Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/04/...intendo-switch

http://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/...it-1202784550/

The Nintendo Switch can run Linux quite well, though still in early stages of development. The Nvidia chip makes running linux on it quite easily. On top of being an excellent gaming system it can now be a portable computer and homebrew device. Plus the exploit used is hardware level which means every Nintendo Switch sold thus far can be hacked, fixing the exploit requires a hardware level fix. We should also get custom firmwares soon. The Nintendo Switch looks more tempting now. :cool:

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

I tought they were running linux already; and on top of that with one user only (root)?

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

dont really see the point tbh

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Given the compact form factor, it might work well with Sailfish on it. I will click 'Thanks!' on every post of whoever creates a fully working Sailfish port.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Forever?
Ten chars

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Only if you subscribe to a linear conception of time.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Actually, I was looking the other day and I discovered that there is support in mainline Linux for several major commercial games consoles:

https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux...cast_defconfig
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux...s/gamecube.dts
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux...ot/dts/wii.dts
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux...ot/dts/ps3.dts

There's also a WIP Wii U port (not yet mainlined):
https://gitlab.com/linux-wiiu/linux-wiiu#wii-u-linux

This is quite impressive when you consider that these devices were never built to run Linux in the first place (apart from the PS3). Compare that to Android devices which are based on Linux - how many of these have been mainlined? Armdroid really has become the new Wintel - the anti-Linux.

I'm not interested in proprietary OSs (or thanks) so I won't be doing a Sailfish port but I still have a few of these consoles lying around so a Maemo 7 port could be interesting, for publicity purposes if nothing else. Nexus 5 comes first though.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

There's booting and booting.
As in, just getting a cpu up and running with a terminal, is one thing. The more recent consoles are "easy" in that they have OpenGL supported (to a certain extent or with specific extensions).

On older consoles, it's hw programming all the way, to even just get a fb device up and running.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

I've been toying around with Linux on the Nintnedo Switch (Ubuntu)

But I would love to see Sailfish OS running on the Switch!

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

I can celebrate the effort and ability; I enjoy my Nintendo Switch to play the games that work well on it.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

The switch runs a modified BSD operating system similar to the Playstations.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

No it doesn't. The switch runs its own operating system which is (partly) based on the 3ds-os. (the wiki was made by one of the teams which found the boot-loader-vulnerability so it's pretty reliable)

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

So the next step will be to see how long it takes until someone can get switch games to run under linux, right? :)

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

You're in luck, yuzu works on linux and already has a few games running.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Yes I knew about this :), thanks!

I didnt realize they were that advanced.

Its amazing, now the switch will truly start to shine!

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Same here. If I’d want a working Linux device I’d rather get sth Else than a switch.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

I think you are missing the point here. Nobody is saying to go out and buy a games console for the sole purpose of running Linux. Of course there are plenty of other devices better suited to that.

The Switch is a portable console. Why should I carry an additional Linux device around with me if the Switch is perfectly capable of running Linux?

Personally I'm sick and tired of modern console gaming. I'm fed up with console manufacturers telling us what we can and can't do with the devices we've purchased. Since consoles have gone online, things have turned to sh¡t. Now you have to agree to an EULA to use the console you've already purchased and if you don't agree to it, you get a crippled experience. Every few weeks you are forced to download and install a multi gigabyte patch before you can resume playing the game you already purchased and started playing through. It's bullsh¡t.

So if I decide to buy a Switch, it will be for games, but you can be damn well sure I'm going to install Linux on it and hack away till my heart's content. I will be the owner of what I purchase, not Nintendo.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Wicket's right.
and if you think clicking on a EULA ain't so bad...
or someone else owning what you bought..
and deciding what you shall have and what you can or cannot do with your purchase...

Just wait ...
give it just that kind of apathy...
and in no time at all...
In your post will be an envelope with your name on it...
and inside ...
a request to sign and return the EULA form for your life.
I am sure that eventually there will simply be a tiny little "check box" on the right buttock cheek of every newborn...just to simplify things...

