READ THIS FIRST!!! COMPELTELY! This document contains important information on the installation and use of this software.
Afterburner 3.1
The
overclocking and performance enhancement utility for the Palm. The tool that
meets your need for speed!
Older
Palm IIIs and some Palm VIIs and other models using non-EZ CPU's are now
supported but with a reduced feature set.
If
you are having problems, please read through the issues at the end of this
file. The answer to your problem might be there. Please note that unregistered
version do not have all the features implemented (for example, it doesn’t allow
you to go to 54MHz, only up to 37MHz, and other limitations.)
|
3.1 |
Added
support for all new VZ based machines. |
|
3.0z |
Fixed
a compatibility issue with OS3.3. |
|
3.0y |
Fixed
a bug which caused machines to hang when Afterburner was activated (mostly on
OS3.1). Fixed version string info so that you can get correct version info
from Palm’s Info utility. Up/Down buttons now supported in SPEEDS panel. Now
compatible with Magellan GPS, IrLink, and a host of other IR/Serial apps. IR
performance improved. |
|
3.0x |
Fixed
an obscure but important bug affecting serial functions and silent
notification. Fixed bug with Springboard flash modules. Improved IR reception
over speed ranges. Fixed obscure compatibility issue with TealMaster and
X-Master. Customized some settings for VZ CPU – 0ws-core no longer useful in
VZ. |
|
3.0w |
Added
support for the n710c/HandEra330. Fixed a bug in the Speeds panel limit
increased to 54MHz from 45MHz. |
|
3.0v |
Added
support for the m505/m500/Edge/Kyocera/n700c/m100/m105. Increased clocking
limit. Changes some device id routines. |
|
3.0u |
Added
recognition for Tealmaster and X-Master hack manager replacements. Fixed a
bug with the LClk/2 setting – was inverted. |
|
3.0t |
More
bugs fixed. Correctly identifies, VIIx and Platinum now. All users should
download this version. |
|
3.0s |
Fixed
a mis-identification of IIIc speed, Springboard issues, Sound notification
problem, etc. Added support for CLIE. |
|
3.0r |
Fixed
a bug in the LCD/n settings of Never and Always. Should work properly now.
Added support for HandSpring memory modules. Added support for Visor Prism
(now runs up to 43MHz!) Disabled LClk/2 function for color machines, it
wasn’t making any difference. Minor bug fixes. Included ScreenFixJ for
Japanese PalmOS 3.5 running on IIIc. |
|
3.0q |
Now
includes a fix for IIIc LCD scrolling issues. FIXED!!! |
|
3.0p |
Fixed
bug in Find handling. LClk/2 now affects color LCDs. Fixed one other coding
oversight. |
|
3.0o |
Improved
“Find” behaviour. Fixed missing speed (23MHz) in SPEEDS panel lists. Fixed
order in buggy listing (power). |
|
3.0n |
Added
Fast Hotsync option. Added EVPlugBase awareness. EVPlugBase is now treated in
the same way as Hackmaster. Speeds panel now returns to Config panel. |
|
3.0m |
Fixed
Find behaviour so that current speed is restored after a Find session.
Previously, the Find setting would remain after a Find session. |
|
3.0l |
Gray
setting now survives reset. Note: Config panel settings
will be lost when installing this version over previous versions. The Speeds
panel settings will remain intact. You may want to note down your current
settings before installing this version. |
|
3.0k |
Reduced
overhead required in implementation of Gray LCD. More efficient now. Added
separately defineable grayscale LCD/n setting. |
|
3.0j |
Tweaked
clock settings for more precide baudrate generation. Fixed a bug in the
Adjust Ticks so that now system frequency is also preserved when Adjust Ticks
is not selected. This has some impact with some serial and IR compatibility
at certain frequencies when this option was not selected. |
|
3.0i |
Added
silent notify feature by flashing LCD on speed change (for non-color LCDs
only.) |
|
3.0h |
Fixed
bug in Norm button. The LCD/n checkbox function was inverted, now corrected.
Added option for Grayscale LCD/n setting in registered version (for AvantGo
and grayscale issues) |
|
3.0g |
Now
works properly for older Palms running non-EZ CPU's. Added 23MHz stepping for
older Palms optimal speed. Fixed LClk/2 so that it actually works. Was not
working before. Fixed faulty "Norm" button. Note: After installing,
remember to adjust all your speeds up a notch. In particular LClk/2 would now
be at 22MHz if it was previously at 24MHz. Set it back to 24MHz and save
that. |
|
3.0f |
Added
option for forcing LCD/n to 1 when going below 16MHz. This will reduce screen
flicker at low speeds. Removed options for CS0 and CS4 as these don't seem to
do anything useful. Added non-EZ CPU compatibility (preliminary)! Fixed error
when leaving Speeds panel by means other than OK or Cancel button. Changed
app name from "Afterburner Hack" to "AfterBurner Hack".
