Why is Atmosphere so dominant?

[Tthat1guy]

I'm rather new to switch modding and am curious why Atmosphere is so dominant of a CFW. although it appears multiple CFWs exist I've only seen guides say to use Atmosphere. is there a defining feature? is it just where most homebrew software is?

 

[The Catboy]

It outlived everything else. ReiNX stopped getting updates and SXOS died because Nintendo. Equally, lack of reason to make another CFW. Unless Atmosphere dies for some reason, it currently fills the needs for everyone and getting things like Sig patches is super easy.

 

[Deleted member 698398]

I'm rather new to switch modding and am curious why Atmosphere is so dominant of a CFW. although it appears multiple CFWs exist I've only seen guides say to use Atmosphere. is there a defining feature? is it just where most homebrew software is?

All of the other actual CFWs are dead. The one's you see now are just Atmosphere bundled with some other software with maybe a theme added too. Nothing wrong with that but they are still just Atmosphere with some extra stuff included. (DeepSea, HATS, etc.)

 

[Blythe93]

Atmosphere also supports the latest firmware while SX OS supports up to 11.0.0 (or 11.0.1 if you really need it). The only feature that SX OS has and Atmosphere doesn't is USB XCI loading.

 

[RyanTheArchivist]

I'm rather new to switch modding and am curious why Atmosphere is so dominant of a CFW. although it appears multiple CFWs exist I've only seen guides say to use Atmosphere. is there a defining feature? is it just where most homebrew software is?

There is little reason to have anything past it. Atmosphere has so many features and functions at this point that it just makes sense to stick with it.

 

[Lumpofcoal]

Bruh, I don't think there's anyone else left....

If SciresM stops developing it one day, I think we will all be at a loss. That's why I wish some folks would stop trying to goad him into making piracy friendly features (or to facilitate it such as keeping IPS patches for KIPs) which could put the entire project and all of us at risk.

 

[M7L7NK7]

Every other CFW was just Atmosphere anyway

 

[Deleted member 698398]

Every other CFW was just Atmosphere anyway

Well now they are (and SX OS). But ReiNX was definitely it's own thing.

 

[Hayato213]

Because Atmosphere is the only active CFW, the other two, SX OS and ReiNX are not.

 

[M7L7NK7]

Well now they are (and SX OS). But ReiNX was definitely it's own thing.

It was basically an anime skinned atmosphere

 

[Deleted member 698398]

It was basically an anime skinned atmosphere

Except not.

 

[M7L7NK7]

Except not.

How wasn't it?

 

[Lumpofcoal]

On a note, can't help but notice that the sole survivor does not have sigpatches included in releases. Makes me glad that the dev stuck to his guns all those times.

 

[Ondrashek06]

I'm rather new to switch modding and am curious why Atmosphere is so dominant of a CFW. although it appears multiple CFWs exist I've only seen guides say to use Atmosphere. is there a defining feature? is it just where most homebrew software is?

Same reason as to why Luma3DS is the only realistically used CFW on 3DS - there's no need for another one.

The only case I recall when multiple different homebrew is used is Boot9strap vs Fastboot3DS, as Boot9strap is minimal while FB3DS lets you configure various boot options.

 

[Deleted member 698398]

How wasn't it?

It does use some of Atmosphere's code (especially later on) but it's not a literal 1:1 copy with say a ROM loader added. It was developed from scratch initially and has a pretty different architecture.

 

[masagrator]

It does use some of Atmosphere's code (especially later on) but it's not a literal 1:1 copy with say a ROM loader added. It was developed from scratch initially and has a pretty different architecture.

"Some"
Most of stuff is Atmosphere's. They made only payload, bootloader with their own patcher for KIPs. I don't count homebrew as part of CFW.
https://github.com/Reisyukaku/NX_Sysmodules/
https://github.com/D3fau4/ReiNX-libs/

Everything those are just slightly modified Atmosphere code.
Every CFW on Switch that is not Atmosphere is based on Atmosphere. SX OS was based on beta version of Atmosphere before Atmosphere's first release.

 

[Viri]

On a note, can't help but notice that the sole survivor does not have sigpatches included in releases. Makes me glad that the dev stuck to his guns all those times.

It's almost like he knew what would happen if he included them, and was extremely anti pirate for a reason. lol

 

[Jayro]

It outlived everything else. ReiNX stopped getting updates and SXOS died because Nintendo. Equally, lack of reason to make another CFW. Unless Atmosphere dies for some reason, it currently fills the needs for everyone and getting things like Sig patches is super easy.

Is there a homebrew app that can either generate or download sigpatches on-the-fly on the switch itself, without the need for a computer?

 

[Deleted member 698398]

"Some"
Most of stuff is Atmosphere's. They made only payload, bootloader with their own patcher for KIPs. I don't count homebrew as part of CFW.
https://github.com/Reisyukaku/NX_Sysmodules/
https://github.com/D3fau4/ReiNX-libs/

Everything those are just slightly modified Atmosphere code.
Every CFW on Switch that is not Atmosphere is based on Atmosphere. SX OS was based on beta version of Atmosphere before Atmosphere's first release.
View attachment 433703

Atmosphere is basically an open source re-implentation of HOS. Wasn't the initial version of ReiNX basically just a series of patches to the official Nintendo firmware?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Is there a homebrew app that can either generate or download sigpatches on-the-fly on the switch itself, without the need for a computer?

sys-patch