EULA's ...
I am quite sick of them...
You'd think in fact ...
that after the latest scandal involving Facebook and Analytica ...
that more companies would take heed.
Oh no...
Yahoo / AOL just sent everyone who has an email address with yahoo...
a nice shiny new "Terms of Service and Privacy Policy" update....
I got 2...1 for each of my yahoo accounts..
I was happy with the service ..the last couple of years..
...until this Sh1tstorm disrupted my week.
reading my emails and then targeting ads at me?
REALLY???

here is just one layman's article on yahoo's new subtle push tactic...
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/04/...email-privacy/
Now I have been informing everyone I send and receive mail to ..thru my yahoo accounts ...that I am moving my service ...
I have a lovely letter prepared for yahoo...

Thankfully I have multiple email accounts set up and in use via a variety of much better alternatives.

I am so fed up with the corp. sneaky b@stards preying on the somnambulism of the population...
Expecting that no one ..or at best...a very few "radicals" will even care about their freedoms they are "clicking" away...

The string of profanity I have been uttering this whole writ would burn the ears off a troll.
:C

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Not that I disagree with that sentiment, in fact just the opposite. But there is one fault with t: it is all about me, me, me. "I" am sick and tired, device "I" have purchased, etc, etc.

Now try to see it from the manufacturer's perspective. They did not spend thousands of man-hours (sorry, "person"-hours, to satisfy any social warriors here) to give you "a general purpose machine to run anything you damn please on". They spend them to give you a games console. From their point of view, if you want a portable Linux machine, then go and buy one. What are you saying? There isn't one? Not my problem! Bakers sell bread, butches sell meat. It is not the baker's job to satisfy your craving for an elephant steak, nor Nintendo's to satisfy your craving for a pocket Linux computer. Of course manufacturers will do anything in their arsenal to make sure you use their products in the way they intended. It is not some kind of conspiracy against you, it is simply them protecting their interests.

I am not saying that it is right or how it should be. If things were as they should be then I could fly and teleport. I am only saying that it is how it is.

In light of that, I see running Linux on a games console as a nice bonus, but not as my Holy Right™.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Indeed. I don't disagree with you at all. I haven't bought a new games console since the GameCube (2001) because I generally don't agree with the practices of console manufacturers. The manufacturers are of course entitled to do what they like. I know very well that I'm not their target audience. That doesn't mean that I don't like to unwind occasionally and play the odd video game. I was merely addressing the point that NX500 and plenty of others have made over time, which is "what's the point of running Linux on something that was designed for playing games?" To me there is a point as it's actually an incentive that might tempt me to purchase a console.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Here's where I have an apparent disconnect. And I'm not picking on Wicket, it's just that I do not understand why if a person that does not purchase modern games to be used on a modern game system would want to use Linux on that modern gaming system to play older games.

Prior generation console emulation has come a very far way on other devices and they do hardware emulation quite effortlessly - some are handheld even.

It's not that I believe that I'm right - I am a person that still plays some games like Mario Odyssey on my Nintendo Switch - but it's just a disconnect that I have. If you place Linux on a device not originally intended to run it, just to play older games (no comment on how you might procure those older games), then doesn't that mean that Nintendo (in this case) still has your money for purchasing the device?

Or is "sticking it to the man" mean that much now?

Curious question. Just one that I perhaps as a gamer do not get the fixation to put Linux in places where it actually loses function.

And for the record, I modded my Nintendo GameCube to play Japanese games, I modded my Sega Dreamcast to play all regions of games, I modified my SNK NeoGeo to have an HDMI port, I soldered a modchip into my first gen Sony PlayStation amongst other things. MAME was my then go-to emulation then later I found a perfect emulator for Killer Instinct and the NeoGeo as well.

Now? Just a Sony PlayStation Vita, Nintendo WiiU, a Nintendo Switch and an older Sony PlayStation 3 that was supposed to have gotten Linux but didn't... not by Sony at least.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

I skipped the fun of rooting and modding...
I just use an emulator on my computer to play console games nowadays ...
used to enjoy the old nintendo and super nintendo classics back in the way way before timey times...

but frankly..the only console game worth the play time...
was / is "Vagrant Story"
Damn damn good game ...

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

(Disclaimer: as a non-gamer, I may be speaking from the wrong orifice.)