Improved serial behaviour? Hope this doesn't break IR support. Addressed a
Hackmaster bug that resulted in strange exceptions after Afterburner was
disabled under some conditions. VERY
IMPORTANT:
Delete 3.0e or any previous 3.0 versions BEFORE installing 3.0f. |
|
3.0e |
Removed
useless LCD-ws option. Added LCD/n which gives up to an additional 8 or 9%
boost in speed, in addition to StreakHack functionality as a side-effect. Note: If installing over
previous versions, please make sure LCD-ws was set to 0 before installing new
one. Failure to do so may lead to wrong contrast, correctible by setting
LCD/n back to a low value of 0 to 4. Alternatively, try setting LCD/n to 1
BEFORE activating 3.0e for the first time after installing. After making the
change, you need to exit Hackmaster (with Afterburner enabled for it to take
effect.) |
|
3.0d |
Fixed
a possible memory leak problem. Added checks for non-EZ CPU's and for OSes
lower than 3.1. Also implemented more thorough clean-up for the config
panels. |
|
3.0c |
Fixed
a problem identifying the IIIc. Also improved the serial routine to provide
broader support. |
|
3.0b |
LCD-ws
now correct defaults to 7 and LClk/2 correct defaults to 24MHz now. |
|
3.0a |
Released
but a minor bug that affected Hotsync crept in. This release fixes that
Hotsync problem. |
|
3.0 |
Original
release. |
ScreenFix
note:
ScreenFixE, ScreenFixGF, ScreenFixJ, are the hacks to
fix screen issues on the IIIc running OS3.5. The 3 versions are meant for the
English, German or French, and the Japanese localized versions respectively.
These hacks should not be used on any other machines (ie. Non IIIc), or OS
versions (ie. 3.5). ScreenFix currently does NOT work on OS4.0 because the ROM
appears to have changed somewhat and I will need some time to figure out what
has changed. NOTE: Afterburner DOES support OS4.0 (and probably 4.1 too). It is
ScreenFix that does NOT work under OS4.
Also note that you are supposed to install only ONE of the three
versions and not all three. Pick the right one if you are using a Palm IIIc.
ScreenFix
is available only to registered users.
Following
from the tremendous popularity of Afterburner 2.0 and 2.2, we all awaited
something that will follow for the newer PalmOS, such as the OS 3.3 and now OS
4.0. However, the original author Jean-Paul Gavini, had not made any plans to
pursue this project further, and so I began looking into this project.
Initially, I only patched some of the versions to fix some problems and make it
compatible with the newer OSes that were in use.
However,
after a short while, it became obvious that such a course of action would be
severely limited in its possibilities. So, I began re-coding Afterburner 3.0,
from ground up in assembly language, with Gavini's permission. Doing this
allowed me to now add a host of new features that were not previously there in
the earlier versions. I have preserved some of the "look" of the
original Afterburner as it didn't seem necessary to re-invent the wheel.
So,
after weeks of coding, we now have Afterburner 3.0. This version supercedes all
the 2.3 versions that I was working on before this.
This
is essentially a performance enhancement utility for Palm's with OS 3.1 and
upwards. It does this by various means, including raising the frequency of the
internal clock and reducing system wait-states, among other things. On a Palm
Vx, for example, I can see a performance of 288% in relation to a regular Palm
III.
It
is highly recommended that you backup your data with something like BackupBuddy
before trying this out just in case anything should go awfully wrong. Most of
the time you won't have to worry about anything more than a soft reset. Many
people ask if they still need to use other performance enhancement applications
such as CruiseControl, etc. The answer is “No”. The following applications are
no longer needed if you are running Afterburner as all the functionalities are
provided in Afterburner 3.0:-
You
can delete them and save the space they occupy on your Palm.
Here's
a list of features of what is new in Afterburner 3.0 that was not found in the
previous (2.x) versions:-
All
these, and everything that was previously offered:-
In
short, I've thrown in everything I can think of that I might want in an
overclocking utility in an effort to make this the premiere, economical and
top-performing overclocking tool for your Palm.
Afterburner
2.2 contained a number of bugs which have not been addressed. These have been
fixed in Afterburner III.
As
of 3.0x:-
Using
a hack manager other than one of the supported ones will result in speeds not
reverting to normal when Afterburner is disabled. Eg. Launcher III hack
managing feature.
I
have also decided to make this thing shareware, again with Gavini's knowledge
and clearance. This is only a mere $9, just to make up for the many long nights
I’ve put into this thing. The shareware version does not include GoType, IR,
Serial port compatibility but has everything else. You still end up with more
than what you got in Afterburner 2.x.
In other words, if you are using an unregistered version, you can
expect your IR beaming to not be working at any speed other than normal (16MHz
or 20MHz depending on your machine.) Likewise for the serial port with modems
and other peripherals such as keyboards, etc. Hotsync continues to work as per
normal.
In
addition, there are now a number of features that are available only in the
registered version. I will also continue to add more features to the registered
version but bug fixes will be reflected on both registered and unregistered
versions.
The
registered version will also automatically report your machine's normal clock
speed in the titlebar of the configuration screen. In the unregistered version,
this only shows the "Unregistered" message in the titlebar.
To
register, please go to:-
http://store.yahoo.com/pilotgearsw/danielwee.html
or
http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=7429
Or
you can go to http://www.palmgear.com
and do a search for “Afterburner 3.0”. I appreciate your registration. It gives
me incentive to continue working at improving this utility. All future upgrades
will be free for registered users. Registering will help me justify my aching back from the hours of
coding and debugging that went into re-writing Afterburner. J
If
you have registered with PalmGear, you would have received a password to
download the registered version. Whenever I come up with a new version, I
always send PalmGear a copy of the latest registered version for download. You
can use your password and download that copy once they have put it up. However,
this uploading is a manual process on PalmGear's administrative side and it may
not show up as quickly as the unregistered version which is done immediately by
myself. If you wish to download, you should have your password (sent to you by
PalmGear) ready and go to:-
http://downloads.palmgear.com/download/
If
you are downloading an older version, you may want to wait a little while and
try again in a day. Usually it won't take longer than that for PalmGear to
upload the new file. You can always check your version by looking at the titlebar
of the configuration panel of the hack.
