Hacking Homebrew Android & AMS partition

RaynorBlackwood · May 17, 2022

binkinator said:
It won't show up in blue in Hekate. It will be part of the Orange (unformatted.) If you don't have a blank partition then L4T won't install. In other words the image files need a place to go and they will NOT overwrite your Android partitions. If the "Image L4T" button is enabled and pressable...it means you have the image files in the right place and an appropriate blank partition of the right size available, so go ahead and press it.

just remembered…the pics I shared earlier had all 4 partitions defined.

1) my partitions being set up

View attachment 310272

2) what those partitions looked like after it was done formatting.

View attachment 310273

3) What those partitions (with no blue in the second pic) looked like to another tool. See disk 5 with 2 x 8G partitions.

View attachment 310274

I believe you’re all set to give it a go.

Im at work now, today i updated StarDust and AMS to 14.1.1 and i dont know why but ubuntu appeared on StarDust Menu, i didnt tested it to boot it, when im home i will test it, but i didnt installed it, cause of missing L4T Partition, im curious what happens when i try to boot it instead.

binkinator · May 17, 2022

RaynorBlackwood said:
Im at work now, today i updated StarDust and AMS to 14.1.1 and i dont know why but ubuntu appeared on StarDust Menu, i didnt tested it to boot it, when im home i will test it, but i didnt installed it, cause of missing L4T Partition, im curious what happens when i try to boot it instead.

That entry came with the zip file I gave you. You might have an SXOS pointer too. it’s just a pointer based on a file located in /bootloader/ini/ directory. Try to install L4T (it won’t let you if your Switch doeant have a blank partition) and your new L4T button in Hekate will just automatically work. :-)

RaynorBlackwood · May 17, 2022

binkinator said:
That entry came with the zip file I gave you. You might have an SXOS pointer too. it’s just a pointer based on a file located in /bootloader/ini/ directory. Try to install L4T (it won’t let you if your Switch doeant have a blank partition) and you Hekate button will automatically work. :-)

Oh okay got it, so i need to wipe the whole SD again to create an L4T partition with all the others. You are a good guide.

binkinator · May 17, 2022

RaynorBlackwood said:
Oh okay got it, so i need to wipe the whole SD again to create an L4T partition with all the others. You are a good guide.

I don’t believe so. I believe, based on the screenshot you shared, that the partition already exists.

is your Android partition 10G or did you make it 20G? Windows shows them both as 1 un formatted partition because it doesn’t know how to read it.

RaynorBlackwood · May 17, 2022

binkinator said:
I don’t believe so. I believe, based on the screenshot you shared, that the partition already exists.

View attachment 310293

is your Android partition 10G or did you make it 20G? Windows shows them both as 1 un formatted partition because it doesn’t know how to read it.

What you saw was just an example, not the reality.

Android is 16GB
emuMMC 29GB
I forgot at start to set an L4T Partition

binkinator · May 17, 2022

RaynorBlackwood said:
What you saw was just an example, not the reality.

Android is 16GB
emuMMC 29GB
I forgot at start to set an L4T Partition

Ayup…your going to have to reformat. :-(

RaynorBlackwood · May 17, 2022

binkinator said:
Ayup…your going to have to reformat. :-(

I think i will give it a try tonight to reformat the SD Card, i will reply until im done

evil_santa · May 17, 2022

RaynorBlackwood said:
I think i will give it a try tonight to reformat the SD Card, i will reply until im done

You can boot Linux also from a usb stick if you want. No need to reformat your SD card.
I'm also German if you need help

Usb boot Guide
https://wiki.switchroot.org/en/Linux/USB-Boot
or
https://psxtools.de/forum/index.php...ick-mit-l4t-ubuntu-für-die-switch-einrichten/

binkinator · May 17, 2022

evil_santa said:
You can boot Linux also from a usb stick if you want. No need to reformat your SD card.
I'm also German if you need help

Usb boot Guide
https://wiki.switchroot.org/en/Linux/USB-Boot
or
https://psxtools.de/forum/index.php?thread/82887-anleitung-bootfähigen-usb-stick-mit-l4t-ubuntu-für-die-switch-einrichten/

This is interesting. Do you just plug the USB into your Switch and reboot?

wow…I guess so! Neat! Going to try it.

