Why is hexchat not working ?!

[pulseaudio]

I can't connect to the official handle of puppylinux through hexchat. Previusly worked fine but now shows some kind of assignment error ! Any help is greatly apreciated.

[OscarTalks]

I am no expert when it comes to hexchat, but it is working for me here. Are you trying to access the #puppylinux channel in Libera.Chat? That seems to be the main one that people are using now. The freenode one is apparently problematic and largely abandoned, although I am not sure of the details. I am running my personal Dpup Stretch 32bit remaster and I have compiled hexchat-2.16.0 although the older versions are still OK in other Puppies I have tested. You have to configure your hexchat for Libera.Chat. I can still also log in to the freenode one, but there are only a few users in it when I do.
There is some more information here:-
https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=4096

[cobaka]

I can't connect to the official handle of puppylinux through hexchat.

Working here with uPupBB32.

cobaka

[Phoenix]

Freenode has stepped up their security/encryption requirement from what I recall. Now you need to connect with SSL. Unless you use ports 8000-8002.
As well the certificates may require updating. But you should be looking to connecting with libera.chat instead as it has moved there.