I just don’t get what the purpose is though. You’ve lost access to the proprietary primary library, which was the original reason to buy a Switch. If you want an emulation console there are cheaper alternatives as well other than the Deck, I was just using it as the de facto standard handheld.
There’s no benefit to nuking the OS and replacing it on a Switch. At least with something like a ROG Ally, you can make the argument that flipping over to Linux would make the handheld more performant and energy efficient. That cannot be said about flashing Lineage onto a Switch which functionally makes the system considerably less useful.
The Switch OS is already optimized and designed for the hardware. It’s as good as you’re going to get, and it’s also already Linux. I would much rather suggest cracking it to put custom firmware on the device based on the Switch OS; you would get more use out of the device because it could still play the games and be rigged to emulate the older ones.
It’s cool Lineage did this or whatever but it’s kind of a pointless and weird flex.
The time it took you to write this would have been better spent reading the article:
Because Android isn’t technically “installed” on the Switch, but rather an external microSD card, you can switch between the default system and Lineage at any time.
Running Lineage is a big deal for those of us who have a switch laying around that no longer have a use for it.
It can be an android tv device replacement
Buy a $20 goose neck tablet mount, and now it’s a way to play streamed steam games or use the android tv jellyfin client to watch/play stuff without using the main TV
Bedside clock/radio with loads of extra features
Dedicated HomeAssistant remote
Or, the basic use case - Play emulated games on a neat handheld package with a decent screen on a plane or something, without needing to carry or buy another device.
If you have a Gen 1 Switch laying around, I would advise you to sell it to somebody who wants to make use of the ability to put CFW on it. They are actually still pretty valuable given the fact that all of the models beyond the first generation are guarded against the exploit that even makes this possible.
If you’ve got a switch gathering dust and have no interest in using it for gaming again (e.g. if you’ve got a steam deck), it’s nice to have the option to convert it to an Android tablet for the multitude of use cases the stock OS doesn’t support: streaming, a proper web browser, chat apps, …
If you have an original gen 1 Switch capable of even doing this (eg, not guarded against Fusée Gelée exploit at the hardware level like all subsequent models) you will probably find a better return selling it to somebody who wants to put CFW on it rather than turning it into a hacky android tablet.
With the model of the switch I have, modding it like this is only a softmod. Restarting the switch returns it to its normal nintendo switch interface and OS.
Why do this? Its fun, and besides if nintendo doesn’t want you playing its old games on new hardware then I’ll makr the new hardware play the old games.
If you can only install softmods you will not be able to crack the Switch to install Android on it. If you read the article it goes into detail about how only G1 Switches can actually achieve this because they are not guarded against the Fusée Gelée exploit for Nvidia Tegra processors. It continues to point out how Lites and OLEDs need to have custom soldering done for this to even work.
That’s what the original mod for switch is called, soft mod.
By restarting you either drop into a “launcher” that gives you various options including booting into the original OS or your modded OS.
I set mine up so if it restarts it always goes into the modded OS. Many people have theirs set up to go to the launcher, instead. People usually boot into the original OS if they want to play online.
I just don’t get what the purpose is though. You’ve lost access to the proprietary primary library, which was the original reason to buy a Switch. If you want an emulation console there are cheaper alternatives as well other than the Deck, I was just using it as the de facto standard handheld.
There’s no benefit to nuking the OS and replacing it on a Switch. At least with something like a ROG Ally, you can make the argument that flipping over to Linux would make the handheld more performant and energy efficient. That cannot be said about flashing Lineage onto a Switch which functionally makes the system considerably less useful.
The Switch OS is already optimized and designed for the hardware. It’s as good as you’re going to get, and it’s also already Linux. I would much rather suggest cracking it to put custom firmware on the device based on the Switch OS; you would get more use out of the device because it could still play the games and be rigged to emulate the older ones.
It’s cool Lineage did this or whatever but it’s kind of a pointless and weird flex.
The time it took you to write this would have been better spent reading the article:
Running Lineage is a big deal for those of us who have a switch laying around that no longer have a use for it.
Or, the basic use case - Play emulated games on a neat handheld package with a decent screen on a plane or something, without needing to carry or buy another device.
If you have a Gen 1 Switch laying around, I would advise you to sell it to somebody who wants to make use of the ability to put CFW on it. They are actually still pretty valuable given the fact that all of the models beyond the first generation are guarded against the exploit that even makes this possible.
If you’ve got a switch gathering dust and have no interest in using it for gaming again (e.g. if you’ve got a steam deck), it’s nice to have the option to convert it to an Android tablet for the multitude of use cases the stock OS doesn’t support: streaming, a proper web browser, chat apps, …
I have a Lite so I couldn’t even if I wanted to.
If you have an original gen 1 Switch capable of even doing this (eg, not guarded against Fusée Gelée exploit at the hardware level like all subsequent models) you will probably find a better return selling it to somebody who wants to put CFW on it rather than turning it into a hacky android tablet.
You could still mod using HWFLY/INSTINCT-NX or a Picofly modchip
With the model of the switch I have, modding it like this is only a softmod. Restarting the switch returns it to its normal nintendo switch interface and OS.
Why do this? Its fun, and besides if nintendo doesn’t want you playing its old games on new hardware then I’ll makr the new hardware play the old games.
If you can only install softmods you will not be able to crack the Switch to install Android on it. If you read the article it goes into detail about how only G1 Switches can actually achieve this because they are not guarded against the Fusée Gelée exploit for Nvidia Tegra processors. It continues to point out how Lites and OLEDs need to have custom soldering done for this to even work.
That’s what the original mod for switch is called, soft mod.
By restarting you either drop into a “launcher” that gives you various options including booting into the original OS or your modded OS.
I set mine up so if it restarts it always goes into the modded OS. Many people have theirs set up to go to the launcher, instead. People usually boot into the original OS if they want to play online.