Entering a lot of keystrokes on the 95LX's small keyboard is annoying, and sometimes tiring. The ability to create "macros" (a recording of repetitive keystrokes assigned to a single key or key combination) is very important in that it speeds up your work and reduces fatigue. HP recognized this and provided the 95LX with 10 CHAR-Function Keys for that purpose (see page 41, Mar/ April 92 issue). Although the User Defined Function Keys work well, you only have 10 of them and they cannot be used outside of System Manager.
UMA (Useful Macros) is from Mike Gardi, the author of Useful Notes reviewed above. UMA is a 1 memory-resident macro program originally designed for the PC, but at my urging, adapted to the 95LX and its unique keyboard. UMA works across DOS and the System Manager and can store up to 64K of macros in one file. Macros can be stored under any key combination and can contain all of the 95LX keys, including the blue application keys.
Keystrokes can be recorded live from within any application or entered into a text file to be converted to a macro file with TXT2UMA, a utility supplied for that purpose. The ability to convert from a macro to text file is also supported for ease of editing.