L4T Ubuntu Switch

L4T Ubuntu
General
Author	Switchroot
Type	Operating systems
Version	5.1.2
License	Mixed
Last Updated	2023/08/26
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Experience the power of Linux on your Switch with L4T Ubuntu.

L4T Ubuntu is a Linux distribution built upon NVIDIA's Linux for Tegra project, featuring a distinct kernel that enables the utilization of features that are not yet available in mainline. This includes support for audio, docking, and Vulkan.

Note: Using high clocks in handheld mode can significantly reduce your battery's lifespan compared to stock clocks. Be cautious when doing so.

Features

• Switch 2017, Switch 2019, Switch Lite, Switch OLED support (Erista and Mariko).
• Full USB-C support.
• Power Delivery, On-The-Go, DisplayPort/HDMI on any adapters/dock.
• Bluetooth and Wifi.
• BT controllers and audio SBC/AAC/AptX/Aptx HD support.
• WiFi with all channels except 2.4GHz 14 and 5GHz 144.
• Full Joy-Con Support (Excluding NFC, and IR camera).
• Nvidia Tegra GPU drivers - Vulkan, OpenGL, OpenGLES, EGL, CUDA.
• Audio - Headphones, Speakers, HDMI (up to 5.1) when docked, and Microphone (version 3.4.2+).
• Touchscreen.
• Handheld (720p @ 60) and Docked Display.
• Docked up to 4k30 or 1440p60 on Switch 2017/2019, and up to 4k60 on Switch OLED with OLED dock or 4k60 capable adapter.
• CPU/GPU/RAM frequency scaling.
• Frequency depends on the Nvidia Applet Power Mode, automatic Console and Handheld Profiles.
• Automatic Overclocking through the Nvidia (Blue/Red Joy-Con) Indicator Applet (select an OC mode).
• Full SD card speed.
• Hardware Video acceleration.
• Support in new SMPV Player app (smpv), ffmpeg-l4t, mpv-l4t, system ffmpeg and the chromium-browser.
• Watch videos without battery draining massively and convert videos really fast.
• Deep Sleep.
• IMU/Ambient Light sensor support.
• R2P (Reboot to any hekate boot entry configuration).
• Support for Moonlight-QT.
• Stream games/desktop from your Nvidia (nvidia gamestream) or AMD (sunshine moonlight host) GPU to your Switch.
• HW video accelerated up to 4k.
• Updates distributed through APT package manager.
• Basically everything the hardware supports even if Switch OS doesn't support. Except NFC and IR.

Installation

Follow the guide from the switchroot wiki.

Controls

Media

Running Linux On The Nintendo Switch! (Linux Lounge)

How to Install Linux on Nintendo Switch | L4T Ubuntu 3.3.0 Switchroot Install or Update Tutorial (LOE TECH)

Compatibility

(5.1.1) Requires hekate 6.0.5 v2 or newer.

(5.1.2) Requires hekate 6.6.0 or newer.

Changelog

Ubuntu Bionic 5.1.2

• RAM clocking greatly improved
  • Read wiki's RAM OC guide before trying higher rates.
• Fixed a critical BT pairing issue
• More Joycon clones now work
• And more