If
for some reason you do not have the password from PalmGear, please be sure to
talk to them to get this info as you will be needing it to obtain updates.
I sometimes
mail updates out to users but this is NOT THE NORM as e-mail can be quite
unreliable. The official way of getting updates is NOT by e-mail, but by
downloading from PalmGear with the password you have been issued.
There
is no charge for updates but if you feel that the work has been worth it, or
you simply want to support the development of Afterburner, you may do so by
going to the following link. The voluntary fee is $1.50 (of which I get $1.20)
at:-
http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=15683
You
can buy as many units as you think the upgrades are worth, without compulsion.
Alternatively and preferably, you can use PayPal to make your contribution. Just direct it to my e-mail address at danwee@cyberway.com.sg and I should be able to receive it very quickly. If you are not already a member of PayPal, and are signing up, you can further help my indicating this e-mail as your referrer. You can reach PayPal at:-
You
can send any amount you feel you want to send and every little bit counts.
The
funds from the contributions will go to helping some Africans in Transkei,
South Africa, build a farming economy and job creation to alleviate poverty and
to send their kids to school. If you need more information on this, please feel
free to e-mail me.
Many
people have been overclocking their Palm and to date I have not heard of any
instance where the hardware was actually damaged as a result of overclocking.
You might see greater battery drainage if you run at the highest speeds
settings for long periods. I am almost certain that damage is not possible up
to about 26MHz and I've been running at 28MHz for as long as I've played with
these things.
Having
said that however, I must insist that you use this application at your own
risk. This particular version allows you to make some serious tweaks that could
upset performance (but nothing that cannot be cured by a simple soft-reset). I
will not overclock sensitive operations, such as Flash programming (FlashPro, JackFlash, etc.) too
aggressively although I’ve not had problems doing so in the past. Just be
careful.
There
are lots of rumours going round on how overclocking can overheat the CPU. Most
of these are unfounded conjectures based on overclocking experiences from other
platforms. I do not believe it is possible to overheat the CPU in the Palm
under normal circumstances.
For
those of you who are wondering why there are issues with serial and IR
functions, here is a more detailed explanation. For starters, just know that these
functions are only supported in the registered versions. If you are using an
unregistered version of Afterburner, don’t expect them to work at anything
other than “Normal” speed setting.
On
the Palm, serial UART functions are all built into the CPU. The CPU must
generate a baudrate that is appropriate for it to communicate with peripherals
and/or drive the IR interface. Simply put, the way this baudrate is generated
is by taking the CPU system clock and then dividing it by a programmable
divider or prescaler, and thus yielding the desired baudrate. Unfortunately, in
practice, it is not always possible to get the exact baudrate (not perfectly
divisible by a round number). As a result, there is some error in the
approximate value. So, instead of 2400 baud, you might get 2378 baud, for
example. This is not so much of a problem and even the standard OS has such
errors.
As
we now change the system clock, it also means that the error in the approximate
baud rate will not stay constant. At different frequencies and baudrates
combination, you may end up with differing error margins. In Afterburner, I
have selected the specific frequencies in order to minimize such errors.
Nonetheless, the errors still exists. Most serial equipment are fairly tolerant
of such errors but as the baudrates go higher and higher, it is important that
the error margin be kept low.
Thus,
you may find that at different frequencies, you may be able to get more precise
baudrates than at other frequencies. The deciding factor is how easily
divisible is the particular frequency by the desired baudrate. It is even
possible that at a higher frequency (clock speed), you can actually get better
accuracy than a lower clock speed, for example. The actual computation of the
approximate baudrate is actually done by the OS and so it is outside of
Afterburner’s control.
The
second issue relating to baudrate accuracy is the PLL or the Phase Locked Loop
in the CPU used to generate the master clock. As you push the frequency higher
and higher, the PLL will take longer and longer to lock onto a frequency, and
at some point, it will no longer lock reliably. When that happens, the
frequency will fluctuate as the PLL tries to lock on continuously without
success. In practice, you will see this as a fluctuating Benchmark reading. If
you see large variations in the readings from run to run, and you are running
the CPU at 29MHz or above, there is a good chance that the PLL is not locking
on reliably. The degree of fluctuation will vary. Some CPU batches may be more
successful at locking at higher frequencies than others. Some people find that
running at 30MHz is still no problem for them but for the majority, 28MHz or
29MHz is about the best their PLL can do reliably.
Even
if you set the clock to 32MHz, your PLL may only be topping off at 30MHz and
fluctuating at that. This is made worse by the fact that the system now
“thinks” you are running at 32MHz and attempts to compute the new baudrates
based on this reported frequency.
Since
the baudrate is derived from this same master clock, a fluctuating clock will
result in a fluctuating baudrate. Consequently, it is very likely that serial
or IR functions will not perform reliably at these higher frequencies. This is
NOT a programming issue. It’s just the limitations of the hardware.
