I should have clarified, it's not a fork off the original Ethereum chain, it's an Ethereum clone with it's own chain, but still technically a fork.  Ethereum and Ether-1 they share a lot of the same code, it is an Ethash coin similar to Pirl, Akroma, etc.  Ether-1 is different than other Ethereum based coins because it has implemented EthoFS (Their version of IPFS), they're alpha testing it now, but soon it will be rolled out to all the masternodes on the network.  Join their discord if you want more info, that's the best place to get questions answered if you want more details.

For those of you interested in keeping tabs on the EthoFS Node deployment, you can see node and storage details here:  https://stats.ethofs.com  The alpha test group will be adding more nodes over the next few days. 

Here's an update from Cavhash, if you're a masternode owner and want to be involved in the alpha test, jump on Discord: 

Quick update to the beta testing for ethofs - we will be selecting participants later today!  The next step in the evolution of this fantastic project is upon us.

For reference - We will be selecting 10 participants to deploy an early version of the ethoFS set of binaries. The ethoFS system consists of 4 consensus based mechanisms that work in tandem to perform their various functions. The first is the normal Ether-1 POW consensus system which all nodes have been running since initial release. The second is a version of the IPFS consensus system for storage/file management. The third is a custom built consensus system to manage/propagate which content is stored on which nodes throughout the ethoFS node network facilitating a geo-strategic deployment of the content worldwide so the content can be delivered in an efficient manner to the end-user. The fourth is a consensus system for facilitating node network health and participation. Eventually we will go completely away from our current centralized node dashboard and all node health/verification will be done via consensus in a decentralized fashion. Participation will not be rewarded other than your normal daily masternode reward but we will guarantee reward payment even if your node goes down for any reason during Alpha participation (replacement rewards will be paid from development fund if a payment is missed). The Alpha period is solely meant to assist the development team with refining/debugging the ethoFS system so we can push the system closer to initial deployment capability. There is currently no set time period for Alpha and we will evaluate progress on an on-going basis until the system is ready to be pushed to Beta and beyond.

Here's a great writeup on the latest Ether-1 news.  "A CRYPTO FIRST: ETHER-1 DECENTRALIZED WEBWALLET"  https://www.reddit.com/r/etho1/comments/9a10ep/a_crypto_first_ether1_decentralized_webwallet/

Exciting update from the dev team:  Hello Ether-1 Community! I’d like to update everyone on what the development team has been and is working on. We have deployed an updated version of the web wallet and also deployed a fully functional version to our ethoFS system (for use & feedback on usability) which constitutes the first useable application via ethoFS (see links below). We are also in the middle of building a decentralized Ether-1 store which will also be deployed to ethoFS and initially allow you to purchase Ether-1 merch with your ETHO. The store template will eventually be deployable by anyone wishing to run an ecommerce-like website on ethoFS utilizing ETHO as the currency. We will also be looking for volunteers (MN owners) to help the dev team with an alpha phase deployment of the ethoFS network in early September.

Original Web Wallet: https://wallet.ether1.org/
ethoFS Deployed Web Wallet: https://wallet.ethofs.com/

I think you'll like it, it's the most profitable Ethash masternode out there right now.  https://twitter.com/cavhash/status/1031239102694338562

Max supply will be just under 85 million.  Here's some light reading if you'd like to check out the monetary policy.  https://ether1.org/monetarypolicy.html

Right now there is no way to prove this is running on IPFS across a cluster of masternodes, and not a VPS running somewhere.  If you ping the site a few times you should see responses from several (5?) different IPs.  A lot of us run our masternodes at Vultr or Digitalocean, that's why you're seeing the response from Vultr.  Right now we're trusting that the devs have done what they say they're doing, but at the same time they're working on some way of verifying the whole thing is running on IPFS.  It also sounds like we'll be able to see a lot more in September.  Sept 8th is when they start the alpha program for the IPFS node deployment. 

Great questions.  You can use the web wallet or desktop wallet for the MN/SN.  I believe they've got a team working on ledger support, and it sounds like it's coming soon. 
For now the site is centralized, but my understanding is they're working on a decentralized app to run this in the future.  Service Nodes and Masternodes have different minimum hardware requirements, through Vultr the SN VPS is $5/month, the MN VPS is $10/month.  You can find detailed setup instructions here, it's a snap, very easy to set up. 

https://nodes.ether1.org/nodesetup.html 

Last, join the Discord Channel (link at the bottom of the site), the team is very helpful, they can walk you through the process if you need any help.

This video is a little long, but one of the members of the Ether-1 team did an in depth interview about the project. It will give you a lot of details about what has been released so far, and some of the things the dev team is currently working on.  https://youtu.be/ZoonTX7zjVk

Ether-1 isn't a fork, it's on it's own chain.  But it's easy mining right now, or you can pick some up on stocks.exchange.

Just moved into second place.  Mac users, the voting page won't load in Safari, use Chrome.  Keep the votes coming.  https://kastle.pro/en/project/vote

Ether1 is in the running to be listed on Kastle, you can vote once per day.  We just passed PIRL, and we're right behind LTC.  Let's do this.  https://kastle.pro/en/project/vote

The masternode payout numbers are looking so good.  I was trying to buy a few more nodes before people find out about the project, but word is getting around and the price is starting to get wild.  Time to sell a kidney.     https://masternodes.online/currencies/ETHO/

Ether-1 was just listed on CoinGecko, enjoy!  https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ether-1

You're going to be able to buy that Ether-1 Mug with the winnings in no time!

Yes, it's easy to switch between service node and master node.  Should take about 2-3 minutes.

Yes, you won't even have to make any changes on the VPS, just delete the service node from the node dashboard and add a new master node.

Wow, network hash rate went up like 25% overnight.  Price just keeps going up too, so excited about this project.

Just passed 1 million ETHO locked in master/service nodes.