Ubuntu Bionic 5.1.0

• Kernel/Driver changes
  • RAM OC support of 2133 for T210 and 3000 MHz for T210B01
  • Improved calibration support for Lite Gamepad (Sio). Needs hekate v6.0.5 v2 or newer. Use the Dump Joy-Con BT.
  • Fixed an issue where some Taishin/Silicon Power SD cards where they would fail to init
  • Several extra checks were added for SD Card UHS DDR200 tuning.
  • Any card that requires the Sandisk method of tuning and fails these checks is barred from using it and they fallback to UHS SDR104.
  • ddr200_disable is now removed, since it was abused and no one reported the issue to the proper channels.
  • Stick Calibration is now tighter for Joy-Con/Pro-Con/Lite controllers when factory or user calibration is empty or can't be acquired.
  • Fixed an old railed Joy-Con issue which could make UART communications hang if it was plugged during suspend procedure.
  • Added Generic and FTDI USB serial drivers as modules
  • Support unfused BRCM4354 mascaraed as BRCM4356 WiFi chip on some old Switch units
  • Add support for WiFi 5 GHz bonding restriction of VHT80 and VHT160 to mitigate possible bugs in the WiFi firmware if needed.
• Ubuntu/Userspace changes
  • mem-bench command was added. It is able to use most of RAM bandwidth. Use together with Perf OC All power profile for better results.
  • Frequency reported there is the actual real frequency of RAM. Reason why it changes everytime, because of clock jitter.
  • Fixed an issue with jc-dump-ltk command failing to acquire Pro-Con or Joy-Con Grip MAC addresses and LTK properly.
• Boot Stack changes
  • Initramfs
  • -- Failed to find rootfs issues can now also be debugged via USB. Simply follow the instruction in the Red screen and connect to a PC.
  • -- Added support for Procon auto BT pairing creation
  • Simply add this in switchroot/joycon_mac.ini
    • [joycon_02]
    • type=3
    • mac={MAC address of Procon}
    • host={MAC address of Switch}
    • ltk={LTK (connection key) of Procon}
  • And fill in the {brackets} with the correct information. All of it can be acquired from the jc-dump-ltk command when you connect Procon via USB.
  • Reminder that if the file is created anew, the line-endings MUST be Unix based. CRLF are not supported.
  • INI config
    • -- Added ram_oc_vdd2, ram_oc_vddq for fine tuning RAM voltage and improved ram_oc key. Read below for more.
    • -- Added wifi_disable_vht80 key that can disable WiFi 5GHz bonding of VHT80 and VHT160 to mitigate possible bugs in the WiFi firmware if needed.
    • All info can be found in README_CONFIG.txt also.
  • Misc
    • -- Added full proper factory calibration support for Lite Gamepad.
    • Get latest hekate, v6.0.5 v2 or newer, and use Dump Joy-Con BT to enable it.

Ubuntu Bionic 5.1.0

r2/r3 changes:

• Kernel/Driver:
  • Several extra checks were added for SD Card UHS DDR200 tuning.
    • Any card that requires the Sandisk method of tuning and fails these checks is barred from using it and they fallback to UHS SDR104.
    • ddr200_disable is now removed, since it was abused and no one reported the issue to the proper channels.
  • Stick Calibration is now tighter for Joy-Con/Pro-Con/Lite controllers when factory or user calibration is empty or can't be acquired.
  • Fixed an old railed Joy-Con issue which could make UART communications hang if it was plugged during suspend procedure.
• Userspace:
  • Fixed an issue with jc-dump-ltk command failing to acquire Pro-Con or Joy-Con Grip MAC addresses and LTK properly.

Kernel/Driver changes:

• SD/eMMC Dramatic Performance Increases:
  • Support for SD card UHS DDR200 allowing for up to 200MB/s on UHS-I bus (up from 104MB/s). (Needs hekate 6.0.3).
  • That marks the first device in the world to even support this. (HW is 4 years older than DDR200 and doesn't provide official support).
  • Read performance increased by 2-20% and write by 50-200% on SD and eMMC. That's by fixing an almost 2 decades old bug.
  • Fixed an old Nvidia bug where it would decrease SD/eMMC performance by 60% after a deep sleep.
  • Decreased latency/access times and improved random transfers (4k IOPS).
  • Added support for SD card cache.
  • SD Card VDDC/VDDQ regulators are now disabled on deep sleep. Increases standby times dramatically on chipped switch that use the proper SD card VDD point.
  • On failed inits, the SD card will now be power-cycled fully and driver will try to reduce bus timing progressively, instead of falling back to HS25 immediately. Finally, retries are now instant, instead of taking 2-5s.
• Deep Sleep:
  • Significantly improved wake up speed on T210 and T210B01.
  • Significantly improved deep sleep on T210B01 (increased by ~10-15 days).
  • Mitigated a T210B01 HW erratum and fixed several Nvidia driver bugs in SDMMC/PCIE/XUSB/USBPD drivers.
• GPU DVFS for T210B01:
  • A new mode added for T210B01 that dramatically lowers power consumption on higher GPU clocks.
  • That also allows GPU to reach 1228 MHz max on select binned GPUs.
  • GPU clocks are now properly limited by max voltage and max power, increasing safety by not exceeding pmic current limits.
  • That can also increase max GPU clock to 1152 MHz on select binned GPUs.
• Joy-Con/Pro-Con:
  • Improved Sio (Lite Gamepad) init.
  • Increased Sio input report rate to 120HZ (8ms) from 60Hz (16ms).
  • Reduced traffic from rumble commands.
  • Added plug-in/removal detection via pins for railed Joy-Con.
  • Fixed an issue where the IMU input device would not be unregistered on removal of railed or wireless Joy/Pro-Con.
• XBOX Controllers:
  • Added support for bluetooth XBOX controllers via XPAD Neo driver.
  • As with USB ones, userspace must load the module.
• WiFi/Bluetooth:
  • Updated firmware files to latest from HOS.
  • Fixed several bluetooth driver bugs.
• USB-PD:
  • VCONN/VBUS is now managed on certain SKUs, increasing deep sleep dramatically.
• PCIE/XUSB:
  • Improvements to the drivers in all fronts.
  • The Suspend/Resume fixes also increase deep sleep times dramatically.
  • Fixed an issue where USB on dock would not work if booted docked.
• Built-in IMU:
  • Added support for STM LSM6DSO/LSM6DO and LSM6DSE 6-Axis IMU chips.
  • Now the driver will also automatically choose between LSM6DS3H/DSO/DSE and ICM40607.
• Added HW Random engine support for T210B01.
• Fixed production settings for DisplayPort on T210B01.
• Fixed several pmic settings.
• Many more improvements/fixes.