Thirdly,
all the onboard clocks derive their clocks from a crystal oscillator running at
32768kHz. These crystals, though very accurate, are also subject to variances
in their accuracy, from batch to batch, and from manufacturer to manufacturer.
You can observe this in the accuracy of the onboard real time clocks. Some
clocks you will find, run faster, and some run slower, for precisely this
reason.
All
these reasons put together, form the underlying factors that determine one’s
success with serial and IR operations. It is important that users understand
what is going to (so that they don’t malign the author J) best utilize Afterburner’s flexibility.
In
addition, there is also one more point where IR is concerned. For IR beaming,
it is possible that the serial baudrate has been set prior to activating
Afterburner. If this should happen, it may be necessary for the user to go to
the preference panel, de-select beaming, and then re-select beaming again, thus
forcing the OS to re-open the port under the operation of Afterburner. This is
hypothetical but is a possible issue and is worth trying if you are finding
problems beaming.
The
bottom line is, if it doesn’t work at a higher speed, try a lower one. And
don’t expect too much if you are going over 28MHz.
Note:
Many of the following issues do NOT apply to the HandSpring Visor Prism which
is also a new color machine. This machine seems to be able to run up to 43MHz
at least, without the need for ScreenFix hack (which should NOT be used in any
case).
The
problems discussed in the following section has now been dealt with in version
3.0p through the use of LClk/2 to alleviate the random pixels, and through the
use of the included ScreenFix hack which solves the scrolling problems in a
IIIc. (Note that from 3.0r onwards, the LClk/2 function has been disabled on
color machines since it wasn’t making any difference. Unfortunately, the label
for that setting will remain on the panel but this is purely cosmetic.)
Users
of the Palm IIIc will find that there may be occasions when the color display
is corrupted, or segmented, or having some left-over pixels, in some screen
scrolling and update functions. This section explains why this happens, and why
it is NOT the fault of Afterburner.
Whereas
on the non-color unit, the LCD controller for the Palm resides on the CPU
itself, on the IIIc, the controller is in fact as separate integrated circuit
altogether. This alone has some important implications. When the controller is
found on the same piece of silicon, it is more likely that it will all run at
approximately the same speed limitations. In other words, if one part of the
CPU can be overclocked, it is likely that the other part, such as the LCD
controller, can run at a similarly overclocked speed. This is no longer true if
the LCD controller is off-CPU on a different piece of silicon altogether. This
is also the reason why some functions available for non-color LCDs are not available
for color LCDs.
When
this happens, such as is the case in a IIIc, the interface between the CPU and
the LCD controller becomes important in that the timing must be maintained
within the performance tolerances of both components. What now appears to be
the case is that you can, with Afterburner, have the CPU running so fast that
the LCD controller cannot keep up with the rate the data is being sent to
It.
Furthermore, it is also possible that the two components are not locked onto
the same master clock depending on the interface protocol used. The end result
of this is that the LCD will start to miss out data coming from the souped up
CPU and thus leading to errors on the screen.
Some
users are fortunate in that they have controllers which can apparently keep up
with the CPU at high speeds, while others are less fortunate that they have
batches of controllers that are less able to keep up. It is no one’s fault. So,
you may find one IIIc running at 28MHz without any problems, and another unit
having a hard time keeping up at 24MHz. This is not something I can rectify at
the moment (or perhaps ever) in software. The difficulty of improving the
situation is compounded by the lack of information on the controller from Palm
and that I don’t have a IIIc to take apart and study.
You
will have to experiment with the various settings to see how far you can push
your particular unit’s LCD controller.
From
version 3.0p onwards, LClk/2 will also work for the IIIc controller. It now can
be used to control at which point the controller’s internal clock is halved.
The default setting on a IIIc is “Never” but you can use this to see if screen
issues may be alleviated.
Make
sure you delete any instances of Afterburner Hack and AfterburnerII from your
system before installing this Hack. They cannot co-exist with Afterburner 3.0.
You might also want to remove CruiseControl as well since you won't be needing
it anymore. The functionality is provided for in Afterburner. (You also won’t
need StreakHack, NoStreakHack, NoWaitZ, Steroid, Tornado_V either) Also, check
that Afterburner DB is also removed from the system as well as the new database
is not totally compatible with previous databases. You will want to disable Afterburner Hack in Hackmaster before
doing any deletion or you might experience a fatal error.
Having
done that, make sure you have Hackmaster installed (if you don't already have
it), and then install Afterburner Hack. You can also use alternatives to
Hackmaster such as X-Master (recommended), EVPlugBase, TealMaster, and others.
Hackmaster is not compatible with color machines and though it won’t crash, it
will exhibit some confusing cosmetic behaviour.
Perform
a Hotsync operation to get the Hack into your Palm. Check the titlebar in the
Configuration panel after installation to make sure that you have the correct
version installed.
Before
you activate the hack from Hackmaster, click on the "+" on the
right of the listing in Hackmaster. This will bring up a configuration screen.
Nothing you change on this screen will be committed until you click
"OK". If at any time you should change your mind, just click
"Cancel" and you will be back where you started.
It
is highly recommended that Afterburner be the first hack to be activated in
your list of hacks if you have more than one installed. Disable ALL your hacks
and then activate Afterburner Hack first. Then check out all the configuration
and Speeds panel to make sure all is in order. Then enable your other hacks one
by one.
