gnus as an offline reader?

[Maus <mauslix@hotmail.com>]

Hello,

i want to configure Gnus as an offline reader (i have a slow dial-up
connection) but i had a few problems with the set up.

I would do the following things (the ordinary things one could do
using an ordinary offline reader):

- go online and download the headers of the messages from the chosen
groups;

-  go offline and mark the messages (or entire threads) i want to
download when i go back online and write a reply to some of them;

- go online again, download the marked messages and upload the
replies.

Does Gnus save the messages with news format when I quit and run it
again? Where can i find the news i downloaded when i was online?

As I am a new user, i would appreciate a point-by-point long answer
(if i'm not asking too much :o), because i see that Gnus must be a
fantastic newsreader, but i just can't get started (I think the info
pages are written like a reference manual, too difficult for me to
read).

If you think that there exists a tutorial or a short manual explaining
these things well, please let me know (i downloaded my-gnus' tutorial,
but it didn't help me much...).

Thanks in advance!

maus