Looking to use rp2040 as external / unpatched console loader

[Corgano]

What I'm effectively trying to do is create my own RCM dongle for old unpatched v1 consoles.

You USED to be able to get RCM One dongle from the usual china sources that were quite good, multiple payloads, no issues. However recently it seems you can only ifnd the "plus" version that comes in a box rather than the nice plastic case, they use a single chip that has the markings lasered off rather than the original brand name chips, and only support one payload. It feels like they cheaped out on them and there are issues updating the firmware to work with the latest hekate - basically it's a mess. It also seems like there are a lot fewer models of rcm injector available on the market now than there were a few years ago

That lead me to thinking, with the RP2040 being super cheap and widely available, is there any way to use an rp2040 as an RCM injector instead? I was hoping there was an existing project somewhere, but all I could find was one for using a raspberry pi as an injector - which is super overkill.

 

[Hayato213]

For unpatched you can install chip like Trinket M0, RP2040 meant to be used for patched, v2, lite, oled unit.

 

[hippy dave]

I haven't seen it done with rp2040, idk if it has the right kind of USB support, it might.
You don't need a raspberry pi for a DIY dongle tho, you can use a Trinket M0 or various equivalent boards with the M0 chip. It's not quite as cheap as the 2040 but it's cheap enough to not worry about. There's guides and software somewhere in this forum, search thread titles for Trinket.

 

[Dust2dust]

From what I understand, the injectors available now are just cheap clones of the original RCMloader One that is now no longer being produced. It's understandable, seeing that the market for injectors has shrinked a lot, since most people owning new Switch consoles have no use for them, and those who own the old v1 unpatched probably already own an injector. But if the cheap knockoff injectors have a recent enough version of Hekate payload, it's still useful since Hekate will auto-load the newest version if found on the SD card at boot time.

 

[Corgano]

I feel like people misunderstand, I don't want to modify the switch, I want to build my own dongle. Can I use a trinket M0 to make an external RCM jig? Also forgive my ignorance but I thought the rp2040 was an M0+, was hoping there was an already existing project as there was a lot of hype for it. If need be I can definitely switch to a trinket M0, any recommendations of libraries / projects I can use?

From what I understand, the injectors available now are just cheap clones of the original RCMloader One that is now no longer being produced. It's understandable, seeing that the market for injectors has shrinked a lot, since most people owning new Switch consoles have no use for them, and those who own the old v1 unpatched probably already own an injector. But if the cheap knockoff injectors have a recent enough version of Hekate payload, it's still useful since Hekate will auto-load the newest version if found on the SD card at boot time.

The main issue I have with this is I prefer to use my dragonboot for atmosphere / generic payload injectors payload. It chain loads the reboot payload which is always up to date when you install a new atmosphere, resulting in a set-and-forget solution.

 

[hippy dave]

https://gbatemp.net/threads/d-i-y-payload-dongle-modchip-injector-thread.514577/

 

[Girtana1]

After all of these years it's finally been done

https://www.reddit.com/r/SwitchPirates/comments/1tqn8lf/switch_v1_pi_pico_rcm_payload_injector/