5. L4T Ubuntu starten

- Steckt jetzt das Laufwerk/Stick an die Switch oder ins Dock. Im Dock bitte den blauen USB3 Port hinter der Klappe verwenden.

- Bootet jetzt zu Hekate

- Dort angekommen, geht auf "Nyx Options" und "Dump Joy-Con BT"

- Dann zurück

- Dann More Configs==> und L4T Ubuntu Bionic

- Ab dem Klick auf den Button habt ihr 10 Sekunden Zeit, um die Switch ins Dock zu stellen

- Jetzt sollte Ubuntu starten, wenn ein Roter Bildschirm kommt wart ihr zu Langsam. In dem Fall schneller sein oder die uenv.txt bearbeiten.

- durchlauft jetzt das Setup, in diesem wird auch die Partition auf dem Laufwerk/Stick bis zur maximalen Größe erweitert.

evil_santa · May 17, 2022

binkinator said:
This is interesting. Do you just plug the USB into your Switch and reboot?

wow…I guess so! Neat! Going to try it.

5. L4T Ubuntu starten

- Steckt jetzt das Laufwerk/Stick an die Switch oder ins Dock. Im Dock bitte den blauen USB3 Port hinter der Klappe verwenden.

- Bootet jetzt zu Hekate

- Dort angekommen, geht auf "Nyx Options" und "Dump Joy-Con BT"

- Dann zurück

- Dann More Configs==> und L4T Ubuntu Bionic

- Ab dem Klick auf den Button habt ihr 10 Sekunden Zeit, um die Switch ins Dock zu stellen

- Jetzt sollte Ubuntu starten, wenn ein Roter Bildschirm kommt wart ihr zu Langsam. In dem Fall schneller sein oder die uenv.txt bearbeiten.

- durchlauft jetzt das Setup, in diesem wird auch die Partition auf dem Laufwerk/Stick bis zur maximalen Größe erweitert.

it's pretty easy.
the boot files only have to be on the SD card.
the USB stick/HDD/SSD must of course be written with the l4t image. The whole thing is very well described in the Switchroot tutorial. or the instructions in German from me at psxtools. this is quite old but still works. If you have any questions, you can also ask here. Whit SSD in the usb3 port Ubuntu runs really fast.
To write the Ubuntu image to the drive etcher also works very well.

binkinator · May 17, 2022

evil_santa said:
it's pretty easy.
the boot files only have to be on the SD card.
the USB stick/HDD/SSD must of course be written with the l4t image. The whole thing is very well described in the Switchroot tutorial. or the instructions in German from me at psxtools. this is quite old but still works. If you have any questions, you can also ask here. Whit SSD in the usb3 port Ubuntu runs really fast.
To write the Ubuntu image to the drive etcher also works very well.

I have it running. Your instructions were perfect. Very cool! Thank you!

RaynorBlackwood · May 17, 2022

evil_santa said:
You can boot Linux also from a usb stick if you want. No need to reformat your SD card.
I'm also German if you need help

Usb boot Guide
https://wiki.switchroot.org/en/Linux/USB-Boot
or
https://psxtools.de/forum/index.php?thread/82887-anleitung-bootfähigen-usb-stick-mit-l4t-ubuntu-für-die-switch-einrichten/

Nope thanks, thats not what i want to do, it should be as comfortable as possible, the switch and the rcm loader with jig, nothing more. But if you want to discuss in german with me, we could share Discord or Telegram.

RaynorBlackwood · May 17, 2022

binkinator said:
This is interesting. Do you just plug the USB into your Switch and reboot?

wow…I guess so! Neat! Going to try it.

5. L4T Ubuntu starten

- Steckt jetzt das Laufwerk/Stick an die Switch oder ins Dock. Im Dock bitte den blauen USB3 Port hinter der Klappe verwenden.

- Bootet jetzt zu Hekate

- Dort angekommen, geht auf "Nyx Options" und "Dump Joy-Con BT"

- Dann zurück

- Dann More Configs==> und L4T Ubuntu Bionic

- Ab dem Klick auf den Button habt ihr 10 Sekunden Zeit, um die Switch ins Dock zu stellen

- Jetzt sollte Ubuntu starten, wenn ein Roter Bildschirm kommt wart ihr zu Langsam. In dem Fall schneller sein oder die uenv.txt bearbeiten.

