my micro guide to using ssh, screen and irssi for winning

I thought I'd scribble down the most useful pieces of ssh, screen and irssi in regards to a solution for keeping a persistent irc session on a remote machine.

First thing you'll need is a machine that's on constantly to remote into with ssh server installed and a user account for you to make use of. This information is easy to pick up elsewhere.
but if you need a hint;
sudo apt-get install openssh-server
will get ya goin'  on teh ubuntu

from the local machine either;
ssh username@foo-remote-hostname
or
ssh foo-remote-hostname -l username
(by default the connection is established on port 22, if another port is used, the '-p' flag can be used)

now that you're in you can start a new screen session like so;
screen -S session-name

and then run irssi;
irssi
once you're in;
/connect irc.freenode.org (freenode is popular irc server for opensource projects)
/join #channel-name (I'd suggest #ubuntu, #arduino, #sparkfun or #hacklabto !)

if you've registered your nick;
/msg NickServ identify username password

other useful stuff;
ALT + L / R Arrow; switch open windows
/q username; open a private msg session with a user (/q to close from the window)
username:blah blah ; page user in channel
/leave; leave a channel
/quit; quit irc
/ignore username; ignore use for session
_empahsis_
*emphasis*
/me action; states an action in channel

You can also do lots of fun stuff with screen;
CTRL-A C; create a window
CTRL-A N, P ; move between windows
CTRL-A S; horizontal split
CTRL-A | ; vertical split
CTRL-A TAB; switch between regions
CTRL-A D; detach from session

also;
screen -rd session-name; reconnect to session