Internet Relay Chat (IRC) has become a valuable way to get help using Mint.  The Hexchat IRC client is preconfigured to join #linuxmint-chat and #linuxmint-help when started. While #linuxmint-help is useful for help when installing mint, getting hardware to work and downloading packages,  it is often necessary to get help in channels devoted to individual hardware and software applications.

 Connecting to new server in Hexchat:

Click Hexchat in the Menu bar, then Network List,  scrolldown to the server you wish to connect to , and click the Connect button.  Popular servers are Freenode (irc.freenode.net) and OFTC ( irc.OFTC.net)

Finding a channel for help with an application:

Once connected to a server, click Server, in the menu bar, List of channels.  You can then search for channels that might be associated.with what you need help with.

Joining a channel once connected to server.

In the text box type: /join #channel.

Some help channels on freenode include:

Wine: #winehq

Virtualization : #vbox. #vmware,  #qemu, ##xen

Sound: #alsa and #pulseaudio , #videolan(vlc) , #clementine, #exaile

Video drivers: #nvidia, #ati , #radeon, #amdgpu, #intel-gfx also ask on #xorg 

Games : #ubuntu-steam, #minecraft 

Programming languages; #gcc,  ##php, ##python,  ##c++, ##java - many more

Webserver: #httpd (apache), #lighttpd

Desktop: #xfce, #kde, #lxde, #conky, #docky, #mate

Using the command line:  ##linux, #bash

Kernel issues:  ##kernel

Networking: #networking, #netfilter, #samba, #linux-wireless

torrrents: #deluge, #transmission

Printing and scanning:  #cups, #sane

Web Browsers: #chromium #opera #firefox