>I can't ... my firewall precludes the use of the conference (dammit)

John, and anyone else behind a firewall: Nyx.net has free Unix shell access. Once you register with them, you get access to all sorts of net apps, including an irc client (ircII?). It's a public radio sort of deal: if you can afford it, you should support them, but you don't have to.

So, as long as your telnet port is open, you should be set....