X-Master 1.3 X-Master manages Palm OS system extensions (aka Hacks) HackMaster, developed by Edward Keyes in 1997, has been the de-facto standard for managing Palm OS system extensions that patch system traps (so-called Hacks). X-Master is a free 100% compatible successor to HackMaster and offers various improvements, both technical and in the user interface. Installation/Upgrade The ZIP archive contains two files, X-Master.prc and X-Master-Light.prc. The latter is a stripped down version of X-Master for users running low on free memory. It is identical to the full version except for the patch info and the sets functionality. If you are not concerned with the extra KB, install the X- Master.prc file. X-Master is a regular Palm OS application. After starting X-Master, the list of system extensions (Hacks) found on your handheld is displayed. Active extensions have a checkmark to the left. X-Master will recognize if you have HackMaster running and will take over the set of active Hacks from HackMaster. Because it makes no sense to have two utilities with the same functionality, it will then remove HackMaster from your handheld. If you use a different extension (Hack) management application like EVPlugbase or TealMaster and want to use X-Master, you should first deactivate all extensions in the other program. Note that using multiple extension managers at the same time may lead to unpredictable results. You should eventually delete the other application. You can install newer versions of X-Master over the old version without deinstallation. Please perform a soft reset if you upgrade from version 1.0. To remove X-Master from your handheld, first deactivate all extensions, then delete X-Master just like a regular program in the launcher. Details The Details dialog lists version, status (active/inactive) and the Palm OS functions that the currently selected extension patches. You can activate/deactivate a system extension. To get general information about a particular system extension, tap on the (i) in the upper right corner of the Details dialog. If you tap on the Delete button, the system extension will be deactivated and removed from your handheld. This includes all data and the preferences. Reset All system extensions are automatically deactivated by the system after a reset. X-Master will display a dialog asking whether you want to reactivate your formerly active collection of system extensions. You can have this popup automatically confirmed after 5 seconds if you check the corresponding preference option. Sets If you have many system extensions installed, chances are you do not want to have all of them activated at the same time. X-Master provides support for easy switching between multiple sets of active extensions. By tapping on menu->Extensions->Create Set you can store the currently active set of system extensions. Once you have sets defined, a popup trigger in the upper right corner will appear that let you select or edit your sets. You can define up to 30 sets. Note that the activation order of extensions within a set matters, i.e. you can have two sets that contain the same extensions but in different order. To switch between sets with a simple stroke in any application, install and activate the free XMSwitchSet extension. Extension patch chain The extension patch chain dialog, available through menu->Extensions->List All Active, lists all applications that alter system functions. The first called extension comes first. Note that this list may include applications that are not X-Master compatible (i.e. do their own trap patching). These applications will not appear in the main X-Master extension list. Preferences In the preferences, you can select whether you want the original HackMaster style layout (with little (i) and (...) buttons next to the extension name, or the default layout with Configure and Info buttons at the bottom. By default, X-Master sorts active and inactive extensions alphabetically with all active extensions coming first. When you select strictly alphabetically, all extensions will be sorted alphabetically, regardless of their activation state. When you select Activation order, the list order will mirror the activation order with the most recently activated extension coming first. Order of activated extensions Sometimes, the order in which extensions are activated matters. Some extensions may not work if a different extension is activated first. For technical reasons, for any patched system function, the last activated extension will be called first. X-Master retains the order in which you activate the extensions after resets and in sets. To find out the current order in which extensions are called, view the extension patch chain or select the preference option to display activation order. Compatibility X-Master runs on all Palm OS devices with at least Palm OS 2.0. X-Master is fully compatible with HackMaster. It uses the same protocol and the same activation procedure as the original HackMaster. All Hacks written for HackMaster should work. A small number of Hacks falsely checks for the presence of the original HackMaster. Such Hacks can be identified in a text editor by containing the strings "HackMaster" or "dwHM". If you find such a Hack, please contact the respective developer and ask them to remove this test or extend it to include X- Master as well. If they have any technical questions, we'd be glad to help. X-Master fixes many shortcomings of the original HackMaster program. It therefore makes obsolete various third-party hacks and applications that have been specifically written to fix such HackMaster faults. If X-Master finds such an application, it will display an alert. You should disable and remove these hacks and applications. X-Master is compatible with LeftHack. X-Master can be moved to Flash ROM. Troubleshooting Because system extensions call deeply into the operating system sometimes subtle problems occur if several extensions interfere with each other, or if the extension was not written for the current operating system. Things to try if a system extension is not working properly or if your handheld is unstable after activating a certain system extension: is the extension (Hack) compatible with your Palm OS version and hardware? is it working if all other extensions are disabled? perform a soft reset Version history Version 1.3 (09-May-2001) more compatibility enhancements include new Palm OS 4.0 patch names compatibility fixes X-Master will no longer try to activate a patch if this patch is not available on the current OS reversed patch chain list to be consistent with main list (first called extension comes first) supports direct calling from Launcher III support for JackFlash support for Handera 330 support for XMSwitchSet extension Version 1.2 (11-Feb-2001) fixed bug with garbled function names fixed various sets bugs improved sets handling added set update functionality reduced space between lines so that 11 extensions fit on one page added light version with smaller memory footprint (no patch info and no sets) Version 1.1 (5-Feb-2001) fixed Visor incompatibilities (our sincere apologies to all Visor users who suffered crashes with 1.0!) many other bug fixes added beaming Version 1.0 initial public release Thanks to Mike McCollister for numerous valuable suggestions. Special thanks to Takanori Nakane for the Japanese translation. (C) LinkeSOFT GmbH, 2001 http://linkesoft.com/ This software is freeware by LinkeSOFT. You may freely distribute it, provided that the program and this copyright is not altered in any way. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY LINKESOFT GMBH ''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 LinkeSOFT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PECIAL, 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 THERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.