“The very fact it is doable in any respect is a credit score to the ingenuity of the open-source neighborhood,” writes the weblog OMG Ubuntu:
Switchroot is an open-source venture that permits Android and Linux-based distros like Ubuntu to run on the Nintendo Swap — completely not one thing Nintendo approves of a lot much less helps, endorses, or encourages, and many others! I coated the loophole that made this doable again in 2018. Again then the NVIDIA Tegra X1-powered Nintendo Swap was nonetheless new and Linux help for a lot of the console’s inner {hardware} in a formative state (a well mannered solution to say ‘not all the pieces labored’). However as the recognition of Nintendo’s handheld console ballooned (to understate it) so the ‘various OS’ Swap scene grew, and earlier than lengthy Linux help for Swap {hardware} was in full bloom…
Numerous Linux for Switchroot (L4S) distributions have since been launched, designated as Linux for Tegra (L4T) builds. As these can boot from a microSD card it is even doable to dualboot the Swap OS with Linux, which is neat! Lately, a contemporary set of L4T Ubuntu photos have been launched primarily based on the most recent Ubuntu 24.04 LTS launch. These builds work on all Swap variations, from the OG (exploit-friendly) unit by to newer, patched fashions (the place a modchip is required)…
I am instructed the entire Nintendo Swap inner {hardware} now works below Linux, together with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, sleep mode, accelerated graphics, the official dock… All the things, principally. And regardless of being a 7 yr previous ARM machine the efficiency is claimed to stay first rate.
“Upstream snafus have delayed the discharge of builds with GNOME Shell…”