Ubuntu/Userspace changes:

• Chromium Widevine Support for Movie/Series Streaming Services.
  • Chromium now supports Widevine DRM for streaming platforms. Most sites work via the normal icon.
  • Others, like Netflix, need the Chromium Streaming one from the app menu.
• Switch Tray Icon:
  • The icon is now split into 2 sections. The Switch icon for tools and the Text profile one that allows Power/Fan management.
  • The following features were added to the icon:
  • Added Reboot 2 Config app for rebooting to a hekate boot entry with 2 simple steps.
  • Added OLED display color modes.
  • Added Joy-Con Controls Mapping help. Shows how Joy-Con are mapped to keyboard/mouse and how to enable/disable it.
• Theme:
  • Unity Dash, the apps side bar, was updated to a modern flat theme.
• Apps:
  • Added tegrastats-l4t with better formatted output. Useful for live info and overlays. Can be launched from the Switch tray icon.
  • Added jc-dump-ltk for dumping Bluetooth LTK key when user connects Pro Controller via USB. Can be also used for getting LTK from Joy-Con via Grip.
• Bluetooth:
  • Bluetooth now gets disabled in Sleep, for not needing user to turn off controllers manually.
  • This also allows the whole wifi/bt combo chip to power down during sleep and thus decreasing power consumption.
• Optional support for DTS audio encoder (dcaenc) for DP/HDMI was added. If wanted, apt package is alsa-lib-dcaenc.
• Many more improvements/fixes.

Boot Stack changes:

• L4T Loader:
  • SD Card UHS DDR200 mode support (needs hekate 6.0.3 or newer).
  • Allow early 2019 Samsung ram to be overclocked to 2133MHz for T210B01 (Mariko).
• INI config:
  • bt_ertm_disable allows disabling Bluetooth ERTM which might hinder usage of some Bluetooth devices.
  • ddr200_disable allows disabling the automatic SD Card UHS DDR200 support.
  • gpu_dvfsc allows dramatically decreasing GPU power consumption for Mariko on high clocks and allowing for higher clocks also.
  • limit_gpu_clk allows limiting max GPU clocks in case gpu_dvfsc is used and GPU can't withstand lower voltage.
  • As always, check README_CONFIG.txt for more info.
• Support for beefy pmic type of T210B01 devboards in U-BOOT.