Doing this will avoid installation order conflicts later on.
The
"Norm" button will set the clock speed back to your machine's normal
setting. This works whether the Hack is active or not. The purpose of this is
more as a fall-back feature in case things are not going well for you. For
example, you might have deactivated Afterburner, but your machine is stuck in a
different speed setting that prevents Hotsyncing. This should not happen under
normal circumstances, but if it does happen, you could try pressing this
button. Usually, you would do this after the hack has been deactivated.
The
"Speeds" button will bring you to a screen where you can select the
speed you want for individual applications. Again, the changes made will only
be committed if you choose the "OK" button. Cancelling will send you
back to the Config panel listing but any changes you made prior to selecting
the Speeds panel will not be retained. I wanted to make sure that the changes
are saved ONLY with the “OK” button for safety reasons.
It
seems that under some conditions, it may be necessary to uncheck all the other
hacks you have in Hackmaster and start with Afterburner. If you are
experiencing unusual errors in Afterburner, please uncheck all your other hacks
and then activate only Afterburner to see if there is a problem. If there is
none, you can re-enable the other hacks one by one. There is a good chance that
this procedure will resolve some of the unusual errors that you may experience.
I am still looking into why this is the case.
The
included ScreenFix Hack is to be installed, observing the same guidelines for
installing hacks mentioned above (ie. disable before upgrading or deleting.) If
you are experiencing problems with the screen not scrolling properly on your
IIIc, please use this hack which will solve the problem. This is a very OS
specific hack and will ONLY work on a IIIc with OS 3.5 running on it. It will
not work on any other platform, nor will it solve any other problems other than
this particular one. Furthermore, it is unlikely to work with new OS releases.
When that time comes, I will have to produce a new OS specific solution. If you
are not using a IIIc, don’t even think of installing this fix.
Version
1.0 of ScreenFix Hack is ONLY for English OS3.5 DR4 for IIIc (EZ)
If
you need to remove the hack if you don't have OS3.5 or higher, you will need
some database management utility since hacks don't show up in the Applications
delete list. If you have FlashPro installed, you can use that to delete the
Hack. Otherwise, you might want to look into a utility like Z'Catalog or
FPSUtil and other similar utilities. This is not a bug but a limitation of the
Palm's built-in delete utility. With OS3.5 you can just delete it from the
Applications delete utility.
Before you try deleting the hack, please make sure that it is
already de-activated. Similarly, if you are going to Hotsync a newer version of the hack
over an existing installation, you MUST de-activate it in Hackmaster
first or you will get a Fatal Exception.
First
of all, please note that for non-EZ CPU's, the following options will NOT
appear on your configuration panel as they are related only to EZ machines. The
hardware just isn't there. The EZ-specific features are:-
Palm
IIIe, IIIx, IIIxe, IIIc, V, Vx, VII (some), Visor, Workpads, have EZ CPUs.
Older ones such as the Pilot 1000, 5000, Pro, Palm III and the like use non-EZ
CPUs.
You
can get a brief description of the options by tapping on the "i" info
icon at the top right of the configuration panel. The options are as follows:-
|
0-ws
Core |
Sets
zero waitstates for CPU core operations. This is one of the major ways to
boost performance and is a recommended option. CruiseControl also sets
this. This
option is disabled when using VZ CPU’s because they have no effect. Core wait
states are already 0 by default. |
|
Fast
Page |
Sets
zero waitstates in the Fast Page mode operations. This will yield a very
minimal performance boost (1%). |
|
Slow
RAM |
This
option actually adds waitstates to RAM accesses for slow RAM. It will lead to
a slightly lower performance but this might be useful if dealing with
unstability at very high speeds. Leave this off normally unless you are
really pushing it above 30MHz. |
|
Fast
Mpx |
Fast
multiplexing mode yields a major performance boost and is a recommended
setting. CruiseControl also sets this option. |
|
Fast
Hotsync |
Selecting
this option will allow the Hotsync application to be accelerated like the
rest. If this works for you, you can see a noticeable improvement in Hotsync
times but don’t expect too much. Baudrate is still the same. Your mileage may
vary to experiment to see what speed works best for you but make sure you
backup everything properly enough to recover from a bad Hotsync. |
|
Notify
on |
Fast Audible alert when changing speeds Normal Audible alert when returning to normal speed Slow Audible alert when slowing down below normal speed The
checkbox next to Notify allows for silent notification. This will flash the
LCD instead of making a sound during speed change. This feature won't work
for color LCDs though and in most cases, the checkbox will not be displayed. |
|
Default |
This
allows you to choose your default speed setting. Applications are normally
set to this speed by default. If you don't have Afterburner DB yet (because
you have not gone into the relevant panel), all apps will default to this
speed. |
|
Find |
Like
above but applies only to the built-in Find function. Keep is the recommended
setting for this. |
|
LCD/n |
Sets
the divider for LCD pixel clock. The higher the divider the lower the pixel
rate and system CPU loading. This can boost overall performance of CPU up to
8 or 9% on certain machines. StreakHack does this too. Has the side effect of
affecting contrast in the same way StreakHack does. Default value is 1 or
2. (With this, you won't be needing StreakHack) You may have to adjust
your contrast. You should play with this to get the best combination
between the best performance and a flicker free display. Use the contrast
setting to compensate for contrast changes. This setting is unlikely to have
much effect if any, on machines with color LCDs. |
|
Accel |
Sets
the battery conditions at which speed change is allowed. Set to "Always"
by default. You can specify that overclocking only be allowed when the
battery is above a certain percentage level. |
|
Slow |
This
allows you to select battery conditions whereby your Palm will automatically
be clocked at 10MHz to conserve power. |
|
LClk/2 |
This
sets the frequency at and above which the LCD pixel clock is halved. This
defaults to 24MHz and you should normally NOT mess with this one as it
can produce weird screen corruption problems. For experimenters. Otherwise,
just leave this alone!!!! This usually has no effect with color machines. |
|
Adjust
Ticks |
This
will adjust the system ticks timer so as to maintain a constant and correct
tick rate regardless of your clock settings. This should normally be set
unless you want the ticks to run faster. Games, for example, and some timing
applications may depend on these ticks so it is best to leave it activated. Recommended
setting. |
|
Gray |
This
will automatically set LCD/n to selected value when in grayscale mode. If
“Off” is selected, then the feature is disabled. This can be used to reduce
flickering in apps that suffer from it, eg. AvantGo. This setting, if in
effect, will take precedence over the LCD/n checkbox setting for applications
running at low speeds. |
Note: Changing these options will
not cause them to take effect immediately. They will come into effect when you
launch any app after leaving Hackmaster.
