• smoothbrain coldtakes
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    3 months ago

    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.

    • @med@sh.itjust.works
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      213 months ago

      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.

      • smoothbrain coldtakes
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        -53 months ago

        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.

    • @loutr@sh.itjust.works
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      93 months ago

      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, …

      • smoothbrain coldtakes
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        3 months ago

        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.