecure and a very stripped down version of the real Sun JVM).
Depending on the speed of your computer and configuration, it may take up to 2 or 3 minutes to load. Please be patient while it loads and click 'Yes' if a pop-up asks you if you want to install/trust the applet. If you click 'No' then it will not load and you won't be able to join the chat. (We're planning on getting a certificate to get rid of that prompt, but don't worry, the code is safe)
It is solely provided as an alternative to using a "full featured" IRC client such as mIRC. If this doesn't work for you, if you don't like it, or if you won't accept to run the code, then there's always the other way.
If you use a Mac, then Mac OS X has a Java VM already.
If you use Linux, then you can get your Sun Java VM here: http://java.sun.com/linux/.
To test if you have a working Java VM, click here: http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.jsp.
©2005 Incontinence Support Center