The
lowest speed setting allowed by this program is 10MHz, which can be quite
sluggish to use. Normally, you would choose slower speeds in interest of
conserving battery power, say on a long trip away from home for example.
Afterburner
3.0 will automatically detect your normal clock speed, which can be either
16MHz or 20MHz, depending on your machine and what modifications you may have
applied to it.
The
normal top speed, corresponding to the "Fastest" setting in previous
Afterburner versions, is 29MHz. Above this, your CPU PLL may not lock
reliably and you may get fluctuating Benchmark results, leading also to
irregular baud-rate generation and hence un-reliable serial and IR
operations (including GoType keyboards). However, some of the newer CPU's may
have some luck at the highers speeds. I would only recommend the higher speeds
for experimentation, and for this I have included options up to 32MHz.
Remember, you may not see anything better than 29MHz and you should stay below
that for reliable performance.
For
older Palms, running at above 23MHz might lead to problems or resets. Make sure
you backup before pushing the clock speeds.
With
the newer machines based on the VZ CPU, you can actually go up to 43MHz (or
even 54MHz in some cases) and perhaps a little higher. Above that, PLL
unstability will probably occur.
Note
also that IR performance may be better at certain frequencies than others. This
is due to the way the baud rate for the IR unit is being generated. Play around
to see what works best. On some machines, this tops out at 24MHz, on others it
is 26MHz. You just have to try and see.
Norm
|
This
will be the detected normal speed for your machine, either 16MHz or 20MHz
depending on the model. |
|
Keep
It |
What
this does is that it just maintains whatever speed was in effect at the time
of launching this app. So if you set app B to Keep It and were running app A
(say the launcher) at 24MHz, just before running app B, app B will keep that
24MHz speed setting. |
|
Default |
This
will use whatever was selected as default speed in the configuration panel.
Most apps should be set to this speed for the greatest convenience. |
The
performance index used in this document is taken from the Benchmark utility by
Neal Bridges. This can be found at http://www.palmgear.com
or at his home page at http://www.quartus.net
for free. Please note that the Benchmark screen from the graphics from
PalmGear is a screen-shot of this software and does not reflect any built-in
benchmarking facility.
Make
sure you have Hackmaster installed and that Afterburner is activated.
Try
the following (for EZ CPU's):-
Check 0-ws
Core
Check Fast
Page
Check Fast-Mpx
Check Adjust
ticks
Set Default 28MHz (some newer batches of Vx appears to max out
at 26MHz)
Set LCD/n 2
Set Accel Always
Set Slow Never
Set LClk/2 24MHz
(not applicable for color machines)
For
VZ CPU’s:-
Same as the above but Default can go
up to 43MHz
The m505 can go up to 49MHz or
50MHz.
For
non-EZ CPU's:-
Set Default 23MHz
(more than this and a Fatal Exception is likely)
Set LCD/n 2
(or 3 for even more speed but less contrast)
Set Accel Always
Set Slow Never
These
are settings that work for most people but there may be a very small minority
for which even these settings may be too aggressive. If these don’t work, just
scale down the clock bit by bit. Also make sure that the individual speed
settings are similarly scaled back if you are using them. Remember to backup
before experimenting too much.
I
am continually seeking to improve Afterburner III and to make it as stable and
as usable as possible, hopefully making this the king of overclockers for the
Palm. So if you have a feature request or any suggestions that you think might
make this a better app, please feel free to send them to me. I don't promise to
implement it but I will certainly give it due consideration. Likewise, if you
are experiencing problems and errors, please let me know so that I can get it
fixed.
There
are some known issues when using this utility:-
1.
This
does not work well with EVPlugBase versions below 1.1b1 at this time. In
particular, you may find that the Speed panel or the Config panel doesn't come
up or comes up as a blank. Please use Hackmaster instead or version 1.1b1 (or
later) to avoid this problem for now. Later revisions (1.1b1) of EVPlugBase is
reported to be working without problems.
