- Starting Up
If you've just started I2P+, the number of Active Peers indicated under the Peers section on the sidebar should start to grow over the next few minutes, and you'll also see a Local Destination named Shared Clients listed under the Service Tunnels section, and possibly other clients and servers depending on how I2P is configured. These Local Destinations provide connections to services on different ports to the I2P network, enabling BitTorrent, e-mail, the web proxy and other services to function. Your Network Database indicates all locally known peers on the network. You can also monitor existing peer connections, review peer performance profiles, and view active tunnels and their status.
- Network Integration
The first time you start I2P+ it may take a few minutes to bootstrap (integrate) you into the network and find additional peers to optimize your integration, so please be patient. Once green stars are indicated next to your Local Destinations under Service Tunnels on the sidebar, there is a variety of things you can do with I2P, and below we introduce you to some of them.
- Network Status
Once I2P+ has had time to test your network connectivity, the Network Status indicator on the sidebar will ideally indicate "OK". If the status indicates "Firewalled", I2P+ will still function although network performance will not be optimal, and your ability to contribute bandwidth to the network will be impeded. For optimal performance, please consider opening your external I2P+ port on your firewall and ISP provided router. More information on the status messages is available on the User Interface help page.
- Addressbook Subscriptions
In order for I2P+ to be able to resolve .i2p hostnames automatically, it relies primarily on subscriptions to services that provide DNS translation for known hosts. If you installed I2P+ instead of upgrading from I2P, you will already have sufficient addressbook subscriptions configured; after installation, your addressbook should populate with hostnames for active services on the network without intervention. If you've upgraded from I2P, check the addressbook subscription section in the FAQ for help adding additional subscriptions.
- Browser Configuration
To browse websites on the network, you will need to configure your browser to use the default HTTP proxy configured on port 4444, which also provides an outproxy which permits anonymous browsing of clearnet sites. A mini-guide to configuring Firefox is provided on the Configuration page in the help section, or refer to the section below for a link to the multi-browser setup guide. Once you have configured your browser and addressbook subscriptions, notbob.i2p is a great site for discovering content on the network.
Services on I2P
- Invisible Internet & Public Web Browsing
On I2P you can access I2P-hosted websites ("eepsites") or browse the normal web anonymously via I2P's built-in web proxy (outproxy). Configure your browser to use the HTTP proxy at 127.0.0.1 port 4444, then browse to a hidden service website or a normal, unencrypted http:// address. To disable or change outproxy access to the normal internet, remove or modify the outproxy entry for false.i2p or purokishi.i2p under the Outproxies section on the edit page of the HTTP Proxy client tunnel in the Tunnel Manager.
- Anonymous E-Mail
Postman's I2P-based mail system can be accessed either via I2P's built-in mail client (Susimail) or any standard mail client. A mail gateway allows mail to be received from normal internet addresses; your @mail.i2p address is also contactable via @i2pmail.org. For an account, visit hq.postman.i2p.
- Anonymous File Transfer
I2PSnark is integrated into I2P, providing anonymous, encrypted BitTorrent transfers. Alternatively, there's BiglyBT (the successor to Azureus/Vuze), a BitTorrent client that supports torrenting over I2P, and XD, an I2P-only BitTorrent client written in go. Additional services include browser-based file hosting such as cake.i2p and fs.i2p.
- Anonymous Chat
Start your IRC client (e.g. HexChat) and connect to the server at 127.0.0.1 port 6668. You don't need to configure a proxy in your IRC client; I2P provides you with a local IRC tunnel (configured in your IRC client as an IRC server or remote host). Once you're there, #saltr, and #i2p-dev are just a couple of the available channels you may wish to join. There's also a cross-platform I2P-based instant messenger application, available on Github.
- Anonymous Encrypted Web Hosting
I2P comes with a webserver for hosting your own website on the I2P network: a Jetty instance listening on http://127.0.0.1:7658/. After starting the pre-configured I2P Webserver Tunnel, your site will be visible (but not discoverable) to others. Instructions for setting up your site and registering an .i2p domain are provided in the help section.
- Plugins for I2P
Visit zzz's plugins page for direct download links for several plugins. If you're a developer, a language-agnostic framework for writing your own plugins is provided.
Information for Developers & Contributors
- Get Involved!
I2P is developed and maintained mostly through unfunded, voluntary participation by community members. More information about how you can participate is available on the volunteers page on the official website.
- I2P+
For more information about I2P+, please visit skank.i2p or i2pplus.github.io, or join the channel #saltR on the I2P IRC network. Patches for I2P+ are welcome; please submit pull requests via Gitlab.