- durchlauft jetzt das Setup, in diesem wird auch die Partition auf dem Laufwerk/Stick bis zur maximalen Größe erweitert.

I dont want to take the dockingstation everywhere i go, thats not a good alternative way.

evil_santa · May 17, 2022

RaynorBlackwood said:
Nope thanks, thats not what i want to do, it should be as comfortable as possible, the switch and the rcm loader with jig, nothing more. But if you want to discuss in german with me, we could share Discord or Telegram.

Android and Linux on emmc

hehe
If you want to write me on discord @ evil_santa#8223

binkinator · May 17, 2022

RaynorBlackwood said:
I dont want to take the dockingstation everywhere i go, thats not a good alternative way.

I agree. I understand what you are trying to achieve. I just wanted to try out a new suggestion from @evil_santa.

e: It’s not as inconvenient as you might think.

Mine is a little bulky only because I’m using an Apple SD to USB-C cable I had nearby.

If you bought one of these devices you would barely notice it at all.

evil_santa said:
Android and Linux on emmc hehe
If you want to write me discord @ evil_santa#8223

You have that huge 256G emmc though.

evil_santa · May 17, 2022

binkinator said:
You have that huge 256G emmc though.

Yes it's a cool thing but it's not really cheap.
For me it was just a challenge to learn how to solder bga chips myself. And then I put them up for sale. But it's just too expensive for only 256gb.
And with the chip crisis they have become even more expensive.

binkinator · May 17, 2022

evil_santa said:
Yes it's a cool thing but it's not really cheap.
For me it was just a challenge to learn how to solder bga chips myself. And then I put them up for sale. But it's just too expensive for only 256gb.
And with the chip crisis they have become even more expensive.

I‘ve thought about it and now I’m interested in seeing how L4T on emmc works. Did you publish a guide for that? I searched psxtools.de and didn’t find it but that could be due to my weak German searching abilities.

e: found this here in GBATemp… https://github.com/lulle2007200/SDSetup it looks like you have to format emmc before installing L4T. kinda scary. Going to have another think!

e2: found this conversation https://gbatemp.net/threads/using-emmc-for-zram-with-linux.574823/post-9218882 but the GitHub seems to be missing information?

e3: found the discord. I’m learning. Down the rabbit hole. :-)

RaynorBlackwood · May 18, 2022

So .. successful ubuntu installed, i think im ready for everything

evil_santa · May 18, 2022

binkinator said:
I‘ve thought about it and now I’m interested in seeing how L4T on emmc works. Did you publish a guide for that? I searched psxtools.de and didn’t find it but that could be due to my weak German searching abilities.

e: found this here in GBATemp… https://github.com/lulle2007200/SDSetup it looks like you have to format emmc before installing L4T. kinda scary. Going to have another think!

e2: found this conversation https://gbatemp.net/threads/using-emmc-for-zram-with-linux.574823/post-9218882 but the GitHub seems to be missing information?

e3: found the discord. I’m learning. Down the rabbit hole. :-)

Sorry for my late reply, much work today.

I always wanted to write a guide but never made it. And nobody at psxtools was interested either. Many also think you will be banned for it.
I've had Horizon, Android and Linux together on the emmc for 1.5 years. So far without a ban. And I play often Minecraft online.

If you have a normal 32gb emmc you have 2 possible solutions.
1. Dump your rawnand.bin and nuke your emmc
2. resize your user partition and add a partition for Ubuntu

If you need a quick guide I can write one for you.

it runs better than on an SD card (no slowdowns) but emulation doesn't get any better. you can roughly compare it to an SSD.
but the effort is not worth it if you have no greater EMMC.
Android on the emmc responds much faster than from the SD card. This is because the access times are almost twice as fast.

For Android (and Linux) is guide on Switchroot wiki.
https://wiki.switchroot.org/en/Documentation/EMMC

binkinator · May 19, 2022

RaynorBlackwood said:
So .. successful ubuntu installed, i think im ready for everything

Congratulations man! What are you going to take on next?

My signature block has a whole bunch of tricks that I’ve used. You might find something of interest there or in the second link of homebrew that I have tested and run on my switch.

I highly recommend the Trinket M0 project. Frustrating and scary at times but the reward of never having to inject a payload ever again is great!

Hacking Homebrew Android & AMS partition

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