IRC general question

["Brian J. Ackermann" <brianj@subrad.com>]

Ok, a few weeks back it was suggested to me that I log on to an IRC channel
(#linux) to more easily communicate with an individual.  I was unable to
connect to the irc.umn.edu:6667 server, due to an 'ident' error, which, I've
since learned, means I need some kind of ident server to connect through.
What must I do to connect to these servers?  I've got two recent clients.
Ircle for the mac, and mIRC for wintel.  mIRC even comes with something it
calls an ident server, but, upon activating it, I see no difference upon
login, just the following...

-
[14:18] *** Connecting to irc.umn.edu (6667)
-
[14:18] -irc.umn.edu- *** Looking up your hostname...
-
[14:18] -irc.umn.edu- *** Found your hostname, cached
-
[14:18] -irc.umn.edu- *** Checking Ident
-
[14:18] -irc.umn.edu- *** No Ident response
-
Closing Link: 144.15.8.107 (You are not authorized to use this server)
-
[14:18] *** Disconnected

==========

I just need to get this working, because I hate to leave things
unfinished...