<chapter id="getting-online"> <title>Getting online the easy way</title> <sect1 id="things-to-prepare"> <title>A few things you should have ready before you start</title> <para>If you have a fairly modern &Linux; distribution, you might find the rest of this document superfluous. &kppp; comes with a clever little wizard that in many cases can have you up and running with an internet connection in just a few minutes.</para> <para>Whether using the wizard or not, you should know the following information before you begin:</para> <itemizedlist> <listitem><para>Your <acronym>ISP</acronym> modem pool phone number.</para></listitem> <listitem><para>Your username and password for your <acronym>ISP</acronym>.</para></listitem> <listitem><para>Your <acronym>ISP</acronym>'s <acronym>DNS</acronym> servers (one is sufficient, but two is better).</para></listitem> </itemizedlist> <para>Other optional information you should find out to fully access your <acronym>ISP</acronym>'s services are:</para> <itemizedlist> <listitem><para>The incoming mail server address (often <systemitem class="systemname">pop.yourisp.com</systemitem> or <systemitem class="systemname">mail.yourisp.com</systemitem>)</para><para>Also find out if your <acronym>ISP</acronym> uses the POP3 protocol or IMAP.</para></listitem> <listitem><para>The outgoing (<acronym>SMTP</acronym>) mail server address (it could be the same as the incoming mail server, or it is often called something like <systemitem class="systemname">smtp.yourisp.com</systemitem>).</para></listitem> <listitem><para>The Usenet News (<acronym>NNTP</acronym>) server address (possibly <systemitem class="systemname">news.yourisp.com</systemitem> or <systemitem class="systemname">nntp.yourisp.com</systemitem>).</para></listitem> <listitem><para>Any proxy servers your <acronym>ISP</acronym> has set up.</para></listitem> </itemizedlist> <para>All this information is probably available on any paperwork you received from your <acronym>ISP</acronym> when you signed up with them, or you can find it out from your <acronym>ISP</acronym>'s support telephone line.</para> <para>Armed with the above, and a fairly recent default installation of &Linux;, you may well find that setting up an internet connection is as simple as running the &kppp; wizard.</para> </sect1> </chapter>