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#### 6.9.12 Example Setup

If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your `~/.gnus.el` file to get started.

         ;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news.  We do this over NNTP
         ;; from your ISP's server.
         (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))

         ;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail.  We read mail from
         ;; your ISP's POP server.
         (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))

         ;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail.  We use nnml groups.
         (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))

         ;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
         ;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
         ;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; Now the default.

That should be it, basically. Put that in your `~/.gnus.el` file, edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type `M-x gnus`.

If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the NNTP server for a complete list of groups with the `A A` command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it once.

After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the `u` command. `l` to make all the killed groups disappear after you've subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (`A k` will bring back all the killed groups.)

You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles with the `J s` command. And then read the rest of this manual to find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.