PUBLISHER'S MESSAGE

Freezing rain makes our Fairfield, Iowa streets impassable today, January 20, 1993: A great excuse to stay home and watch the inauguration of the new President of the United States of America.

As I listen to the speeches, I think of the HP Palmtop users in 70 different countries throughout the world who will read this. The fact that we carry the same little machine around in our pockets and purses allows us to transcend national boundaries. In the letters I receive and the conversations I have with subscribers, there's never any thought about nationality or ethnic group. We're only interested in how we can get more out of our 95LX.

The only real difference is in our level of computer sophistication. No matter what your level of computer experience is, you should find most of the articles in this issue of practical value. In our lead story, Mark Scardina discusses what many people think will be the most significant new computer technology of the 1990's: The PCMCIA card. The HP 95LX leads the way using an industry standard PCMCIA card slot. Many people think that the future usefulness of a palmtop will be determined by the PC card being used rather than by the particular palmtop. The HP 95LX card slot supports RAM and Flash Cards (extra storage space), ROM cards (software), and even a fax/modem card.

Speaking of modems, Larry Lefkowitz contributes a definitive piece on how to get battery powered modems to work with the HP 95LX.

For those of you who wish to make better use of built-in applications, look to David Shier's ideas about using PHONE as a contact manager. Then roll up your sleeves and step through Ed Keefe's contributions. See how easy and useful it is to extend 1-2-3's capabilities to backsolving with HP CALC. Then see how to use the HP CALC Sigma function to solve college algebra and calculus problems. Ed's writing is clear and full of insights for making more out of the powerful HP CALC built-in application.

Beginning users should also consult BASIC Tips and the Getting Started review of fundamentals. Quick Tips includes a listing of known HP 95LX bugs. For a great collection of tips, check out the four pages of Most Frequently Asked Questions to HP Support.

If you want to make use of your HP 95LX at the video store, check out my User To User column. We continue our series that describes how to make popular DOS programs run on the HP 95LX. Victor Roberts tells us how to get InfoSelect, a popular random note database program, working.

Also included are the usual assortment of letters, new product announcements and advertisements to complete the issue.

Our common interest in the 95LX unifies us. Let us trust that in this time of change, in the United States and around the world, the human race can see the fundamental unity of life that underlies the cultural diversity in mankind.

Hal Goldstein, Publisher