HexChat is an IRC client based on XChat, but unlike XChat it’s completely free for both Windows and Unix-like systems. HexChat was originally called XChat-WDK which in turn was a successor of freakschat.

Features:

• Easy to use and customizable interface
• Cross-platform on Windows and Unix-like OSes
• Highly scriptable with Python and Perl
• Translated in multiple languages
• Fully open source and actively developed
• Multi-network with auto-connect, join, and identify
• Spellcheck, Proxies, SASL, DCC support and more

Here’s how to install HexChat via PPA in Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.04 and their derivatives such as Linux Mint and Elementary OS.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open temrinal. When it opens, run below commands to add the ppa:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/hexchat-stable

Then update system package lists and install the IRC Client:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install hexchat

Once installed, open hexchat from unity dash home.