3. Installation (core)

Now that you have the GUI installed, you will need to set up the eDonkey2000 command line client (=core). This has proved to be a bit tricky in the past, because the eDonkey2000 command line client is basically a windows application that has been compiled and works on GNU/Linux (and also on FreeBSD in 'linux emulation mode'), and as such not always behaves very unix-like.

Don't be discouraged by all the details that follow. Most people never have any major problems.

Quick-Start: The quickest way to get things up and running is to get the latest GUI version, starting the GUI (by typing 'ed2k_gui' on a command line, or by pressing ALT-F2 in GNOME/KDE and then typing 'ed2k_gui' there), and then clicking on the 'Quick start' button.

3.1 Which version of the core should I choose? (can be skipped)

You might find that there are different versions of the core available. You can get a recent core from here: http://ed2k-gtk-gui.sourceforge.net/core.shtml.

Usually you should be fine with using the latest official core (currently this is version 0.50.1).

Should you get an Overnet core or an eDonkey2000 core? (see introduction) I don't know. The eDonkey2000 network still seems to have more content than the Overnet network, but this is likely to change soon. The Overnet network is technologically superior, and it also is the future ;) Overnet is less hassle in my opinion, because you do not to maintain a serverlist and all that all the time. You only need to 'boot' into the overnet network once (using an IP and port of someone who is already on the overnet network), and then Overnet should really keep its contacts up-to-date on its own.

Just try them both, and stick with whatever works best for you. Both overnet and eDonkey can deal with ed2k-links, and overnet can continue the downloads that you started from eDonkey, and vice versa, so that you can switch back and forth without problems.

3.2 Downloading and unpacking the core

Get a recent core from here: http://ed2k-gtk-gui.sourceforge.net/core.shtml.

Download it to a subdirectory of your home directory, e.g. /home/joe/ed2k.

Then unpack it from the command line (you can do it differently as well of course, if you know how):

% cd /home/joe/ed2k/
% tar xzf donkey0.50.1.tar.gz   (exact filename might differ)

You should now have a donkey binary in that directory, and it should be executable, i.e. have the 'x' flag set (if not, set it with 'chmod +x donkey0.50.1'):

% ls -l donkey0.50.1
-rwxr-xr-x    2 tim      tim       1159400 Jun 28 19:10 donkey0.50.1

3.3 Quick-start - Getting everything to work as quickly as possible

This will only work if you are planning to run the GUI and the core on the same computer. If the core runs on a different computer than the GUI, you will need to set up the core manually. Please refer to the next section for instructions on how to do this.

• You have downloaded and installed the latest GUI as described above. Good.
• You also have a core and have unpacked it as described above. Good.
• Start the GUI (by typing 'ed2k_gui').
• Put the full path to the binary, e.g. '/home/joe/ed2k/donkey0.50.1' into the 'path' field of the 'connect to' dialog.
• Choose an arbitrary username and password. Avoid special characters.
• The hostname should be 'localhost' and the port should be 4663.
• 'ping localhost' should work. If not, then either use '127.0.0.1' as the hostname, or (better) put a line with '127.0.0.1 localhost' into your /etc/hosts file.
• 'netstat -ln | grep 4662' should not display any output. If it does, don't worry and see if the GUI will detect it and fix it.
• 'netstat -ln | grep 4663' should not display any output. If it does, don't worry and see if the GUI will detect it and fix it.
• Hit the 'spawn' button. The dialog should display 'running' now. Hit the 'Go!' button.
• You should now be connected to the core properly. Make sure that on the 'Shared' page there is at least one directory listed. If that is so, you are ready to go.
• Right-click on the server list and fetch an up-to-date list of servers and connect to one.

If this procedure does not work, please look at the status page of the GUI for any hints on what went wrong and consult the rest of the documentation (FAQ and the sections below) on how to set up the core manually.

3.4 If things don't work right away - setting up the core manually

I need yet to be written.