2.
Some
other hacks may sometimes conflict with Hackmaster. Of interest is the order in
which the hacks are installed. If you are finding that you crash on the configuration
panel, try disabling all the other hacks except Afterburner Hack, and then
re-enable them one by one, trying to see you are able to open the panel without
problems after each one. Do this especially if you find that you get an error
when trying to get into the Speeds panel.
3.
Some
screen corruption issues with IIIc. I don't have a IIIc to test out the actual
problems but I will be working on this. So far, I have determined that the IIIc
uses a separate LCD controller instead of the one in the DragonBallEZ like the
other non-color models. In particular, scrolling may leave artifacts on the
screen because this is a blitter operation in the hardware. See “Color LCD
Issues” section for more detailed explanation. From version 3.0p onwards, you
can use LClk/2 to resolve random pixelation and use the included ScreenFix Hack
to resolve scrolling issues.
4.
Serial
(including keyboards and other peripherals) and IR functions is unlikely to
work reliably if the clock is set to anything above 29MHz (in many cases 28MHz
and in some cases 26MHz). For newer VZ CPU machines, the limit goes up
considerably – you will have to test to find the operating limit. This is
because although the CPU thinks it is running at that speed, in actual fact it
may not be locking reliably to the frequency set. Fluctuations in the frequency
prevent stable performance at these frequencies. Occasionally using the
keyboard will initiate Hotsync and this is a sign that you are try to run the
serial port at too high a speed.
5.
My
contrast seems affected by the LCD/n. Or the screen is too dark after
installing 3.0e. Yes, it is affected. Nothing to worry about. It's just a side
effect of changing the pixel clock frequency. StreakHack does the same thing
and in fact, you won't need StreakHack anymore. If you are installing 3.0e over
older version, please set LCD-ws (in the previous version) to 0 before
installing 3.0e. If you are reading this AFTER you had the problem, try setting
LCD/n to 1. That should fix the problem but if that fails, just give it a soft
reset to restore screen contrast. Alternatively, try setting LCD/n to 1 BEFORE
activating 3.0e for the first time after installing. After changing this
setting, you need to exit Hackmaster before it will take effect.
6.
My
screen is flickering! Or, my screen is dark. If you just installed version 3.0e
without following the instructions for this version, you might see this
problem. To remedy it, just set LCD/n to 1 in the configuration panel.
7.
Afterburner
is apparently being confused if you keep a "backup" copy of your app
in Flash. Ie. you have 2 identical copies, one in RAM and one in Flash. If such
a situation exists, setting the speed for any one of them will suffice. The
latter copy (listed alphabetically) will keep reverting to default.
8.
I
don't seem to be able to get the speed improvements anywhere nearly as high as
what some are reporting. I have a non-EZ Palm. Non-EZ Palms have older hardware
and it is very likely that you will not be able to overclock as much as some of
the newer machines. Furthermore, there is no zero-waitstate option for non-EZ
CPU's. It just isn't in the hardware. Therefore you will not see the kind of
performance that you will get with the newer EZ CPU's.
9.
My
keyboard (or serial peripheral or IR) doesn't appear to be working. I am using
an unregistered version of Afterburner. Support for keyboards, and other serial
peripherals, and IR, are available ONLY in registered versions. If you are
using a Stowaway and the HotSync is coming on when it is not supposed to, try a
slower speed setting. Remember, you have to set the speed for the editing app
(eg. MemoPad) and NOT just the control or configuration app.
10.
I
am installing Afterburner 3.0f but after installation, I still see version
3.0e. A change was made to the app name in 3.0f that could confuse Hackmaster
if you failed to delete previous 3.0 versions prior to installing 3.0f. To fix
this, simply delete 3.0f from the system and re-install.
11.
It
appears that Hackmaster has a problem properly uninstalling Afterburner because
of the trap it uses. This means that Hackmaster could try to run Afterburner
even after you have disabled it under certain conditions. This was a tough bug
to trace! but it's not my bug. However, I've kludged a workaround for this and
those strange errors after disabling Afterburner should be gone now.
Nevertheless, on occasion, you might get into a situation where you are
installing a new version of Afterburner (through Hotsync) and Hackmaster still
hasn't properly released the code even though it has been unchecked. You will
end up with a reset in mid-Hotsync session. Nothing to worry about. Just reset
and Hotsync again. This is Hackmaster's fault. Sometimes this problem
could result in fatal exceptions, or memory chunk errors, if you have been
installing and reinstalling a number of times without resetting. If you simple
leave Afterburner enabled, this should not be an issue.
12.
The
non-EZ CPU's cannot support speeds in excess of 23MHz. Attempts to make it run
at that speed generally results in a Fatal Exception.
13.
My
Palm crashes when switching speeds but seems to work if the speed is lower. If
this happens, check to see if your battery is in good condition. At low battery
levels, higher speeds cannot be sustained reliably, especially with the non-EZ
CPUs.
14.
When
I enter Hotsync or Hackmaster, the contrast of the LCD becomes very light. This
is not a problem. The reason this happens is because Afterburner reverts to the
normal clock speed for these two applications for reasons of preserving
integrity. There is nothing to worry about. Only the clock speed reverts here.
Other settings (eg. Wait-state etc.) are still in effect.
15.
