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Lots of photographers took steps to defeat those M-X switches. The main reason to fix them permanently on X is that when you photograph things like weddings with a TLR and electronic flash, accidentally knocking that lever to the M position would result in very disappointed brides - and irate mothers of the bride!
And most Pronto-Compur (PC) flash connection cables should work at the camera end. The other (flash) end can sometimes require proprietary connectors.
The only exceptions are cameras that have something like a locking connection to keep the PC connection in place, or cameras whose PC connectors require something like a cable with a right angle bend, in order to clear some other working part of the camera.