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Nintendo hopes that "every single person" will own a Nintendo Switch, and that it can prolong the life cycle of the console to beyond 5-6 years.
Maybe Linux on Switch could help?
[Hacker] group Fail0verflow has claimed to have found a Nintendo Switch hack.
The group has posted the picture of Switch booting a Debian GNU/Linux installation. The picture also shows a serial adapter connected to one Joy-Con docks. Notably, Fail0verflow is the same group that hacked Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3.
What makes this Nintendo Switch hack special is that it can't be patched in the currently released consoles. This is because the exploit was found in the boot ROM process of Nvidia Tegra X1 chips that can't be patched with software or firmware updates.
That's not all. This hack to run Linux doesn't even need a mod chip to run.
Also at TechCrunch.
Previously: Nintendo Switch Homebrew Mode Coming Soon Due to NVIDIA Tegra X1 Exploit
Related: Nintendo to More Than Double Production of Switch; Success Rooted in Wii U's Failure
Nintendo Switch is Fastest-Selling US Home Console
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday February 13 2018, @05:52AM (9 children)
Why would nintendo fight this, or even attempt to issue a patch?
Once you put linux on it, its not longer suited to original purpose, (unless linux comes off of it clean). People who do this aren't going to be coming back with warranty claims. Why worry about it? Let them go. They did you a favor, they bought your Game console product and relieved you of any warranty issues by converting it to a general purpose computer.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 13 2018, @06:22AM
IIUC, most consoles are sold at a loss, and the games are where profit is made. I don't understand why they'd patch though, it's a waste of resources when the console modding community is so small. Rather, it should be a profit opportunity - sell a Linux cartridge or whatever these things use and 99% of those people would rather give you their money.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Tuesday February 13 2018, @06:32AM
(Score: 4, Informative) by mrchew1982 on Tuesday February 13 2018, @07:24AM (2 children)
It exposes the system to more hacks that could be used to page the way for pirating games. In consoles security through obfuscation is the easiest way.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 13 2018, @07:41AM (1 child)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 13 2018, @09:19PM
No one should buy products which do not respect your freedoms to begin with.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 13 2018, @09:10AM (1 child)
Because in the mind of the managers, control is more important than short term sales. Building the best product is so 1950.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 13 2018, @04:00PM
That is why I like Nintendo, they didn't seem to get the memo.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Tuesday February 13 2018, @03:56PM
Similarly, why would Sony remove support for running Linux on the PS3 [wikipedia.org]?
(Score: 2) by Sourcery42 on Wednesday February 14 2018, @05:20PM
One reason I can think of is to stop people from running emulators. I have a wii with homebrew emulators on it that prompted some nostalgic runs through old 8 bit and 16 bit games. I think that wii has spent more time running old games than it ever did playing anything that was actually released for it. Thing is, Nintendo is still trying to monetize those old games. They continue to sell some classics for modern systems through their store. I think they call it virtual console or something like that. They prefer to have you pay them a second time for a classic game rather than loading up a rom in FCEU.