Hacking Android OS on Switch Ultimate Discussion Thread

[Xuman]

It's great to have ideas and whatnot but claiming that something has a "high" chance of happening (games, emulators, homebrew, anything really) without basis for it is simply wishful thinking. Not saying thats a bad thing or its impossible, just saying i wouldnt give hype to something without reasonable info to back up the possibility of it coming to fruition. (See Smash Bros. Character Rumors).

That aside, i could see some android apps working fine on the switch since its also a tablet. but GPS games (pokemon go) would be out

 

[TerraPhantm]

Few things:
Initially it will only work in handheld mode till we get the i2c mitm working
Netflix will only be 480p unless someone wants to port tlk from the shield tv.
4k is impossible from a hw standpoint (iirc dock max resolution is 1080p)
This is based off the same kernel as lakka (just rebased and heavily modified) and will be using either the pixel c blobs or nouveau depending on what is faster.

The dock should be able to handle 4k. It uses an STDP2550 which can handle 4k30. Alternatively I wonder if we could just use a displayport to usb-c cable if using a different OS altogether.

 

[LightyKD]

Not a cable, but there is a chance an active converter could, but that would need me to correctly implement the usb c PD spec which might take a while and isn't a top priority.

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1. The OS will be in the sdcard
2. You'll need to create 1 2gb partition for system and then 1 partition of the remaining space for userdata.
3. Yes, but only if you have a powered hub. It also works in dock but that's useless till we get usb display out working.

So let me get this straight and please correct me if I'm wrong. A total of 3 partitions?
1) for Switch software
1) for the Android OS (2GB)
1) for the User's Data?

Should be interesting. I need to buy a 200GB card soon lol!

 

[bylaws]

So let me get this straight and please correct me if I'm wrong. A total of 3 partitions?
1) for Switch software
1) for the Android OS (2GB)
1) for the User's Data?

Should be interesting. I need to buy a 200GB card soon lol!

Yeah, you should only really need a 32gb SD to have a decent amount of space for apps though

 

[guily6669]

I don't think the USB-C in the Switch would have enough bandwidth for 4K 60fps, I think I heard there's a newer version with more bandwidth able to do it, but I might be mistaken...

 

[bylaws]

The dock should be able to handle 4k. It uses an STDP2550 which can handle 4k30. Alternatively I wonder if we could just use a displayport to usb-c cable if using a different OS altogether.

Nope, the stdp2550 can't handle 4k, check the data brief

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The

I don't think the USB-C in the Switch would have enough bandwidth for 4K 60fps, I think I heard there's a newer version with more bandwidth able to do it, but I might be mistaken...

The switch supports dual lane display port in hardware, that has more than enough bandwidth

 

[Deleted-351540]

Nope, the stdp2550 can't handle 4k, check the data brief

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The

The switch supports dual lane display port in hardware, that has more than enough bandwidth

Any particular reason you chose AndroidTV over stock Android? Just curious.

 

[mattytrog]

Only just jumped on thread. What's it using? Pixel c blobs?

 

[LightyKD]

Yeah, you should only really need a 32gb SD to have a decent amount of space for apps though

My Android games collection alone pushes past 32 gigs. I was using roughly 200 on the OUYA. Also my Switch saves and digital games are almost filling up my 64 GB card. If I'm going to have everything that I care about on one card. 200 GB is probably the minimum.

 

[wiiando]

Only just jumped on thread. What's it using? Pixel c blobs?

https://gbatemp.net/threads/android...discussion-thread.495027/page-11#post-8507375

 

[bylaws]

Any particular reason you chose AndroidTV over stock Android? Just curious.

well after getting most stuff booting I've switched to normal android as TV seems to have issues with building in aosp.

Only just jumped on thread. What's it using? Pixel c blobs?

Nouveau and mesa, but pixel c blobs might also work

 

[M7L7NK7]

So you can just use Atmosphere's reboot to payload to load it?

 

[guily6669]

Nope, the stdp2550 can't handle 4k, check the data brief

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The

The switch supports dual lane display port in hardware, that has more than enough bandwidth

According to Digital foundry they claim Switch uses USB C 3.1 outputting max 10gbps enough for 1080p or 4K 30 FPS only (basically outputting only in hdmi 1.4)...

Now there's USB C 3.2 capable of 4k 60fps output (20gbps of outpout bandwidth, basically going to hdmi 2.0) which is probably a must have 4 a new Switch revision as it's totally the same connector completely compatible with anything they have...

 

[TerraPhantm]

Nope, the stdp2550 can't handle 4k, check the data brief

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The

The switch supports dual lane display port in hardware, that has more than enough bandwidth

http://www.megachips.com/products/displayport/STDP2550

Under features:

• Max video resolution 4K2K 30Hz

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According to Digital foundry they claim Switch uses USB C 3.1 outputting max 10gbps enough for 1080p or 4K 30 FPS only (basically outputting only in hdmi 1.4)...

Now there's USB C 3.2 capable of 4k 60fps output (20gbps of outpout bandwidth, basically going to hdmi 2.0) which is probably a must have 4 a new Switch revision as it's totally the same connector completely compatible with anything they have...

It’s not using the usb protocol to transmit video. There are dedicated DisplayPort pins on the connector.

 

[bylaws]

http://www.megachips.com/products/displayport/STDP2550

Under features:

• Max video resolution 4K2K 30Hz

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It’s not using the usb protocol to transmit video. There are dedicated DisplayPort pins on the connector.

1. That's odd, the databrief PDF mentions nothing of 4k yet that page does.
2. Yeah

 

[TerraPhantm]

1. That's odd, the databrief PDF mentions nothing of 4k yet that page does.
2. Yeah

It mentions 2.97gbps per data link which would be consistent with HDMI 1.4, which does support 4k30

 

[LightyKD]

well after getting most stuff booting I've switched to normal android as TV seems to have issues with building in aosp.

Nouveau and mesa, but pixel c blobs might also work

Maybe having TV launcher on top of normal Android might make for a good compromise

https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/android-tv-launcher-android-tv/

 

[kevin corms]

According to Digital foundry they claim Switch uses USB C 3.1 outputting max 10gbps enough for 1080p or 4K 30 FPS only (basically outputting only in hdmi 1.4)...

Now there's USB C 3.2 capable of 4k 60fps output (20gbps of outpout bandwidth, basically going to hdmi 2.0) which is probably a must have 4 a new Switch revision as it's totally the same connector completely compatible with anything they have...

Oh thats too bad, going hdmi 1.4 and trying to get 4k 30 working can be a pain depending on your setup.

 

[bylaws]

Oh thats too bad, going hdmi 1.4 and trying to get 4k 30 working can be a pain depending on your setup.

That guy was wrong, switch muxes between lanes and doesn't actually use usb proto.

 

[guily6669]

If your talking about me I wasnt exactly saying its the USB port or what outputs and what not... just the bandwidth of it its basically outputting HDMI 1.4 and Switch uses a USB C 3.1 (at least is what Digital Foundry says as I won't even bother looking for its hardware)...

But on the positive side at least its good for streaming movies and other stuff as almost everything is 30-24 fps so if you could get really a true 4K movie to be played well in it, it will still do the trick.

Now we need is to see if anyone can actually get the dock+console to really output in 4K 30 FPS .

And I agree with DigitalFoundry that the new Switch refresh needs to output 4K 60 FPS as a must because its better that the console upscale to 4K than having it at 1080P then the TV upscaling it to 4K (depending on the case too since there are actually good fast TV's with low input lag that can actually add a lot of stuff on their processing upscaling). But I guess if its the console upscaling we will all have a more similar result across everyone with 4K tv's.