Show HN: Convos, a OSS persistent IRC web client built using Mojo and Redis

Show HN: Convos, a OSS persistent IRC web client built using Mojo and Redis(convos.by)

47 points by marcusramberg 12 years ago | 17 comments

EvanDotPro 12 years ago |

I suppose it's only a matter of time before one of these persistent web clients / services converts me, but my current setup works surprisingly well:

- Irssi + screen on my server.

- IrssiNotifier [1] for push notifications to my Android phone when I'm hilighted/PM'd.

- Connect from my phone using Irssi ConnectBot [2], which is just an SSH client that supports gestures for interacting with Irssi (swipe left/right to switch channels, double tap to go to a hilight, swipe up/down to scroll the channel log, etc).

- Connection via mosh [3] instead of plain SSH. Mosh uses UDP, which allows persistent connections when switching from Wi-Fi to cellular data, or when data connections are spotty, etc. On my phone, I actually use a patched version of Irssi ConnectBot [4] which supports mosh.

That said, as well as this works, I've always kept an envious eye on browser-based implementations like this. I love thinking about all the fun integrations that would be possible to make IRC a much more rich experience: automatically showing YouTube thumbnails/descriptions, expanding shortened links, hover-to-show image links, etc.

[1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fi.iki.murgo.i... [2]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.woltage.ir... [3]: http://mosh.mit.edu/ [4]: http://dan.drown.org/android/mosh/

fooqux 12 years ago | |

I might give that setup a shot. I've been using ZNC + AndChat for awhile, but some of the warts in it are starting to really annoy me; namely it's multiple-server functionality.

I typically dislike having to run things in screen though. It's not that bloody hard to create a daemon in linux.

laumars 12 years ago | | |

It wouldn't make sense to run irssi as a daemon though as it's got a proper UI to it (not sure if it's written in ncurses or not, but it's that sort of thing). So this is the type of set up that screen is ideal for.

I agree about the annoyances of AndChat though - and specifically the multiple-server implementation thing you mentioned. Personally I still prefer that to running screen+irssi on a touch screen phone (I used to run that set up back when I had the Google G1 / HTC Dream - but personally I don't enjoy using irssi on a touch screen)

cjstewart88 12 years ago |

I had fun a year or so ago messing around with a web based IRC client. I never got around to adding bouncer like functionality or a few other key pieces that would make it my everyday IRC client. A few key pieces lacking in my project are: auto complete nicks, auto reconnect when connection is lost, etc. But it was fun and thats why I did it, cool project and good luck keeping it going!

My project is in node.js: https://github.com/cjstewart88/nirc

jhthorsen 12 years ago | |

Convos has auto complete for commands and nicks, and the auto reconnect should work, though I think it's hard making good tests for it.

Lazare 12 years ago |

So... an open-source, self-hosted version of IRCCloud, with the server written in Perl?

I'm a bit too happy with IRCCloud to switch, so I'm not really in the target audience. Still, I don't run across Perl projects too often these days; nice to see some variety. :)

jhthorsen 12 years ago | |

Got any killer features that we should add to Convos?

Lazare 12 years ago | | |

1. A publically available demo/sandbox, so people who are curious but lazy can take it for a spin.

2. Native mobile clients.

aksx 12 years ago | | |

* Push notifications for phones

Kiro 12 years ago | |

Any alternatives to IRCCloud? It's invite only.

Lazare 12 years ago | | |

I've got a couple invites if you want. I didn't realise it was still invite only. :)

EvanDotPro 12 years ago | | |

I just applied for an invite and received it in ~15 minutes.

Aaronneyer 12 years ago |

Nice! I had been thinking about making something similar. There are very few quality web IRC clients out there. I had a chromebook for a while, and I was stuck using Mibbit which is pretty terrible.

dhamidi 12 years ago |

I didn't know that Mojolicious supports hot deployment...thanks for linking to the deployment guide!

glomph 12 years ago |

See also kiwiric. ALthough they have yet to to deliver on persistence.

kayoone 12 years ago |

last time i worked with Perl was 2007, but Mojolicious looks awesome!