I read the tutorial for Pagination but I don't know if I overlooked or not.. but how do you tell the system what the max per page is?

And after that, is there a variable for # of pages ?

Its set in the PHP method NewsArticles()

$limit = "{$SQL_start},2"

That line says from the start value (which changes depending on what page your on) then get 2 items. If you want more / less items you can edit that 2.