Seems people don't read enough books
Coding Horror: Programmers Don't Read Books -- But You Should
Coding Horror: Programmers Don't Read Books -- But You Should
sudo apt-get install kaffeine dvb-utils mercurial linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential
hg clone http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb
cd v4l-dvb
sudo make
sudo make install
If you're using another flavor of Linux or Ubuntu you may be missing the firmware file, you can get it here.
Mibbit.com provides an IRC webinterface, so you can hang around in your favorite channels with your iPhone/PDA/fridge/whatever.