	      Zircon Frequently Asked Questions
			October 1993

1) Where can I find Zircon?

You can always ftp the latest version of Zircon from
catless.ncl.ac.uk.  It lives in the /pub directory.  Zircon can also be
found at various other sites, but these may not have the latest
version.

2) What else do I need?

Zircon is written using the tcl/tk language.  tcl is a fantastic
language and is rapidly becoming used everywhere.  If it is not
already on your system then you can find the latest version on
ftp.smli.com in the /pub/tcl directory tree.  You will also
find lots of other interesting stuff there as well. 

3) Hey, that's a lot of code!

Well, yes it is, but once you have built the wish program you don't
need any of it.  However, you would be strongly advised to keep it
around as lots of other great programs are becoming available written
in tcl.  Best of all convince your sysadmin to put tcl up officially at
your site (there are some really neat sys admin tools written in
tcl....)

4) Why isn't Zircon written in C?

Because it is isn't.  You try writing a program as powerful as Zircon in
C and X in the time it took me to write Zircon.  tcl easily gives an
order of magnitude implementation time improvement.  I wanted to learn
tcl/tk and this was the best way to do it.

5) But tcl is interpreted, so isn't it slow?

No.  And even it were to become slow I could migrate selected parts of
the program into C.  This is what tcl is designed for and it does the
job fantastically well.

6) You like tcl don't you?

I think it is the best thing I have seen in years.

7) Is anyone else using Zircon?

Yes, lots of people. Zircon is popular in the linux community.

8) I can't get tcl (or tk) to install.  Help!

Er, check your configuration.  You probably haven't got something set
quite right.  If you really can't fix it try the comp.lang.tcl
newsgroup for help, you never know it might be a real bug!

9) OK, I installed Zircon and I can't type "zircon", I have to
   say "wish zircon", what gives?

The #! line at the start of your zircon file is more than 31
characters long.  Shorten the pathname to wish until it works.....
Alternatively, you have the wrong pathname in the #! line - make sure it
actually matches where the program is installed...

10) I ran Zircon and nothing happened.

Have you set up the system preferences file to contain your default
server host and port number?  Ah, I thought not...  And while you're
at it have you set up a .zircon/preferences file for yourself with
your nick in it and things like that?  Best do it now, OK?

11) Ugh I don't like the way that it looks!

OK, so change it.  Pretty well all aspects of fonts and colours are
configurable using X resources.  In fact you can do some rather hairy
things if you put your mind to and don't have sufficient taste...

12) Too many windows!!

Hey, why did you want an X-11 client then?  If you really have to be on
lots of channels use the pop-up and pop-down features to make sure
that windows are only open when they are active.

13) Why is it called Zircon?

Ask Jimbles.  He thought of the name.  Me?  I would have called it
Torquil or Melissa or something.

14) Hey, someone has the nick Zircon!

Not related in anyway to the Zircon program.  She/He might get a bit
sick of being asked questions though......

15) Some guy on the net says Zircon sucks, what do you say?

I say try it for yourself.  A lot of people have and a lot of people
like it.

16) I have a feature I would like added.....

Tell me about it and if it is any good I will add it.  Chances are it
is already in there somewhere anyway!

17) The documentation is lousy!

Give me a break, OK?  You want a program or you want a manual?  It will
get better I promise.  You might even get an integral hypertext help
system.  (The hypertext is easy, writing the help info is the pain!)

18) Will I lose my hand-edited additions to my .zircon/preferences file when I
save the configuration?

It depends what they are!! If they are outwith what is handled by the
configuration stuff then you will lose them. However, zircon carefulyl
saves your old rc file in preferences.bak so you havent lost them
really...

19) Where can I get the IRC Primer/other guidance on using IRC

Look in the IRC directory on the distribution.

20) When I run two zircons the second one deosnt seem to see the
resources I have set!

Yup, this seems to be some kind of tk problem to do with interpreter
naming. I am looking for a fix....

21) The Clear button doesn't work!!

This is another tcl/tk problem. Try Shift-clicking on the button and
you will clear the screen, but you will also clear out all the history
saved in the channel window.

22) I want to use a command line.

Zircon supports a subset of the ircII style (ugh) commands. You can
enable this from your preferences file. (No, I am not going to tell
you how as I dont approve - RTFM!!)

23) I want to run scripts.

The ability to run scripts will appear in a future version of zircon,
but they will be zircon scripts *not* ircII scripts. I *might* write a
translator from ircII to zircon, but then again I might not.