When
I disable Afterburner, I don’t seem to get back my original speed. Eg. I was
originally benchmarking at 108% but now I only get 99% after disabling
Afterburner. The common reason for this is due to some of the settings that
have been left active even after disabling. When Afterburner is disabled, the
clock and various clock related settings are reverted to normal. However,
settings such as LCD/n and/or 0-ws, Fast Mpx and such are not reverted to
normal. In particular, many people do not realize that the LCD/n default on
their machine may be 2 or 3. So if you disabled Afterburner and had LCD/n at 1,
it is likely that you see a lower benchmark than you would normally see. In
such a situation, simply make sure LCD/n is set to the correct default value
for your machine. Try 2 or 3 and see if you get the correct benchmark report.
Remember, the settings only take effect when Afterburner is enabled and you
exit Hackmaster. Simply changing the settings will not bring them into effect
immediately.
16.
I
have duplicate apps in memory and when I set the Speed to anything other than
Default, both the apps get changed in speed. This is to be expected since both
the apps share the same creator ID. You should also be aware that when you want
to revert to Default speed, you will have to set BOTH of them to Default or it
will not work.
17.
My
m505 seems to yield low benchmark scores. This is not unusual, if you are using
Benchmark 2.0 to score your m505. Part of this is because the m505 appears to
be using SDRAM (unlike some other Palm machines which use SRAM or PSRAM) which
have been initialized with somewhat high CAS states. I am unable to change this
setting at the moment but it does yield lower scores. On the bright side, if
you use PocketMark and crank your m505 up to 49MHz, you will have scores that
beat every color machine out there (except for GraphMarks).
18.
My
clock speed appears to be stuck at a slow speed. Changing the speed setting in
Afterburner doesn’t seem to help. It is likely that the PLL register got locked
by accident, usually when experimenting with extreme high or low settings. In
order to unlock the register, hold down the reset button for at least 1.2
seconds and it should be back to normal.
19.
When using JackFlash/JackSafe/FlashPro – I strongly recommend
running at Normal speed or at the very most, moderate overclocking. You are
likely to run into problems if you run FlashROM related apps (JackBack, etc.)
at too high a speed. Files can get corrupted in a bad way.
20.
The
speeds don’t revert to normal when I disable Afterburner. Why? If you are using
a hack manager other than HackMaster, TealMaster, X-Master, EVPlugBase, you
will have this problem. Hack managers need to be specially recognized and need
to run in a certain way for safe/stable operations. If you choose to use a
different manager (such as the one in Launcher III) you will continue to face
this problem. Hack managers need to run at Normal speed and are not allowed to
be overclocked. In Launcher III’s case, the launcher is also the hack manager.
If I were to support that hack manager, it would mean that Launcher III cannot
be overclocked. I am not sure that’s such a good thing. Therefore, for now I do
not recommend managing hacks using the feature for that in Launcher III. You do
have the option of setting Launcher III to “normal” speed in the SPEEDS panel
if you insist on doing this.
21.
TealMovie
sounds slow when accelerated. Can’t be helped, it’s just the way the program
was written.
22.
My
machine can’t go as fast as nnnMHz! My machine can’t run at the top speed! Why?
Because not every machine can run at the speed you want it to run at. A lot
depends on the yield quality of the particular batch of CPUs manufactured and
it is possible that some of you are just out of luck and got a CPU that just
doesn’t overclock very well. Nothing is being guaranteed about the CPU’s
ability to run at the fringe speed limits. Just keep your fingers crossed
because there’s nothing I can do about it.
23.
I
am having problems with crashing when enabling or disabling IRLink/Afterburner
when both are installed. In order to avoid this, you need to observe a first
enabled last disabled rule. This is because IRLink tries to grab a trap that
the hack manager has allocated to Afterbuner and since it is not a hack itself,
the hack manager cannot manage the situation. Therefore, it is recommended that
you activate Afterburner before enabling cradle redirect in IRLink, and disable
Afterburner only after you have disabled IRLink. If Afterburner is first
activated, you can enable/disable cradle redirect as much as you like as long
as you don’t disable Afterburner before disabling IRLink.
In
case you are having unresolvable problems, you may want to try a clean install.
The following procedure helps completely remove Afterburner from the machine.
1.
Disable
Afterburner from the hack manager that you are using.
2.
Delete
AfterburnerDB with any suitably utility.
3.
Download
PrefMngr from PalmGear and use it to remove all instances of Afterburner
preferences.
4.
Do
a soft-reset using the reset button (not a software initiated one) – hold for
at least 2 seconds.
This
should completely remove Afterbuner from your system.
Please
send your feedback and comments to me at:-
Credits
go to Jean-Paul Gavini who first conceived of this fabulous idea. Edward Keyes
for Hackmaster. Hackmaster is a must have program. Please register it for US$5
if you use it.
While
I will continue to provide the best support I can for Afterburner Hack, I must
expressly state that overclocking is not officially supported by Palm(tm) Inc.
and you push these limits at your own risk. I will not be held liable for hatever damage that might occur as a result
of using this hack.
Having
said that however, the risk of hardware damage is extremely low.
THIS
SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING (BUT NOT LIMITED TO) THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR
CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY
OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES INCLUDING (BUT NOT LIMITED TO) PROCUREMENT OF
SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES, LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
INTERRUPTION HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING
IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY
OF SUCH DAMAGE.