Ubuntu Bionic 5.0.0

Kernel/Driver changes:

• RAM:
  • 409MB RAM was freed from carveouts and was given to CMA so everything can easily use it with mmap.
• Joycon/Procon driver.
  • Added support for Sio (Switch Lite gamepad).
  • Improved HD Rumble and fix it once and for all.
  • Improved and reorder init sequence.
  • Improved high speed uart stability.
  • Fixed hangs when using hd rumble.
  • Changed Procon D-Pad from HAT to actual D-Pad.
  • Fixed HORI analog stick limits.
• WiFi & Bluetooth:
  • Fully unlocked almost all WiFi channels,1-13 for 2.4GHz and 34-165 for 5GHz. 14/144 disabled).
  • Many 5Ghz channels will only be used if there's an existing AP (radar detection), for regulation reasons.
  • Fixed Bluetooth SCO mode (HSP/HFP). It now properly transmits audio instead of static.
  • Significantly improved signal on both WiFi 2.4GHz and Bluetooth since default is now USB2.
  • (USB3 can be enabled back via ini config).
  • Battery Charger and Fuel Gauge.
  • Added Battery % regulation. Sets a limit to battery max % and it's quite useful for when device is always docked.
  • Added support of charging disable via special GPIO.
  • Improve init sequence.
• Audio:
  • Added Switch 2019/Lite/OLED speakers EQ.
  • Added fine controls for DAC speaker/headphone volumes.
  • Added minijack Mic support and Headset vs Headphones support.
  • Added Headset button support (all buttons work as play/pause).
  • Refactored driver and improved init/deinit process.
• R2P:
  • Refactored driver and added T210B01 support.
  • Check README_CONFIG.txt for more info on how it can be configured.
• USB-C (DisplayPort/Power Delivery).
  • Massively refactor USB-C driver, again.
  • Support for PIN C (adapters that report 4 DisplayPort lanes only).
  • Removed the requirement for at least 2 USB-PD profile to enable PD charging.
  • Added support for no DisplayPort (Switch Lite).
  • Improve and make init sequence way faster.
• Display:
  • Added OLED panel driver.
  • Added HDCP 1.x and 2.2 support for DisplayPort.
  • Fixed TSEC support.
  • Backlight will always get disabled before disabling LCD/OLED panel.
• DisplayPort CEC.
  • Added support for CEC via DisplayPort.
  • Docking will change source to Switch automatically if supported.
  • CEC tv remote control.
  • Support for OLED dock.
• Non-PD USB charger detect.
  • Added fine tuners for currents on USB charger detect.
  • Improve detection.
  • Set SDP when a gadget is enabled to 500mA only.
• eMMC/SD driver.
  • Improve auto calibration.
  • Allow 1-bit mode.
• XUSB:
  • Fixed T210B01 support.
  • Fixed USB3 device mode.
  • Added proper support for USB2-only mode.
• Various fixes to USB phy and vbus.
• Improved kernel driver init sequence. Saves around 4-6s of boot time.
• Added better panic error handling, the relevant log can now be dumped automatically by hekate.
• Added controls for disabling touch panel tuning on boot (some broken flex cables or panels might need that).
• Fixed IMU IRQ mode. This greatly improves IMU Acc/Gyro responsiveness. Also added new IMU chips support.
• Fixed an issue where Power button irq could be stack.
• Fixed a hang on boot because of Squash FS driver.
• Added DM-CRYPT support.
• Fixed max77812 CPU/GPU/RAM regulator and enable it for T210B01.
• Added max77801 3.3V regulator for Switch OLED.
• Added a new TSKIN driver and changed temperatures and fan curves to match HOS exactly.

Ubuntu/Userspace changes:

• Theme and Icons:
  • Default theme and icons changed to more modern flat and dark one.
  • If you changed them before, you can use Tweaks from app menu to change it (Pop-Dark theme and Pop icons).
• On-Screen Keyboard.
  • Now rocks a new material you design look.
  • Add special key for Gamepads to Show/Hide it.
  • Enabled physical Keyboard detection.
  • Auto transparency on idle, so user can see behind it.
  • Fixed an issue which would delay logout 2:30 minutes if osk is enabled.
• Default settings:
  • Double click is now easier to do on touch.
  • Drag threshold increased to avoid miss-dragging instead of tapping.
  • ALS disabled for backlight control so user can enable it in ini config for emulators and games.
  • Changed Battery levels: Warns LOW at 15%, Warns Critical at 6%. Shutdowns at 4%.
  • Suspend after 10min idle at battery. Never at AC.
  • Battery percentage always shown.
  • Cursor size default increased.
  • Default scaling changed.
  • Default Dash shorcuts changed so user can pin preferences without first unpinning.
• Bluetooth A2DP profiles:
  • Automatic profile change.
  • Added AAC, AptX and AptX HD profiles.
  • Also fixed SCO HSP/HFP profiles.
• Fixed 5.1 surround audio.
• Dock-Handler:
  • Fully optimized and fast.
  • Saves boot time.
  • Works properly on Greeter.
  • CEC support.
  • PD power profile support (Will switch to Console if PD charger).
  • Fixed crashes on boot.
• Joycon Daemon:
  • Added Sio (Switch Lite Gamepad) support.
  • Now rumble works properly and also doesn't hang system.
  • Removed Procon management from Joycond. Now the controller can be used by any software.
  • IMU now accessible from every app.
  • Various bug fixes.
• System FFMpeg updated to use latest HW Video codecs.
• Switch Multimedia:
  • Updated to use the latest HW Video decoding/encoding.
  • (ffmpeg-l4t, ffplay-l4t and mpv-l4t).
  • All video files now use SMPV Player by default for hw decoding.
  • Chromium Browser.
  • Full Vulkan HW acceleration support.
  • Full HW Video decoding support for H264 and VP8 videos.
  • Bluetooth is now disabled completely on sleep to save battery.
  • Enabled automatically on resume.
  • Debloated and remade main image from scratch.
• Joystick Mapping.
  • Based on L4T Megascript one and included by default.
  • Reworked all mappings to the following:
  • A, B, X, Y --> Enter, Backspace, Esc, Task Switch.
  • Minus, Plus --> Rotate Screen, Show/Hide OSK.
  • L3, R3 --> Caps Lock, Middle Click.
  • Home --> Windows Key.
  • D-pad --> Arrow keys.
  • L/R Sticks --> Mouse, Scrolling.
  • Capture --> Disables(/Enables) mappings and allows it to be used as gamepad.
• Now All updates can be done via APT. 5.0.0 will be the last image provided.
• Every new update will be done through Software Updates or Apt command.
• Updated ALSA profile to support all SKUs.
• Added HDCP support if requested by an App that supports the api.

Initramfs changes:

• WiFi MAC address is now derived from SoC id.
• BT MAC address if no joycon dump is derived from SoC id.
• Added error checking at boot.
• Fixes "bricks" where linux partition is corrupted but can be fixed.
• Creating .reinit file flag in switchroot/ubuntu will force a re-extraction of Kernel and Modules/Firmware.
• That should always be used if user updates BSP to another one (for example r32.7.3).
• If initramfs fails booting it will try to dump kernel log in sd first (l4t_initramfs_kmesg.log) before showing the red screen.

Boot Stack changes:

• L4T Loader - specialized bootloader.
• Full support for T210B01 (Switch 2019, Lite and OLED).
• .ini file is now the main configuration file and uenv.txt is obsolete (a backup is done for existing copies).
• All configs are described in README_CONFIG.txt.
• Careful with what you are booting on T210B01 since it can create hangs in black screen or error messages.
• Error message will be shown if that's the case, to avoid a black screen hang.

Ubuntu Bionic 3.4.0

• Better performances in many scenarios (As always that should affect apps/games/emus/etc).
• Significant better deep sleep. (Measured at 582 hours. 440% better).
• Faster wake up from sleep.
• Saved 240MB ram (fb and active file page pool, aka always used pool).
• Memory remapping 800%-2000% speed up. Mostly used by emulators and VMs (and lot in android).
• Some other memory optimizations, plus enabled huge ram pages.
• Faster kernel and OS boot.
• Fixed tearing issues for NVDEC/NVENC. (video hw accel).
• Lower latency for frame end calcs for builtin display.
• Fixed Hori pads for joycond.
• Fixed an issue where it would make railed jc to disconnect on rumble.
• Joycon/Procon rumble was improved and intensity tuned for better user experience.
• Kernel now uses the proper display panel init/deinit by checking panel id.
• Improved dock/undock script.
• Touch stays enabled now in dock mode. Users that use docks that do not cover the screen can use it as alternative input.
• Added low ram protection. Now instead of hanging for minutes it will only stutter for seconds until oom occurs and recovers ram.
• Better seamless display on boot.
• uenv.txt changed, read uenv_readme.txt. It's simple to transfer over custom settings..
• Reboot action can now be defined in new uenv.txt. Reboot back into Linux by changing `reboot_action=` from `bootloader` to `via-payload`.

