PPP - Eco Hack easter egg

The Eco Hack easter egg

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PLEASE NOTE: The following description is an unsupported function of Eco Hack. If you want to try it out, make sure you hot-sync your data first!
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Since there were some 'indiscretions' on the mail list already, I don't want my users to guess around with fatal results! So here's the complete and correct description directly from the author.
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UPDATE (3/13/98): PLEASE! I didn't release the easteregg originally, because I feared an overflowing mailbox! Now I get 10+ messages a day, telling me that Eco Hack works fine with 19 or 21MHz, but it crashes on 23MHz ... YEP, why not??? You are using an unsupported feature! Nobody guaranteed you, that your 16MHz device is running on 23MHz !!! Be happy, that Eco Hack is working *at all* on your Palm :) !!!
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Since Eco Hack is decreasing the processor speed to save some energy, it was only logical to try out, whether there is also a possibility to overclock the Palm. Yes, it is possible and it runs quite smoothly, the only trouble in the beginning is, to find the right speed for each individual Palm. That was the main reason to keep it unsupported, my support mail box would have killed me :)!
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Not all devices can work up to the same speed. The minimum all units could do so far, was 19 MHz, the upper limit was 23 MHz. So Eco Hack implements 3 different speeds, 19, 21 and 23 MHz (the normal processor clock is 16MHz). You can invoke the three speeds with a stroke from FIND across the graffity area to three different target areas. Look at the image below:
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Please try it out in ascending order!! Start with 19MHz and go higher then. It's important to realize, that the target area is *left* of the MENU and APP buttons, not in them! Best is, you just drag until you hit the edge of the case. Vertically, the target area is just divided into three equal parts for the three speeds (I know, it looks a bit different in the image <g>). For each overclock speed, you get an audible feedback - a kind of high pitch 'wooip', that sounds 1, 2 or 3 times for 19, 21 or 23 MHz. If you have the symbol of Eco Hack enabled, it shows an up-pointing arrow for any of the three overclock speeds (now you know, why normal speed was all the time a diamond, and not an up-arrow <g>).
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NOW THE IMPORTANT PART:
If you go too high, the first visible effect is mostly a 'scrambled' screen font. Most likely, your Palm will crash! 99% of these crashes can be 'cured' with a simple soft reset and you're back in business. STILL: There is the possibility, that an 'amok running' processor is corrupting your data!!! Please, make sure you have all your data save, *BEFORE* you try out the easter egg!
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Once you found 'your' best overclock speed, it runs stable and reliable. Both my Palms run with 23MHz and I love it for PocketLife and some other games :). In general, the newer PalmPilots seem to run better on 23MHz than the older 1000 and 5000 models. The speed gain is fortunately proportional to the processor clock, since the Palm doesn't adapt any wait states, so the complete device is accelerated, including the memory access.
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I checked the power consumption, and it's not so bad. 'Worst' case (23MHz), the unit needs 15% more power. That sounds more than it is, especially if you use also the backlight or the serial port, then the overall power 'waste' is much lesser. Anyway, it seems the faster the processor runs, the more efficient it is. Decreasing the speed by 40% (Eco mode), saves only 25-30% power, but increasing it by 40% (16 to 23MHz) costs only 15% more power. Not to forget the reduced duty periods on a higher speed (excluding games of course :) ).
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A last word about the possibility to damage your Palm by overclocking it: Of course I won't promise you anything here :), but from the engineering point of view, I see no chance for that. The Palm is a very low power device. The power dissipation gain we talk about, is around 12mW (0.012 Watt), that's ridiculous. So you won't have to cool down your processor in turbo mode :).
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Just in case you're also using Battery Monitor: BM checks also for the 'tubo mode' and adds the increased power consumption to the totals. Now, since the easter-egg is official (is it still an easter egg then?), I might add a 'Turbo time' line in the next BM updates.
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