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Looks like you can now run Linux on the Nintendo Switch

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You read the headline correctly, Linux can now actually be installed on the Nintendo Switch making it an even more interesting device.


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The NVIDIA Tegra SoC used inside the Switch has a rather interesting bug, one that doesn't seem like it can be patched away allowing for any Linux enthusiast to load up Linux directly on their Switch. All current Switch units are vulnerable to the exploit, so Nintendo would need a new version of the Switch to stop this.

See for yourself below:

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Interested to learn more about it? There's a post on fail0verflow with more in-depth details. You can also find code and stuff on GitHub.

Fascinating stuff really, as an owner of a Switch it's not exactly something I will be doing (my son would never forgive me), but it's very cool to see nonetheless.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Hardware
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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47 comments
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tonR May 2, 2018
Quoting: MayeulCYou might want to have a look at PostmarketOS (it's not ready for a daily driver yet, but it's getting there).
PostmarketOS looks very interesting especially list of devices that can be ported. Alpine Linux also worth trying on my old laptop. Right now I'm using Lubuntu for my laptop as it said to be the lightest Ubuntu-based distribution. If Alpine better than Lubuntu, I might migrating to Alpine.

Btw, Thank you for your suggestion. I'm now following both PostmarketOS and Alpine Linux developments right now.
elmapul May 3, 2018
Quoting: ShmerlIt's just a Tegra tablet with some Nintendo DRM mess attached. So once DRM is broken, Linux should be runnable :)

by that point the hardware may be outdated , we may have tegra 2, with switch 2...
Gidaio May 4, 2018
I read through this entire thing, just to be sorely disappointed this joke hasn't been made:

Now let's SWITCH... over to Linux!

Terrible, indeed, but it needed to be said. :P
slaapliedje May 4, 2018
Quoting: elmapul
Quoting: ShmerlIt's just a Tegra tablet with some Nintendo DRM mess attached. So once DRM is broken, Linux should be runnable :)

by that point the hardware may be outdated , we may have tegra 2, with switch 2...

It's a Tegra X1, pretty decent. Apparently ALL Tegra X1 SoC are vulnerable to the hack that allows Linux to be installed on the Switch. Yup, the Tesla cars also use this same SoC.
elmapul May 4, 2018
Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: elmapul
Quoting: ShmerlIt's just a Tegra tablet with some Nintendo DRM mess attached. So once DRM is broken, Linux should be runnable :)

by that point the hardware may be outdated , we may have tegra 2, with switch 2...

It's a Tegra X1, pretty decent. Apparently ALL Tegra X1 SoC are vulnerable to the hack that allows Linux to be installed on the Switch. Yup, the Tesla cars also use this same SoC.

the issue is.
imagine that scenario.
nvidia launch tegra 2 and nintendo launch switch 2, we are still trying to hack the switch 1 to add hardware acceleration, part of the interest disapear because many hackers move to try to hack the switch 2.

tegra 3 and switch 3 launch, and we still cant fully acess the hardware of tegra1/switch1, t2/s2, and start with the hacking of t3/s3...

things will never end at this rate, its a "cat-and-mouse game"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_and_mouse
just like wine will never be perfect for the same reason.

i remember back in the days of DS, i installed linux on it expecting to do cool things with it, but by the time that i found something usefull to do on it, it was already to late, i already had an android phone to run those tasks and many others as well as to develop for and have the oportunity to make money in the process (instead of code as a hobby)
i dont want the same to happen here.
slaapliedje May 4, 2018
They already have a Tegra 2, it's actually the lesser over Tegra X1. In fact they already have Tegra X2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegra

Actually from what I understand, Tegra (at least the older, not sure about the X1) already has full 3D acceleration in Linux.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia-tegra-x1&num=1
Purple Library Guy May 5, 2018
Quoting: elmapulthings will never end at this rate, its a "cat-and-mouse game"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_and_mouse
just like wine will never be perfect for the same reason.
Welll . . . Wine will never be perfect for current Windows. But over time the proportion of software that was written for Windows-before-the-present gradually increases, and current Windows seems to be getting worse at backwards compatibility, probably deliberately for certain tactical reasons which I think may be mistaken.
So in theory Wine could become approximately perfect for pre-current Windows, and that becomes a more and more important role.
elmapul May 8, 2018
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: elmapulthings will never end at this rate, its a "cat-and-mouse game"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_and_mouse
just like wine will never be perfect for the same reason.
Welll . . . Wine will never be perfect for current Windows. But over time the proportion of software that was written for Windows-before-the-present gradually increases, and current Windows seems to be getting worse at backwards compatibility, probably deliberately for certain tactical reasons which I think may be mistaken.
So in theory Wine could become approximately perfect for pre-current Windows, and that becomes a more and more important role.

windows indeed cut the support for old softwares/games (that takes time because microsoft understand that killing the backward compatibility may harm then)
you cant play old dos games on windows anymore, indeed.
except that you can!

dosbox has an version for windows, gog even uses it to sell old games on windows.
so even if windows lose backward compatibility, gamers will be able to play their games anyway, some one will port something like wine to windows, or companies will port their old games and the worse part is, even games distributed with dosbox emulation may not officialy support linux (even if the game is still playable, people considering use it will stay away thinking that the game cant run, or new users will have trouble making it run)
elmapul May 8, 2018
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: elmapulthings will never end at this rate, its a "cat-and-mouse game"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_and_mouse
just like wine will never be perfect for the same reason.
Welll . . . Wine will never be perfect for current Windows. But over time the proportion of software that was written for Windows-before-the-present gradually increases, and current Windows seems to be getting worse at backwards compatibility, probably deliberately for certain tactical reasons which I think may be mistaken.
So in theory Wine could become approximately perfect for pre-current Windows, and that becomes a more and more important role.

windows indeed cut the support for old softwares/games (that takes time because microsoft understand that killing the backward compatibility may harm then)
you cant play old dos games on windows anymore, indeed.
except that you can!

dosbox has an version for windows, gog even uses it to sell old games on windows.
so even if windows lose backward compatibility, gamers will be able to play their games anyway, some one will port something like wine to windows, or companies will port their old games and the worse part is, even games distributed with dosbox emulation may not officialy support linux (even if the game is still playable, people considering use it will stay away thinking that the game cant run, or new users will have trouble making it run)
slaapliedje May 13, 2018
Quoting: elmapul
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: elmapulthings will never end at this rate, its a "cat-and-mouse game"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_and_mouse
just like wine will never be perfect for the same reason.
Welll . . . Wine will never be perfect for current Windows. But over time the proportion of software that was written for Windows-before-the-present gradually increases, and current Windows seems to be getting worse at backwards compatibility, probably deliberately for certain tactical reasons which I think may be mistaken.
So in theory Wine could become approximately perfect for pre-current Windows, and that becomes a more and more important role.

windows indeed cut the support for old softwares/games (that takes time because microsoft understand that killing the backward compatibility may harm then)
you cant play old dos games on windows anymore, indeed.
except that you can!

dosbox has an version for windows, gog even uses it to sell old games on windows.
so even if windows lose backward compatibility, gamers will be able to play their games anyway, some one will port something like wine to windows, or companies will port their old games and the worse part is, even games distributed with dosbox emulation may not officialy support linux (even if the game is still playable, people considering use it will stay away thinking that the game cant run, or new users will have trouble making it run)

Yeah, Dosbox is great for Dos games. My perfect example of Windows not working with Windows is Interstate '76. It's been a while since I tried it, but even on Windows 7 the colors were all sorts of jacked up, no matter what I did. It works perfectly in Wine though.
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