Apps Changes:

• Full video HW decoding via new SMPV Player app (also supports youtube links).
• Full video HW encoding via ffmpeg-l4t.
• Added L4T-Megascript app. You can get or build various essential stuff, apps or emulators with a single click. All configured and optimized for Switch..
• Nvpmodel was updated to include Battery charging protection limits options.
  • Useful when you are constantly docked and want to protect battery's life.
  • Limit gets saved and applied on boot.
  • Reminder that discharging can't happen when plugged in. Even when charging is off, usb power is used to supplement system.
  • So you need to discharge first if you want the battery % to go inside the limit.
  • That also disables charging in sleep in order for the feature to work.
  • If you reboot/shutdown, it gets disabled and re-enabled at the next L4T boot.
  • As always the source is public and all L4T based projects for Switch will benefit (L4T linux distros/Lakka/Android).

Ubuntu Bionic 3.3.0

• Significant performance improvements.
  • CPU arch, RAM, GPU, general latency, etc optimizations.
  • Affects gui, apps, games, emus, etc.
• Significant deep sleep power draw fixes.
  • Now almost all non-needed devices power off on deep sleep and ram is set to appropriate frequency..
  • (Touch panel, LCD, Joycon charging and many more devices now power off in deep sleep as they should).
• IO scheduler was changed to provide way faster storage IO.
• Released 15 MiB extra ram.
• Fixed voltage calculation for OC. It should provide more stable overclocking.
• Refactored thermal management.
  • Fan profiles are now the same with HOS.
  • Added failsafes, throttling and force power off when very high temps for the board are reached.
• Faster boot times.
• Fixed issues with Joycon charging and Hori power on resume.
• Fixed Power button issues.
• Touch improvements.
• Added Hori and Obirds rail support.
• OTG now allows deep sleep, even if linux resides in a USB SSD.
• Various USB fixes.
• Allow fuel gauge to wake up system and power off gracefully on empty battery.
• Added support for many 3rd party docks.
  • These include Genki, Zenscreen, Nexdock and anything else that uses similar methods.
  • Basically, the support should reach 100% (docks that support DP via pin D).
• Fixed issues with fast charging when docked on boot.
• Fixed other issues with charging on certain edge cases.
• Fixed DP/HDMI when plugging console while sleeping.
• Fixed DP/HDMI when already docked and waking up.
• Dock led indicator now has a breathing light when sleeping.
• Add exFAT partition support (boot driver still needs to be FAT32).
• Enabled 1GB ZRAM swap.

• Status messages on booting.
• Seamless display booting (needs hekate higher than v5.5.4).
• Disabled screen blanking on idle. Dimming/Screensaver is still there and can be disabled in Brightness & Lock.
  • This will help with games/emus where gamepad is used and it does not reset idle times like mouse/keyboard.
• Fixed apt repo urls.

• NVPModel is revamped:
  • Allow changing power profiles via touch.
  • Added handheld power profile.
  • Added fan profiles.
  • Added automatic profiles based on handheld or docked.
  • Added USB 3.0 disable toggle for boosting WiFi 2.4G and Bluetooth signal.
  • OC profiles now do not require enabling overclock flag in sysfs.

Credits

• CTCaer (kernel/bootloader, distro maintainer, NVENC/NVDEC).
• Gavin_Darkglider (distro maintainer).
• Azkali (distro maintainer).
• Ave (repo management and host).
• DanielOgorchock(Switch controller drivers/joycond).
• Bylaws.
• Langerhans.
• Natinusala.
• stary2001 (reboot2payload).
• NVIDIA (Tegra BSP).
• theofficialgman and cobalt2727 (L4T-Megascript).
• Everyone else in switchroot.

External links

• Official website - https://switchroot.org/
• Github - https://github.com/CTCaer/switch-l4t-kernel-4.9
• GitLab - https://gitlab.com/switchroot/android
• GitLab - https://github.com/CTCaer?tab=repositories&q=l4t
• Switchroot Wiki - https://wiki.switchroot.org/en/Linux/Distributions
• GBAtemp - https://gbatemp.net/threads/l4t-ubuntu-a-fully-featured-linux-on-your-switch.537301/
• Discord - https://discord.gg/N9PPYXjWMY