But that depends on what you consider "function", does it not? The way I read wicket's post was that the goal was not to run old games on a new console, but to run Linux on it. Running old games was just by the way, to illustrate that he is not against games on principle. He said, quite explicitly, that if Linux on a console were as option, he would consider buying one, for the first time in 17 years. In other words, he is "sticking it to the man" right now, by not buying one. The ability to run Linux would soften his stance.

I actually agree with you both. I have never driven a tractor but if one could be obtained cheaply and then modified for a purpose it was never intended for, namely my daily commute of 35 miles on a motorway, I might consider one :D

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Now there's an idea...
Tractors are simpler to use than a car...and are for more multipurpose...
Not to mention all that space for modding...
I mean an OLDE tractor...one that can actually be worked on by oneself.
Not the modern ones...(glorified riding lawnmowers)
Good idea for the garden too.
quite a time saver....a good tractor.

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

The point of a console is to make gaming fun, easy to access as in "plug and play", no-hassle, definitely NO CODING, and to provide a "standardized" selling channel for content providers (=game studios).
Now the landscape has shifted due to the enormous influence of the internet (downloads vs physical sales), but the console paradigm has not. Sure, its has adapted to it (with downloads etc), but with strings attached (see the "constant 1.5 GB downloads to be able to play games" mentioned before). As such, in my personal, humble opinion, it _just_ _doesnt_ _work_. It's like trying to fit a square in a triangle hole. Sure it works for steam, on a pc. But on a console? Hell no.

I personally like Nintendo exactly for staying on this tradition even with the switch, in 2017. Say what you want, being able to own physical games is worth not being able to play the old ones on the same hw (except through emulators), because thats what the point of consoles is, in the end. When I want to play, I want to pick up the gamepad, switch on the tv and bang - enjoy.
I dont want hassle with bloody terminals, mices, configuration files, drivers, sound drivers, resolution configurations, and what not. I pay for the fun, not for the headaches caused by complexity of modern operating systems (and sorry but that includes downloads as well). Consoles are games as a service, in hardware form!

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

I hope you’ve heard of DreamPi, Henkaku and SD2Vita for your devices.

I agree with your point though: I understand, people like, wicked who want to own their devices. I’m a person like that myself. I will hack the switch just for the fun of it. But, I’m not looking forward to all the emulators and such, running on the 1000th hacked device, with another fork of retroarch now...but that’s another topic/issue. :rolleyes:

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Yes. No. Yes.

Thanks for the pointer. Weird part, I travel a lot so having those handhelds is less cumbersome than a collection of boards loosely fit inside of a 3D printed case or whatever.

Side note: I used to be in the video game industry. So there's a bit of camaraderie that I share with that industry. My Dreamcast I've had since the official release day - that's my "baby".

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

At least for me (and I guess that's true for wicket too), getting Linux to run on it is part of the "gaming experience", maybe even the most important part of it.

It is fun to see if you can do it and it's fun to figure out how to solve problems along the way - solving actual technical problems, not fiddling with spanners the manufacturer has thrown in your works intentionally.

If you've played with model railways or Lego during your childhood you might know the feeling:
Building up the tracks and landscapes or the cars and spaceships is the actual fun. Playing with the finished thing beyond the stage of mere function testing gets boring pretty quickly.

It's a totally different feeling to hit a wall because something is technically not possible or because your skills don't suffice (yet) on one hand and the manufacturer basically telling you "You're not allowed to do that for no good reason." on the other.


Oh, and on the point of EULAs:
Just remember that every time you accept one of those, the licensor slaughters a little kitten!

Re: Nintendo Switch Runs Linux
 

Naw. I remember those days very well. I got Linux on my Compaq iPaq 2210, my 1st Gen 5GB Apple iPod, so forth. Was fun while it lasted - putting Linux everywhere.

But I didn't see it as gaming. I did see triumph. Different take on doing the same thing decades later.

Totally!

Now I'm starting to see your gaming analogy...

Okay. I'm sold. I totally get your point and agree... definitely a "game" of sorts.

Too bad you didn't say puppy. I don't really care for cats ;)