/XMR/ book club

Running a node

>Why should I care? Why should I run a node?

Increasing shadow economy adoption and the proliferation of an XMR-only standard are what guarantee that XMR will have a floor and won't also crash to zero when the Crypto Casino finally implodes. XMR's long-term outlook is therefore strongly correlated with the darknet, you may have already noticed how the number of TXs begins to drop whenever the glowies attack & cripple the Tor network, which underscores just how critical it is that the darknet wins this war against the State. Make no mistake: if the darknet is allowed to die XMR will take a devastating hit as well.

So by running an I2P node you are helping to make the network Monero thrives in that much more robust while also enraging glowies in the process. Win-win!

>OK, but how difficult is it? Do I have to store GBs worth of data like when running an XMR node?

It is literally as easy as installing an Android app and no, there are no storage requirements, the node only consumes some bandwidth.

>Cool, I'm sold. What do?

If you have no interest in browsing the darknet yourself then the simplest solution is to install & run the I2Pd Android app on any compatible (Android 4.1+) device, ideally a TV box since they don't require recharging and are permanently online. But any old phone or tablet is fine too. Make sure you activate "start on boot" in the settings.

https://github.com/PurpleI2P/i2pd-android/releases/latest

Otherwise just install the appropriate desktop client and leave it running.

https://github.com/PurpleI2P/i2pd/releases/latest

The console is accessed via http://127.0.0.1:7070/ or the menu in Android.

When i2pd is running, it'll provide a HTTP proxy on 4444.

Configuring a Firefox profile for i2p browsing on desktop

After having a node running you might reasonably want to use it as well. As i2pd already provides a local proxy, this should be easy enough. If it isn't or you need to get on I2P faster skip to here.

You are now ready to browse on I2P! You will have trouble connecting to eepsites at first, so you might choose to use jumpers, like reg.i2p or the ones offered when your node fails to connect.

Extra to make the new profile usable and more private. Also disabling telemetry is a must if you are going to configure an outproxy. If there is no outproxy, Firefox will not be able to reach back to its servers so all telemetry is blocked. If an outproxy is added, that will be reversed.

In your about:config

Additionally, on i2pd you can set your homepage to be 127.0.0.1:7070 in the settings, which will give you a nice dashboard. If you are running I2PSnark for the torrents, bookmarking http://127.0.0.1:8002 will give you the dashboard for I2PSnark as well.

I2P portable browser

In case the above sounds too much, don't worry. There is now a browser bundle that makes the process even more easy.

A window with Firefox should pop up, DO NOT RESIZE IT, this is to prevent browser fingerprinting. Also NEVER ENABLE JAVASCRIPT! You don't need it on Bitchan and most definitely not on non-honeypot eepsites.

Getting on Bitchan

>Why bother?

Well, remember that every time you post on 4chan the content + your IP address are being logged and that data can and will be made available to LE/glowies upon request.

So if you need to ask a very delicate question, want to make a potentially incriminating announcement or you otherwise just absolutely positively DO NOT WANT to risk being deanonymized, the BitChan thread would be the place to do it.

The slightly higher barrier to entry also serves as a badly needed retard filter so a lot of us post there simply to avoid the hordes of mouth breathers that befoul this otherwise delightful basket weaving forum.

>How do I access BitChan?

After getting either a browser or a node fully functional, going to Bitchan is as simple as pasting the following link:

http://bitchan.i2p/thread/BM-2cVPN9mi9oBKATjNxKkopHJSCU9ah7wQwW/047186ce462d

I2PSnark guide

>What is I2PSnark? Why should I bother?

I2PSnark is a torrenting software built for use on I2P. It allows you to seed, leech, and create torrents. All kept within the realm of I2P. This has the advantage of not leaking your IP address whenever you are interacting with a torrent, because the traffic is routed through the I2P network. This mean that there is no need for a VPN/proxy to torrent with I2PSnark.

>How do I use it? What do I need to install?

Installing

In principle I2PSnark comes pre-bundled with the official I2P Router written in Java. If you have that, it should be accessible from the homepage.

Otherwise, if you are running i2pd you need to install I2PSnark separately. Get the built binary from their github page. Download and unzip. Don't forget to relaunch i2pd with the --i2cp.enabled=true flag. Then run it with ./launch-i2psnark or execute it on Windows. The local dashboard will be available at http://127.0.0.1:8002/i2psnark/

Adding a torrent

For the magnet links listed in the books section, paste them into I2PSnark under the first button under the torrents list, that has a plus symbol in the middle. Under the field "From URL" paste the magnet link, and proceed to click "add torrent". It should start downloading automatically, but you can stop it by clicking on the square button at the right side of the torrent's row.

For more information/additional software check out the i2pd documentation about filesharing.